The Development And Positioning Of The Zaraza Brand

Using a case study approach, this paper investigates the advertising and promotion campaign applied to develop and position the brand of distilled wine Zaraza, on the Romanian market of alcoholic beverages. The literature review is centred on the concept of brand identification and on the process of consumer-brand relationship. The brand personality can facilitate the development and the manifestation of a social identity, helping individuals to identify as members of a group. This process is highly desirable especially when launching a new brand or re-branding an existing product, resulting in an instant segmentation of the market, as well as a clear positioning of the new brand. The methodology collected and analysed both secondary and primary data, which were combined using triangulation. Primary data was collected through a series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews, lasting between 16 and 20 minutes, with 25 consumers and 10 distribution personnel. The discussion themes were centred on the effect of the advertising campaign for the Zaraza brand in terms of brand awareness, purchase intention, and value perception. In addition, in the case of customers we also investigated the process of developing an in-group social identity of the targeted group of customers, and, in the case of distributors, on the specific challenges raised by the innovative promotion method used for selling the Zaraza products. The analysis outline the innovative approach of the promotional campaign, characterized by a direct, almost brutal definition of the brand social identity, and by the association of fiction books and alcoholic beverages during three periods of product promotion. The discussion of the main findings is complemented by a presentation and interpretation of several verbatim citations of the answers obtained during the interview, regarding the Zaraza brand name, the adverts used in the promotional campaign, and the organization of the promotion event. The paper makes an original contribution to the literature regarding brand personality, brand-customer relationship, and the process of social identification, providing an interesting illustration of how to creatively develop and implement a successful promotional campaign for launching a new brand in a competitive market.