brand analysis

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Malveaux, Jr. Reginald, J.

UMGC: MBA 640 9046 Innovation Through Marketing and Technology

Professor, Dr. Russ, M.

07 August 2021

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Topic: Project 2: Conducting a Brand Audit

w/ updated References List, Appendices and Graph

Sony PlayStation

Brand personality

Band personalities are certain human traits linked to a particular brand name, and it is

something that consumers can relate to in the market. It usually assists firms in shaping how

consumers feel about their commodities, service, or mission. They usually elicit an emotional

response to specific customer segments to incite positive actions that benefit the company.

Individuals tend to buy a brand if its personality is similar to their own. PlayStation’s brand

personality can be explained through various factors, including up-to-date, intelligence,

confidence, leadership, and upper-class characteristics. The up-to-date factor links to the exciting

brand personality dimension. PlayStation ensures it offers customers exciting features in their

gaming consoles by updating their versions since consumers always identify with trending

brands (Palomba, 2016).

The upper-class factor for the PlayStation brand is linked to the sophistication brand

personality dimension since the brand produces sophisticated designs which will attract more

consumers. For instance, the PlayStation 5 release depicted the company’s sophisticated design,

which involved various shapes, including circles, triangles, crosses, and squares. It also rippled

with blue light, suggestive of explosive and untapped power and an ocean-like curvature (Peel,

2021). PlayStation also identifies with scalar progression brand personality. For instance, its

progressive versions included PlayStation one, two, three, four, and the recent five. The brand

also has a leadership personality since it has been in the console video games market for longer

than other competitors such as Microsoft’s Xbox.

PlayStation Brand Image

Generally, a company’s brand image arises from consumers’ perceptions regarding the

firm (Mabkhot, Shaari & Salleh, 2017). The initial brand image associated with PlayStation is its

superiority since consumers consider it the most advanced and powerful brand than its other

console and video game industry competitors. Secondly, customers believe that PlayStations are

the most up-to-date brand due to their trend of releasing stable PlayStation versions that can last

between seven to twelve years before they release the next one. Finally, PlayStation’s FIFA video

game also highly contributes to the brand’s image since it is the most played game on console

and the two entities are interlinked.

PlayStation’s Brand Identity

Brand identity arises from a firm’s goals, vision, and mission since it helps to highlight

the visible brand elements, including color, design, and logo (Essamri, McKechnie &

Winklhofer, 2019). These aspects assist in distinguishing the brand among its target consumers.

Sony PlayStation’s brand identity is marketing itself as the best digital and interactive

entertainment firm through its commodities and services. Secondly, PlayStation is also an

innovative brand. It usually established video game consoles from advanced technology

procedures, including PlayStation VR, which allows users to experience quality services while

using the consoles. Thirdly, Sony PlayStation’s brand identity also results from its logo,

representing brilliance, passion, joy, charm, and elegance. Its logo leaves a significant effect on

adults’ and kids’ eyes. For instance, bright colors assist individuals in distinguishing objects

quickly. It also helps in attracting children compared to other colors and remains as a

communicative aspect. Finally, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s parent brand establishes world-

class video games played on its consoles. It makes it easier for consumers to identify with its

products than its parent brand name (Holt, 2020).

Brand

differentiation

Product differentiation is also a crucial aspect in ensuring competitive advantage in an

intensively competitive environment. For instance, Sony uses differentiation as a generic strategy

to attain more consumers. This strategy involves producing unique commodities compared to

other products to ensure they are more attractive and profitable. For example, PlayStation’s

success arises from its novelty and uniqueness through innovative techniques (Meyer, 2017).

Therefore, what makes Sony different from other firms in the gaming console industry, is that it

also produces mobile phones, digital cameras, and televisions, which ensures it maintains its

gaming consoles’ values. Apart from PlayStation, it also offers various entertainment

commodities such as music; hence it is not limited to only games. Through multiple products, the

firm is also able to increase sales since its customer base is diverse. Consequently, brand

differentiation assists the company in attaining new customers and increases brand loyalty.

Brand positioning

This aspect deals with the theoretical vision that a company wants to inflict on its target

consumers (Fayvishenko, 2018). It usually relies on the geographical rest of the firm. For

instance, PlayStation strategically positions itself as an entity that aims at inaugurating a stake in

most markets globally. Most of the product’s target market believes PlayStation is a global brand

because Sony can satisfy a wide consumer range. The firm’s image also has a vital role in

ensuring it is well-positioned globally due to its innovation. Therefore, a well-positioning

structure assists organizations to favorably compete among their competitors.

Brand communication

Brand communication focuses on various practices that ensure effective customer

relationships. For instance, such procedures include consumer reviews about the product,

advertisements, and social media strategies. Sony established its communication foundation with

its PlayStation consumers. For example, the firm shortened the product’s name to PS, making it

easier for consumers to pronounce. Its PS5 line majorly targeted hardcore gamers aged between

fifteen and thirty. It also has numerous social media campaigns that enhance its product

awareness among customers. Sony also ensures a lasting relationship with suppliers such as

Terra soft solution for its operating systems, Nvidia for Graphic Cards, and IBM, which supplies

its processors. Its numerous branches ensure easy accessibility to its gaming consoles and a

constant supply of various products.

Brand loyalty

Studies depict that PlayStation has high ranks in the gaming console industry, and brand

loyalty among its users has contributed significantly to its success. PlayStation has the highest

brand loyalty margin over its competitors. For instance, in 2020, PlayStation had a loyalty

percentage of 40.7%, Xbox had 31%, and Nintendo had 30.4% (Sudi, 2017). The fascinating

factor in the gaming console industry is that one out of three owners of gaming systems were

always interested in purchasing PlayStation 5. Comparing Sony PS5 and other competitors, one

out of four individuals were interested in Xbox gaming consoles, and 8% of individuals were

interested in next-gen consoles.

Brand Equity

Sony has a highly valued brand equity because it has operated in the gaming industry for

a long time. The company’s estimated value in the gaming segment generates about $81.7 billion

annually, but in particular, after five months of selling PS5, the PlayStation product line attained

a value of $25 billion. Sony depicted that since launching PS5, it made 7.8 million units

shipments, including 4.5 million within the launch quarter and 3.3 million in the three months

ended March 31. Likewise, PS4 shipments for the whole of 2019 dropped from 13.5 million to

5.7 million due to its focus on its next-gen device (Batchelor, 2021). Most of the brand’s earnings

come from the gaming industry; hence its equity highlights the premium value from selling its

PlayStation product line.

Microsoft (Xbox)

Brand personality

Microsoft aims at inspiring entertainment for its consumers’ creative abilities, which

significantly contributes to its brand personality. It is among the many firms that manufacture the

market-leading gaming consoles that ensure optimum user experience. Xbox 360 identifies with

two brand personality scales, including strategic and maverick. The strategic category involves

personality traits such as confidence, success, corporate and contemporary. Secondly, the

Maverick scale included personality characteristics such as uniqueness, originality, imagination,

independence, and ahead-of-the-curve. Such brand personalities are the realistic descriptions of

Xbox products since Microsoft added player achievements, downloadable video game sections,

and quality graphics in its Xbox 360 line (Palomba, 2016). The firm concentrates on these traits

and takes advantage of them to re-invent its brand image and pass its brand personality to its

consumers.

Brand image

Brand image is crucial in influencing consumers’ attitudes in buying the company’s

products. The Xbox line has an excellent brand image that attracts more customers to purchase

its consoles, but Sony outshines it. Regardless of the stiff competition in the gaming consoles.

Xbox brand image is usually associated with graphics, power and great games that appeal to

hardcore gamers. This brand designs its consoles to be the best through technical capabilities that

surpass its competitors. The primary image portrayed by Xbox is that of competence. Numerous

games dominated gamers’ mindsets, and it was evident that individuals opted for Xbox, and

some of the outstanding features people focused on included high-quality graphics and easy

connectivity. Other users chose Xbox because of its availability for this console and the overall

experience they would get instead of Microsoft’s brand (Jain et al., 2011). Therefore, it can be

stated that most consumers believed that Microsoft had an excellent image because of utilizing

innovation in its production methods which increased the brand’s reputation to its consumers.

Brand identity

Microsoft’s brand identity touches on various features that describe the brand as a

product. For instance, such features include logos, color schemes, and style. Generally, excellent

branding leverages emotions to build a strong brand identity. As the parent company to Xbox,

Microsoft has a unique logo always accompanied by the firm’s name. The color scheme used in

the logo also appeals to most consumers. Therefore, it significantly contributes to establishing

the firm’s unique identity that cannot be copied with any other organization. The logo’s

uniqueness enhances the brand’s visual language and its identity. Generally, logos have a critical

role in marketing a product because they symbolize the interaction between consumers and the

firm. Xbox’s brand identity also arises from the provision of attractive commodities. For

instance, the firm produces good-looking consoles that largely contribute to the brand’s identity

that individuals always want to associate themselves with due to its attractiveness.

Brand differentiation

Differentiation strategies deal with organizations distancing their brands from other

competitors in the industry. For instance, Microsoft adopted numerous measures to ascertain that

it offers next-generation gaming consoles to compete in the industry favorably. The company has

a strong moat, which provides a competitive advantage that mitigates the competitive force

allowing it to attain large profits. The organization also takes advantage of broad differentiation

as a generic technique to enhance its competitive gap. For instance, it manufactures various

gaming

consoles due to the different

components that support 4K graphics and those with a

solid-state drive that enables customers to load video games quickly. The product’s

expensiveness made the firm invest in XSS, a digital, less powerful, and inexpensive gaming

console. This movie depicted that Xbox differentiated itself from competitors by targeting high-

and low-income earners (Reeves, 2020). Determining organizational products is essential since it

allows the firm to route to the customer base directly. There is something extra that the company

offers that other players in the industry cannot provide.

Brand positioning

A brand’s position in a market is crucial in ensuring its products’ profitability in the

market. It usually establishes association in peoples’ minds and makes product occupation in

consumers’ minds due to its designs. Microsoft strategically positions itself in the gaming

console industry by offering unique commodities such as Xbox series X. For example, XSX is

positioned as Microsoft’s global most powerful console because of its stunning visuals that

attract consumers and the exceptional loading and transition speed that gamers require in the

contemporary world. Xbox’s brand position also arises because it ensures its hardcore gamers are

delighted with its brilliant gaming consoles, which allows it to compete in the console war with

other competitors such as Sony. Microsoft perceives that brand positioning gives it an advantage

in ensuring product uniqueness from what competitors offer hence allowing companies to get a

tight grip in the market (Duhé, 2018).

Brand

communication

Microsoft adopts an extensively integrated marketing mix for its Xbox products. For

instance, it uses eight primary communication techniques to pass information to consumers

regarding the Xbox brand. To market, the Xbox series heavily depends on advertisements, social

media platforms, experiences, events, and other audience-centered communication techniques.

The brand has a global community that enables it to communicate its values to its consumers.

This community includes social media platforms, for instance, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Microsoft uses these platforms to make relevant communications to the general public and its

target market. Brand communication helps consumers know about a commodity, increasing

brand awareness (Mediavilla & Morillas, 2018).

Brand loyalty

Microsoft has been a critical player in the gaming console for a while and envisions

inspiring people in the creativity enjoyment. The company’s ability to offer consumers consoles

to enjoy established a solid consumer base within the market. The stiff competition from Sony’s

PlayStation threatens its brand loyalty since PS already has a vast market share in the industry. It

might be hard for it to attain such not unless it embraces immense innovation. Sony’s consumers

are intensely loyal to the brand; however, Microsoft focuses on evaluating the brand while

considering innovative ways of doing things and offerings. Xbox has also developed a strong

customer foundation for individuals who want to be linked to the brand while using it. It has won

some attention from its customers, which assisted it to retail its share of loyal consumers.

Brand equity

This section evaluates the brand’s value as consumers perceive it. For instance, Microsoft

offers unique and advanced gaming consoles to its users, and the Xbox brand uniqueness has a

significant impact on consumers’ mindsets. The brand’s uniqueness assists the company in

increasing its brand value. Microsoft’s brand equity links to organizational monetary value and

financial position. For example, Microsoft has a stable financial position globally. It is ranked

third globally with a current value of $571.25 billion, indicating a strong and competitive

industry. Xbox is part of Microsoft’s, but it undervalues this division since Satya Nadella does

not consider it his primary focus as the company’s CEO. Therefore, Microsoft never releases

exact figures regarding Xbox’s equity, making it hard to estimate its net worth. However,

statistics state that if Microsoft considers selling this brand, it could cost as much as $23 billion

(Luke, 2017).

Analysis of Sony and Microsoft’s brand performance

There were about 2.7 billion gamers globally in 2020, and the video game industry went

through a renaissance. Billion-dollar investments were made to transform various fronts in this

industry. There were monumental times when the cycle flipped the page to the next-generation

consoles for the console gaming category. Xbox and Nintendo put up a good fight, but the

background of gaming console sales points to an extended era of PlayStation dominance. PS sits

very comfortably on top of the rank, with the PS2 alone experiencing immense sales than Xbox

360 and Xbox one combine, as evident in figure 1.

However, over time, Sony has widened its gap between its competitors, and the spread in

unit sales between PS3 and Xbox 360 stood at 1.6 million, favoring Sony. In the next cycle, Sony

attained further dominance, with a difference between PS4 and Xbox One sales at 63.7 million

units. Therefore, while considering brand performance in the gaming console industry,

PlayStation has better performance records (Ali, 2020). Since Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s

Xbox are significant competitors to Slate Inc, they exhibit a significant impact in the

industry

because of the number of customers they serve annually. Similarly, the firm’s net sales signify

that they two are substantial participants in the market.

Brand extensions

Brand extension act as marketing plans whereby a firm marketing a product with a well-

established image uses similar brand names in a different product category (Ahn, Park & Hyun,

2018). A significant decision between Xbox and PlayStation as Slate Inc. competitors is

designing attractive packaging materials as a brand extension which also increases profitability.

In particular, Sony is considering a brand extension of its PlayStation’s product line by

discussions with television channels to have an after-pub show targeting the 18-24 age group

gamers. It also aims to launch a TV awards ceremony, and it is interested in involving other

gaming companies but retains the central sponsor post in the show. PlayStation has been set up

temporarily for fans to use at some Premier League grounds. It is also developing permanent

sites at fourteen of the twenty clubs in the league (Campbell, 2019).

When it comes to Xbox, it has been perceived as one of the most successful Microsoft

products once it was launched in 2001. The company also planned to use the Xbox magic to

derive profitability from the good vibes attached to the Xbox name and use it in other products.

For instance, Microsoft launched music and video stores and named them Xbox Video and Xbox

Music. While these services integrate with Microsoft’s game consoles, they are also available on

Windows devices that do not do with Xbox. Other Windows 8 games are also branded with the

Xbox name, even though cross-play between the PC and console does not exist. The games

integrate with Xbox Live, but that is about as far as the Xbox in them goes. Therefore, from these

strategies depicted by Microsoft, it is evident that the company uses the Xbox brand in non-

console and non-gaming situations to assist the company. It is a positive brand extension

technique that can expand its sales in various products (Farner, 2017).

Conclusion and recommendations to Slate Inc

In conclusion, the brand elements depicted in this study regarding Sony’s PlayStation and

Microsoft’s Xbox can be crucial aspects while considering consumer needs. Slate Inc. can use

some of these aspects to its advantage as a minor player in the console gaming industry. The

recommendation to Slate Inc. would be to focus on enhancing some of its brand elements. For

instance, it can opt for an innovative brand personality since it is not yet a well-established

brand. Being more innovative and focusing on particular features not yet tapped by PS and Xbox

can become more profitable to the organization. Secondly, it can also build a brand image that

incorporates the enjoyment perspective and an innovative powerhouse since most modern

generations consider such aspects before purchasing gaming consoles. Slate Inc. should also

have an attractive brand logo that will identify and stick in customers’ minds. The fourth

recommendation is to consider a brand differentiation strategy to make its products more

appealing. Finally, Slate Inc. can also borrow the brand communication techniques used by the

two key players in the gaming console industry and opt for social media platforms as the primary

way of communicating with their consumers.

References

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months. GamesIndustry.biz. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-28-

playstation-revenues-near-usd25m-as-ps5-ships-7-8m-in-six-months

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Appendix

Table 1: Comparison of the brand elements between PlayStation and Xbox

Branding elements PlayStation Xbox

Brand Personality Champions itself as an

innovative brand with a

sophisticated

brand personality

Identifies with the enjoyment

brand personality

Brand Image Consumers have a brand image

of PlayStations as an

innovation powerhouse in the

gaming console industry.

Perceived as a source of

enjoyment in the gaming

industry

Brand identity Well identifies itself through its

brand logo that includes its

name and various colors,

which signify brilliance,

passion, joy, charm, and

elegance.

It was identified through its

logo, which incorporates its

firm’s name and has significant

color schemes.

Brand

differentiation

Producing unique commodities

compare to other products in

It offers various gaming

consoles due to the different

the market either through

attractive shapes and curves.

components that support 4K

graphics and those with a solid-

state drive.

Brand positioning Positions itself as the market

leader in the gaming console

industry and a global product.

positions itself by offering

unique commodities considered

as the most powerful console

because of stunning visuals

Brand
communication

Uses social media platforms

such as Twitter, Instagram,

Facebook, and YouTube

Uses social media platforms
such as Twitter, Instagram,
Facebook, and YouTube

Brand loyalty Consumers have high loyalty

levels

Consumers’ loyalty is moderate

Brand equity Stable revenues that are easy to

predict and its sales have

increased over time.

It has stable revenues, but it is

hard to estimate the Xbox

product line value since it does

not release the statistics.

Figure 1: Approximated lifetime sales on home console units

Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/multi-billion-dollar-console-gaming-market/

The State of the Multi-Billion Dollar Console Gaming Market

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