Branding Kony2012 case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Branding Kony2012 case study - Essay Example The main objective of this study is to answer the question how does self branding influence consumer behavior in relation to how they respond to advertisements. Successful branding occurs when a particular product, company name or symbol is easily identifiable and common among the target group to the extent that they relate to it. Successful brands influence consumer decisions in terms of what they wear, what they eat and what they associate themselves with (Fan, 2002). This is because of the role brand advertising plays in encouraging individuals to identify with a particular company and its brands. Different approaches are often employed by companies and organizations to bring out their messages to the masses through various media and try as much as possible to appeal to their emotions and impact on their actions and decisions regarding the brand. Each person has their own natural desire to express their own feelings and identify with the things they like. With this proposition in mind, companies have learned to position themselves and their brands in a manner that they can be relied upon by the people to express their character and identity (Fan, 2002). This research study aims at examining the reasons behind self branding and the impact it has had on consumer behavior across the globe. This study makes use of the ‘KONY 2012’ campaign as the main case study from which reliable observations can be drawn and analyzed. KONY 2012 is a short film produced by Invisible Children Inc to create awareness about Joseph Kony, an African militia and cult leader who is an international criminal and a fugitive of the International Criminal Court. By creating this awareness, the Invisible Children Inc would bring to light the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony in Central Africa in relation to kidnapping children and using them as child soldiers and sexual objects. The organization would then sensitize people to come together and stop Kony’s operations i n Central Africa and bring him to justice. The video achieved unprecedented success having had over 97 million views on the video sharing website, YouTube and over 21.9 thousand likes on Vimeo. The KONY 2012 short video has been dubbed as the most viral video clip of all time. The video was released to the internet on March 5th 2012. It is one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever and largely helped invisible Children to further its mission. At the end of the campaign, about 3.7 million people across the globe had identified with KONY 2012 and the company behind the campaign and about 3.7 million people pledged their support for the campaign by purchasing action kits sold by the company. From this case study, this research observes and identifies a powerful strategy deployed by advertisers to position their brand in a way that it can be used by people who want to express certain aspects of their identity through the brand. When KONY 2012 set out to establish their brand they began by grabbing the viewers attention with an emotionally gripping story directed by Jason Russell who introduced a boy name Jacob from Uganda, Africa. He describes what he went through when the rebel group L.R.A (Lord’s Resistance Army), lead by Joseph Kony, kidnapped him and like many other children, boys and girls are captured and forced into the rebel army to