Brand culture is an invisible and intangible spiritual power. Once formed, it will have a huge impact and active role in the operation and management of the brand. It can not only enhance the competitiveness of the brand, but also motivate the work enthusiasm of the company’s employees and attract more consumers to become followers of the brand. For example, JD.com is a self-operated e-commerce company. The core brand concept of JD.com is to focus on customer service and combine technological innovation to create a trustworthy company.
Brand culture has the following functions.
1. Guidance function
The guidance function of brand culture is reflected in two aspects: one is within the company; the other is outside the company.
(1) Inside the company. Brand culture reflects the common values of employees and stipulates the goals pursued by the company. Therefore, it has a strong appeal and can guide employees to work hard to achieve the company’s goals, so that the company can continue to develop healthily.
(2) Outside the company. The values, aesthetics and consumption concepts advocated by brand culture can guide consumers and guide them to a track consistent with their own propositions, thereby increasing consumers’ brand following.
2. Cohesion function
Inside the enterprise, brand culture is the spiritual force of team building. It can closely connect all employees from all aspects and levels, so that they can work together and strive to achieve the goals and ideals of the enterprise. Outside the enterprise, the functional attributes, benefit cognition, value proposition and aesthetic characteristics represented by the brand will attract consumers who identify with its value, making the brand attract consumers like a magnet, thereby greatly improving consumers’ loyalty to the brand. At the same time, it may also attract users of other brands and make them followers of the brand.
3. Motivation function
The formation of excellent brand culture can promote the formation of a good working atmosphere within the enterprise and stimulate the sense of responsibility, honor and enterprising spirit of the employees of the enterprise. For consumers, the values, benefit attributes, emotional attributes, etc. of the brand can create consumer perceptions, enrich consumer associations, stimulate their consumer desires, and make them generate purchase motivation. Therefore, brand culture can transform spiritual wealth into material wealth and bring high profits to the enterprise.
4. Constraint function
The rules and regulations and ethical norms contained in brand culture require enterprises to regulate employee behavior through these rules and regulations during the production and operation process; on the other hand, they can also guarantee the service and quality of goods through consumer supervision.
5. Promotion function
Brand culture can promote the long-term development of brand management and enable brands to gain sustained competitiveness in market competition; it can also help brands overcome various crises in the operation process and enable brands to develop healthily. However, improving brand management results through brand culture is an accumulation process, and generally there will be no immediate effect. Therefore, only by persisting in brand culture construction can good results be achieved.
6. Coordination function
Brand culture is not static. It can be adjusted according to factors such as the development of the enterprise, the development of the social economy, and changes in consumer demand to adapt to the continuous development of society, meet the changing needs of consumers, and ensure that there will be no cracks and disconnections between enterprises and society (even if they do appear, they will be quickly bridged).