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Case analysis: SAP : Building a Leading Technology Brand

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Case analysis: SAP : Building a Leading Technology Brand.

Team Name Rupesh Paterical Riyas. P. K. EPGP-04C-082 EPGP-4B-85 Roll number

Case analysis: SAP: Building a Leading Technology Brand

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Case analysis: SAP : Building a Leading Technology Brand

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1 Communicating the Brand

What should the SAP brand stand for ? What is its brand promise ? The brand SAP should have identified itself with their innovative culture in the e-business space and differentiate them from their competition. But there was a lot of confusion regarding their positioning, because of their frequent changes in branding strategies. The SAP brand imbibes a promise and a contract based on trust with every customer it does businesses. At present there was a lot of hype and doesnt convey much truth. To what degree should SAP position itself as an Internet or e-business brand? SAP should ideally position itself as an e-business brand, which is an extention of their traditional business positioning and at the same time they should leverage on the advantages offered by the internet technologies. What should be done with the SAP brand architecture, and what should be done with the logos ? SAP should redefine their brand architecture keeping their core values intact and in line with the trends in the enterprise applications arena. The brand as well as the logos should communicate their traditional strengths namely reliability, expertise, innovation, ethics and product quality. What should Homlish change first: the advertising, website, logos, etc. ? Homlish should first change the website, the central point where all the SAPs solutions and products are highlighted. The change should be such that it is meaningful to their customers and conveys the right message, in a way they can easily understand.

2 Aligning the organization

What elements of branding and marketing should be centralized at SAP ? What should be localized ? Where should the global branding function sit within the companys organization ? The standards and core elements of branding, including the logos, website elements, advertising pedagogy should be centralized and at the sametime the regional marketing agencies should take the local standards and requirements into account while designing integrated marketing communication. The global branding function should be positioned at their global head quarters.

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Case analysis: SAP : Building a Leading Technology Brand

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How can Homlish communicate SAPs new brand positioning to personnel worldwide ? Homlish should communicate the new brand positioning in a clear and precise manner to the target audience and should be reflected in all their advertisements, websites and other communications. It should follow a centralized approach and the customers should be able to identify the new value positioning.

How can SAP ensure consistent messaging, and consistent look and feel, in all SAP communications worldwide ? By centralizing the marketing communications they can maintain and ensure uniqueness and consistency. There should be a core brand management team with regional representatives, which should take care of this.

3 Leveraging the brand against changing business objectives.

How can SAPs brand be made flexible enough to respond if there is a shift to new customer targets ? By properly aligning and understanding the customer requirements and their problems in advance, SAP can adapt its brand to include the newer customer targets. While adapting thewy should not dilute the exiting brand uniqueness, rather it should either be an extension or a related diversification.

How can SAP leverage its brand to appeal to companies of all sizes ? SAP should offer different versions with varying capabilities in order to meet the requirements of companies of various sizes and should price accordingly without diluting the core capabilities.

How will SAP know if it has succeeded in its rebranding ? What measures should be used to gauge success ? Brand visibility, success of advertisement campaigns, getting customer feedbacks, anonymous surveys are all some of the different measures available to know the success of rebranding. Ultimately it should reflect in their revenues and balance sheet.

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