Doppelganger Brand Image that gave us some closure - Factors affecting Brand Identity

A quick walkthrough to Doppelgänger Brand Image

A doppelgänger brand image is a company logo that has been modified in a pejorative manner. Such images are most likely to be spread via social media, or through websites of anti-brand activists such as Adbusters, and are often intended to highlight ethical issues regarding the product advertised. In the pursuit, it drastically affects the brand value.

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Brand Value:

Brand equity refers to a value premium that a company generates from a product with a recognizable name when compared to a generic equivalent. Companies can create brand equity for their products by making them memorable, easily recognizable, and superior in quality and reliability.

source: Investopedia

A 2012 study concluded that doppelgänger brand images were able to negatively affect sales.

Among many reasons, the main reason that DBI occurs is that of inauthenticity and misleading people into buying something under false pretenses.
A Doppelgänger Brand Image can have a strong influence on consumer's buying decision. 

❝ Mainly three stages are involved in any purchase, i.e Awareness, Consideration and Decision. During either of these stages if the consumer is exposed to DBI then that could probably make the consumer switch to alternatives, which in turn would be a potential loss to the firm at the receiving end of it ❞

A doppelganger brand image is likely to influence and stimulate brand perception in the consumer's mind. 
Brand perception is how the consumer perceives the brand, the aggregate perception of the brand by consumers is what defines brand equity.

For instance, Apple as a brand enjoys great brand equity because consumers perceive Apple as a valuable brand. In fact, Apple stands as a benchmark of quality, standard and status quo.
One can find examples of Apple in numerous entrepreneurship and business books like Start With Why? and many more.

Here are some extraordinarily creative DBI's created by graphic designers that break the ice.

Everyone recognizes this brand, but that's not it's the actual description. It is Starbucks, it is known for its specialty in coffee. But it doesn't end there lately we have all been made aware of the fact that how detrimental sugar is for our body, and I am not just talking about diabetes. of course, overconsumption of sugar will make you diabetic. But about recently we came to know that we had always been hooked on sugar it's an addictive substance. Turns out it is more addictive and strong that cocaine. There's is sugar in everything, you name it and on the top of that, we have products heavily endowed with sugar, products like Nutella. On the premise of this data, the DBI seems legitimate.

Another popular fast food brand or as I prefer to call it a Junk food brand, this particular brand has been criticized consistently over the years but there is very little that they can do about it after all Junk food is indeed their core competency, they cannot serve Broccoli and Carrots unless they wanna relinquish their brand. Mc'Donalds food is heavily endowed with preservatives and toxicity which is detrimental to our health. According to research conducted in the United States claims to have made teenagers fat. Plus everybody knows Pepsi and Coke's affiliation with Mc'Donalds which again is a drink heavily endowed with sugar and caffeine.

This looks familiar,... It is Samsung, isn't it? I mean who could not relate to this DBI, the UI, the Design, The Structure is pretty much always the same. Even a loyal consumer at one point would switch to another brand. Everybody expects something different and innovative at one point to get over the tedium.

The creativity of the designer in this DBI is worth applause, it seems half the job was done by Pepsi itself and the DBI portrays emotional branding, which cautions restraint. Pepsi is a soft drink and goes with pizza and burger and sandwich, now for the people who have these foods in their diet would probably consume more Pepsi, And Pepsi as we know it is again heavily endowed with sugar and caffeine. Both sugar and caffeine being the addictive component that they are, will induce frequent purchases.

This is a DBI of a Cigarette manufacturing company which had to close it's operation in the year 1997, the name of the brand was Joe Camel, but it seems that the designer did his research thoroughly and named it as Joe Chemo, the word Chemo suggests Chemotherapy that one has to undergo as a consequence of cancer. In the original brand, the camel character is portrayed smoking a cigarette with a rather inappropriate smirk expression on its face, whereas in DBI it appears to be sad and depressed holding the saline bottle to keep itself alive. What this artist has done is really commendable, I mean cigarette manufacturing companies are responsible not only for hefty medical bills but also the loss of lives that they corrupt.

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Doppelganger Brand Image will keep occurring as long as human life is put in danger by these very brands and as long as inauthenticity is entertained. Brand creation process takes years to build up, but it will be destroyed in no time by the DBI's. We are living in the consumerist culture, the brand should always try to deliver its value proposition and thus it can safeguard their interests. For dominant brands like Pepsi and Coke serves global consumers across different countries, with end number people who might out of offense create the DBI and incriminate the brand for good, things like these get viral in no time with the help of social media.

Also read: Sugar is more harmful than you think

To prevent something like this from happening brands needs to define consumer culture and its constituents, how the factors behave. Brands who cannot change their course needs to reflect corporate social responsibility, that's how they can define their cause.

In this digital age, we will keep stumbling upon Doppelganger Brand Image and will hopefully remain safe from any product that might deprive us of our health or wealth.

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