B randing: A crucial defense in guarding market share (I) For companies whose main products will never be seen by consumers, whose skill may lie producing anonymous grey powders, the issue of branding might seem irrelevant. What difference can a name – or a carefully designed logo – make to selling chemicals? ‘Nobody loves chemicals,’ says Peter May, Global Executive for chemicals and pharmaceuticals at KPMG, the business services group, which could explain why so few chemicals products are branded to the end-user. Yet branding can be a key defense in protecting market share in markets where all products seem to be the same. Even in the business-to-business market, chemicals producers can fix their product’s identity in the client’s mind through clever use of branding, according to Mr. May. (II) The procurement officers in large companies, who have responsibility for buying in supplies, can be as susceptible as end-users to branding that emphasizes a product’s key attributes and the manufacturer’s values. Mr. May cites the example of Neoprene, an industrial material recognized for its strength and toughness, as a success in this field. (III) C atrin Turner, partner at KPMG’s IP services division, agrees. She notes: ‘You can’t neglect branding. If you think you have no brand, what that means is not that you really don’t have any brands, but that you are not in control of them. And research shows that people do make buying decisions on the basis of brands.’ Dow Corning, for instances, set up the Xiameter brand for its lower-priced, high volume and established products, in the commoditized end of the chemicals market. (IV) ‘We were aiming to make a clear choice for customers, characterizing the product very clearly for the market, and for our employees,’ says Mike Lanham, Executive Director of Xiameter. ‘A lot of the chemical industry does not spend time on branding. It was a foreign concept, and we’ve had plenty of request from other companies to talk to them about what we did and why, as it is so unique.’ (V) Chemicals companies can also extend their brands into the consumer area. Ms. Turner points to the success of brands such as Lycra, Goretex, Microban and Teflon in the consumer market, as examples of how chemicals companies can appeal directly to customers even though their contribution may not be obvious in the end product. ‘DuPont didn’t make a success of Lycra by accident. It was a carefully executed strategy, which has paid off.’ She explains. D irections : Read the passage and match the following summaries to the correct paragraph.