Brand Health Tracking: A Case Study of Optus

This assignment explores the concept of Brand Health Tracking (BHT) through a case study of Optus, Australia's second-largest telecommunications company. It examines the research objectives and business objectives associated with BHT, outlining the information required to fulfill these objectives. The assignment delves into the research design, comparing Optus with a weaker brand, itel Community Telco, to highlight the importance of brand health tracking in achieving competitive advantage. It analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, emphasizing the importance of tracking key metrics like awareness, usage, consideration, and advocacy. The assignment concludes by recommending strategies for Optus to maintain its brand health and achieve continued success in the competitive telecommunications market.

Assignment 3 – Information for
prioritising image/brand decisions
Student Name:
Student ID:
Date:
Word Count: 2822
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Business and research objectives...............................................................................................4
Information required fulfilling research objectives....................................................................5
Describe the research design in relation to your chosen approach............................................8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11
2

Introduction
Brand Health Tracking (BHT), as well as image research, is considered as the most
significant area for the decision making. On the other hand, branding research is considered
as the biggest generator of the revenue in the industry of the market research. By making
provision of the brand's significance, it is very important to have a proper understanding
regarding the things that make up a brand and how associations measure and evaluate brands
so as to perform effective decision regarding branding (Anselmsson et. al., 2014). In this
assignment, there will be a detailed discussion of the brand as well as brand health tracking
and consideration will be made regarding an evaluation of the brand. The assignment will be
based on the Australian Telecommunication company i.e. ‘Optus’, a second largest
telecommunication company, having headquarter in Sydney providing various network
services to its customer. The company is popular because of its brand and with the support of
this; it is making growth in the customer base.
3

Business and research objectives
Brand health tracking is not a new concept; it is very common form the last many years and
in today's world, brands are being considered as the most valuable property as its supports in
the growth of the organisation like Optus. In order to provide service and to maintain
branding, Optus operates and own their network infrastructure and also make utilisation of
the wholesale facilities of National Broadband Network. They directly provide services to
end users and operate as a wholesaler for other providers of services. Brands are considered
as the entities having virtual existence (Nielsen, 2015). They occupy space in the life of
consumers and provide meaning to their choice. They make the generation of the identity of
the users as well as bring customer close to ideal self.
(Source: By Author)
Different businesses, as well as research objectives, are being made in regards to the Brand
Health Tracking and they can be defined as:
Research Objectives
 Understanding and tracking of branding policies
 Leveraging tracking data to communicate and generate actionable recommendations
and insights to improve the brand appeal
 To analyse brand health’s snapshot and to understand its movement from time to time.
Business objectives
 To make effective use of brand iceberg
 To focus on growth sources
4

 To have to benchmark against trends
Information required fulfilling research objectives
In order to fulfil various research objectives in regards with the brand health tracking, there is
a requirement of specific information and the pyramid so that the position of the brand can be
tracked in ‘Optus’ in an effective manner. The most significant brand of the company is ‘Yes’
brand, which provides wireless internet as well as broadband services. Other wholesale
facilities involve 4G mobile and satellite. Before privatisation, a company was known as
Aussat Pty Limited and later it became Optus Communications Pty limited (Pool et. al.,
2018). For the purpose of achieving different objectives of the research, model for brand
health tracking has been used by the company.
There will also be utilisation of the BHT pyramid comparison among the strong and weak
telecommunication brand. Optus is being selected as strong and in comparison with it, itel
community Telco is chosen as a weak brand.
Optus and itel Community Telco both are operating well in the telecommunication market
but there are lots of differences in the popularity of the two brands. Optus is the second
largest company and is making effective and good operation in the Australian market. itel
community Telco on the other hand is another growing telecommunication company and
providing services in regards with the mobile phone, prepaid and post-paid services, network
services, internet plans etc.
5

Optus is one of the well-established and developed telecommunication brands where else; itel
is the growing brand in the Australia and does not have a good base of customer and this is
the reason why optus is favourite brand among customers. Optus is having a strong base of
the customers and providing various services as per the needs and requirements of the clients.
The internet plans and the services that are provided by optus are far better than itel.
Customers in the market are also having good experience with the optus in comparison with
the other company as they are enjoying services and facilities as per their requirements. The
pyramid can also be understood with the support of the model of brand health tracking.
(Source: Foresight, 2012)
Different factors of the brand health tracking can be defined as follows:
 Brand saliency: From the various previous researchers, it has been analysed that only
80% success of the company is visible. Unfortunately, at the time of purchasing
decision, the large amounts of brands are not visible at all as per the case of itel.
Getting consumers to think often regarding brands and in the various situation of
6

purchasing is considered as the under-rated challenge of the market that is being faced
by the weak base brands (Anselmsson and Lars Anders, 2013).
 Penetration: Itel must make use of the penetration strategy that is being defined as
the concept required for taking aggressive action in order to expand the share of the
entire sales in the market. Optus is well versed with this strategy and the increased
volume of sales is supporting business in producing more goods or getting
merchandise at the low rate by allowing them to make the high percentage of the
profit. Also when the association gets more shares in the market, this also makes a
reduction competitors sale and maintain a good position of the brand (Foresight,
2012).
 Communication Evaluation: Communication is one of the most important things
and considered as the stimuli of marketing that is being used by the company to
develop necessary results. A high amount of the budget of marketing is being spent on
customer's communication by the ‘Optus’ that makes increment in the customer base.
The strategy of the company measures communication impact around media having a
favour of any specific medium (Theofilou et. al., 2014). Essentially all mediums are
being covered by association to maintain brand image like radio, TV, internet,
Magazine etc. Advertisements help in brand promotion and the company also
withdraw various ads that are not operating for brands. Itel on the other hand is not
utilising such strategy and therefore the customers are not much familiar with the
brand.
 Differentiation: In the overcrowded world full of brands, to have a unique as well as
distinct personality is the challenge of every brand. In the market full of competition,
customers see business and brand as a similar thing. The company is nothing except
brand that cannot be copied by a competitor. Differentiation supports ‘Optus’ in
creating awareness among people regarding the business. This thing will support
company is standing still among the competitors and to create a unique identity
(Punyatoya, 2013). In the itel for the better understanding, brand image data can be
taken into consideration from different angles like absolute and share of
endorsements, analysis of category driver, normalized score and perceptual maps.
 Relationship: In this phase, the relationship of the strength of the customer is
measured with the brand. Tracking has been done in regards to the recommendation
of the business to other people by customers, how many users will support in
increasing weight and how many customers will replace your company easily.
7

 Profile: Profile management of the customers is considered as one of the neglected
areas in the management of the brand. There are various things that should be
considered by the company like to whom to target in the market at the time of
communication (Abdolmaleki et. al., 2018). Optus is well efficient in maintaining
profile of the customers while itel is not.
Itel must take some steps in order to make improvement in the competitive position. The
company can take suggestions from the Optus in regards with their innovation and
productivity, can make up gradation in the relationship system of customers, must make
investment in development of a product and training of the employees, should make
reduction in the time of delivery by making improvement in the process, invest in the
plans of marketing and must revisit model of manufacturing. These all steps will support
itel in the improvement of the competitive position.
If the company will be at the B position then there will be use of the appropriate method
that will support in the brand health tracking. The company will also provide more
effective services that will support them in satisfying requirements of the customers and
will eventually make increment in the customer base. For the effective tracking of the
brand, model of the brand health tracking is being used.
A brand is not a design layout, colour scheme, logo, tagline, advertisement theme or a name.
A brand generally lives in the perception of the customer (Khanna, 2015). A brand is not the
thing being described by the marketer; it is defined as the thing being though by customers. A
brand starts as well as ends with the clients and the most significant in regards to the
perception of the customer are the experience of the customer. Customers will be having trust
in their own experience before trusting on advertisements.
Advertising only operates when it gets supports from the experience of the customer and the
development of strong brands develops the experience of the one customer at a single time.
8

Describe the research design in relation to your chosen approach
Brand health tracking is one of the most important concepts that is being used by the second
largest telecommunication company of Australia i.e. ‘Optus’ to have a proper tracking of its
brand and to be successful in the market by continuously making increment in the customer
base. In order to conduct a proper research regarding the BHT (Brand Health Tracking), an
effective approach of the research will be used that will support in designing the research in
an appropriate manner (Wishart et. al., 2012).
The choice in regards to the data collection method is being dependent on the information
that is required to achieve various evaluation objectives. This particular selection gets
influenced by the various resources to complete evaluation. Collection of the data is also
considered as the main part of updating and developing a proper research. Formalised
activities of the data collection are adapted, established and reviewed periodically (Burmann
et. al., 2017). In many cases, generation of the new data sources will be limited by the
availability of the resources and the prioritisation will be required.
Collections of the data are usually done with the help of quantitative as well as qualitative
methods. Approaches that are of qualitative nature aims in addressing the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of
a program and generally make use of the unstructured methods that are used for the collection
of the data in order to explore the topic. Questions in the qualitative method are basically
open-ended i.e. no options are available to the users in order to give an answer to the
question. Qualitative methods make the inclusion of the interviews, group discussions as well
as focus groups. On the other hand, quantitative approach answers in regards to ‘what' of the
program. They make utilisation of the standardized approach and make use of the methods
like a survey (Theofilou et. al., 2014).
In this research, a qualitative method is being used and the collection of information is being
done on the basis of the secondary method. In both of these methods, there are various
strengths as well as weaknesses. A qualitative approach is considered as the best so as to
explore the unintended consequences as well as the impact of the program (PauwelsDelassus
and MogosDescotes, 2012). They are generally, time-consuming and expensive for the
purpose of implementation. Additionally, the generalisation of the findings cannot be done
for the participants outside the events and is just indicative of the involved group.
9

Quantitative approaches are having the advantage that they are cheap in regards to the
implementation and having proper standards so that easy comparisons can be made and the
impact’s size can be measured easily. Quantitative approaches are limitedin order to explain
and investigate unexpected differences and similarities. It is very significant to note that peer-
based programs and the quantitative approaches of the data collection are basically difficult
for the implementation as there is lack of various necessary resources to make sure
implementation of the survey as well as experience loss and low participation to follow up
rates (Sá and de Almeida, 2015).
At the time of the survey in regards to the brand tracking, two significant criteria's are being
considered like what type of metrics will be tracked and how continuously it will be done.
The metrics which is being tracked are selected as they are considered as the indicators in
regards with the strength of the brand and are considered as the major component of the
brand funnel- advocacy, awareness, usage, and consideration (Moriarty et. al., 2014). There
will also be tracking of the brand’s association with several statements and words to have a
visibility in regards to the alignment in the mind of the audience. It is very significant to
consider that changing perceptions in regards to the brand is defined as the marathon and not
as a sprint. It is the never-ending race.
Brand tracking research in ‘Optus’ is being carried outfrom the samplesthat are collected
from the target audience instead of interviewing customers.It is very significant to know how
the brand is being perceived by potential clients as it is between existing clients (Datzira-
Masip and Poluzzi, 2014). Due to this, there can be problems in the fragmented market where
the organisations are having the small share of the market. It has been ensured that for the
research there is sufficient large size of the sample so that differences in the findings of the
research among tracker waves are real. In the market of business to business, it can be
difficult as the total audience for the specific product is being measured in thousands and
hundreds and not in millions (Burmann et. al., 2017).
It has been recommended to the ‘Optus’ that in order to have effective brand health tracking,
the organisation must focus on different growth sources. Tracker must also have focused on
the target audience and not just on market. The target audience of the company will support
in increasing profitability as well as productivity. The sample frames not just make the
reflection on the market where there is competition but should also make the inclusion of the
measures required to determine from where the growth of the market is arriving and how any
10

sort of modification can make the impact on the brand. Depending on the business and on the
category, brand funnel and revenue model will provide strong guidance regarding which
measures should be included (Khanna, 2015).
In order to have a healthy view of the potential as well as brand, a company must benchmark
themselves against the competitors. By having a comparison against brands with the increase
of the strategic insights received from the research by having a change in the focus on the
dynamics of the individuals to the dynamics of the market. In order to receive best from the
benchmarking, the comparison must not be there among scores with different brands
(Stewart, 2013). This kind of factor can reinforce large brands and can depress smaller ones.
Benchmarks of the company must take into consideration some context measures in order to
make comparisons. % of GDP and per capita is being used for the comparison among large
and small countries; the same approach should also be used in brand studies. An effective
approach does not require data modification and shows the relationship among independent
and dependent measures in order to map factor of the context with the measures of the
performance and then make a comparison of the brands with the trends (Abdolmaleki et. al.,
2018).
11

Conclusion
From the above-presented report, it can be concluded that it is very necessary for the
organisation like ‘Optus’ to maintain its branding in the market in order to make increment in
the overall customer base and also to remain at the top position. Optus is one of the leading
telecommunication companies operating in Australia and is having a good brand image in the
market full of competition. Not each and every brand is in association with the company as
well as a product but is also associated with attracting inward investment. In order to have an
effective brand health tracking, the company can make use of brand iceberg and model of
brand tracking with the support of good branding position can be maintained by an
organisation in the market. With the support of different approaches, secondary data has been
collected in order to conduct a research that will be used for the purpose of delivering valid
outcomes and also to achieve several businesses as well as research objectives.
12

References
 Abdolmaleki, H., Mirzazadeh, Z.S., and Ghahfarokhhi, E.A. (2018). Identify and
prioritise factors affecting sports consumer behaviour in Iran. International Journal of
Sport Management and Marketing, 18(1-2), pp.42-62.
 Anselmsson, J. and Lars Anders, N. (2013). What successful branding looks like: a
managerial perspective. British Food Journal, 115(11), pp.1612-1627.
 Anselmsson, J., VestmanBondesson, N. and Johansson, U. (2014). Brand image and
customers' willingness to pay a price premium for food brands. Journal of Product &
Brand Management, 23(2), pp.90-102.
 B2B international, (2018). Brand tracking research. [Online]. B2B International.
Available at: https://www.b2binternational.com/research/services/branding-research/
brand-tracking-research/. [Accessed on 29 May 2018].
 Burmann, C., Riley, N.M., Halaszovich, T. and Schade, M. (2017). Identity-Based
Brand Controlling. In Identity-Based Brand Management (pp. 233-280). Springer
Gabler, Wiesbaden.
 Datzira-Masip, J. and Poluzzi, A. (2014). Brand architecture management: The case
of four tourist destinations in Catalonia. Journal of Destination Marketing &
Management, 3(1), pp.48-58.
 Foresight, (2012). Brand Health Tracking. [Online]. Foresight. Available at:
http://foresight.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BHT-Introduction.pdf.
[Accessed on 29 May 2018].
 Khanna, A. (2015). Customers' Perception and Evaluation of Branded
Apparel. Global Journal of Enterprise Information System, 7(3).
 Li, M.L., Sanghavi, N. and De Mattos, C. (2018). An innovative investigation of the
image congruence of global consumer brand and consumers’ self-image: an
international cross-cultural perspective.
 Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N.D., Wells, W.D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L. and Spence-
Stone, R. (2014). Advertising: Principles and practice. Pearson Australia.
 Nielsen, D.M.J. (2015). The Influence of CSR on UK Consumer Behaviour What
Impact Does CSR Have on UK Consumer Decision-Making?. JOURNAL OF
ORGANISATIONAL STUDIES AND INNOVATION, 2(2), pp.21-38.
13

 PauwelsDelassus, V. and MogosDescotes, R. (2012). Brand name substitution and
brand equity transfer. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 21(2), pp.117-125.
 Pool, J.K., Asian, S., Abareshi, A. and Mahyari, H.K. (2018). An examination of the
interplay between country-of-origin, brand equity, brand preference and purchase
intention toward global fashion brands. International Journal of Business Forecasting
and Marketing Intelligence, 4(1), pp.43-63.
 Punyatoya, P. (2013). Effect of perceived brand foreignness on branding strategy
evaluation for high and low involvement products. International Journal of Business
and Emerging Markets, 5(1), pp.28-45.
 Sá, B.M. and de Almeida, V.M.C. (2015). A conceptual model proposition. Routledge
Handbook of Sports Marketing, p.92.
 Stewart, A.I. (2013). Using management information systems to determine the client
loyalty drivers in small and medium-sized enterprises within the banking
industry (Doctoral dissertation).
 Theofilou, A., Ventoura-Neokosmidi, Z. and Neokosmidis, I. (2014). Measuring
sponsorship effects on consumer purchasing intentions. Oxford Journal: An
International Journal of Business & Economics, 4(1).
 Wishart, T., Lee, S.P. and Cornwell, T.B. (2012). Exploring the relationship between
sponsorship characteristics and sponsorship asking price. Journal of Sport
Management, 26(4), pp.335-349.
14