Effective Branding

I am back from my self imposed exile. Sometime it feels good to be away from the digital dilemma of life. Anyways. I was reading this nicely written paper in Brand Channel. Amit goes on to explain Effective Branding as something which involves working on four important dimensions, namely:

The Functional Dimension
The functional dimension concerns the perception of benefit of the product or service associated with the brand

The Social Dimension
The Social Dimension concerns the ability to create identification with the group

The Spiritual Dimension
The Spiritual Dimension is the perception of global or local responsibility

The Mental Dimension
The Mental Dimension is the ability to support the individual mentally

He explains his framework with the analysis of the brand Airtel:

The Functional Dimension
The role of the technology is to make thing easier for the consumers. Airtel has been very successful in simplifying the use of mobile services by modifying the technology to suit the common users. Even the simplest of the consumer can use the products and services.
Airtel says, "Your world of communication just got simpler."

The Social Dimension
Airtel is a recognized brand to be associated with. I satisfy my esteem and it gives me opportunity to be a part of the culture. It is associated with high level of social value.

The Spiritual Dimension
"Building telecom, building relationships." It is important to be in touch with the relatives and dear ones but this is possible today through the mobile communication. Airtel encourages everyone to be more involved in building relationships and spread the happiness.

The Mental Dimension
Airtel gives me the opportunity to "Express Myself." The message is very clear to be open and daring to express. The expression gives me a lot of pleasure and an opportunity to think that I am a separate individual and have the right to communicate and express myself.

After reading the article few questions popped up. Do all brands fall in this framework? What happens to a brand when it does not satisfy the Social and Spiritual Dimension? What if the brands Mental Dimension is considered too mental from a consumer point of view? Is Cultural Dimension same as Social Dimension?

Can anyone share a better example which will fit this framework? Can any brand create these dimensions if it doesn't exist? (Pooja was discussing about a body lotion brand and how to derive at a unique brand proposition.) Can we create a hypothetical Body Lotion which satisfy this dimension chart? And can that lead to an unique proposition? Can we test that with people to see if it works?

I find this a very useful exercise and I am trying to fill in the blanks with several brands from different categories to understand whether this framework make any sense. Why don't you try out for yourself, you might come across something interesting.

Thinking about brand propositions

When deciding on a product/brand benefit to use as a brand proposition, what kind of research helps to ascertain whether the said benefit is a strong enough motivator for purchase and embrace?

This is in cases where the product does not have any unique feature (yet the product is as good as that of any other brand) so you have to force-fit the benefits of buying products from this brand...

Can FGDs really help calculate intention to buy? Do we have to partly follow intuition?

Is it a bit of a gamble at the end of the day?

E.g if I am a body lotion brand that repairs and softens dry skin. My product has no other promise to make. How does my ad agency find a proposition for me? Actually thats not my question. My question is how can one quantify the appeal of the benefit/proposition?