BRAND Management

What is a brand?

A name, a term

A symbol, a sign

“A name, term, sign, symbol or any other feature that identifies

one seller’s product or service as distinct from those of other
sellers” -The American Marketing Association
 Brand can be
► Logo – shortcut to remind
► Colours
► Shape
► Letter
► Images
► Tunes
► Phrases
► Celebraties
 Functions of Branding
► Helps in Identification and gives distinctiveness to the
product
► Indirectly denotes quality and standard
► Eliminates Imitation
► Ensures legal right to the product (Trademark, patents,
copyrights…)
► Helps in advertising and packaging
► Helps in price differentiation of the product
Characteristics of a Strong Brand
► Brand name should describe its nature
► Easy to remember and pronounce
► Act as a stimulating trigger to customers
► Brand portfolio and hierarchy should make sense
► Brand should properly positioned
► Brand should be consistent
► Brand should be given continuous support and
monitoring
 Scope of Branding
 To teach the customers the following:-

1. “Who the product”- name, other elements

2. “What the product does”
3. “Why the consumers should buy”
 Brand relationships
FIRM INTERACTIONS CUSTOMERS

Brand identity Brand image

framed by marketers in the mind of customers
Brand relationships

Branding process

Brand
the actual image of the
firm in customers’ minds

A new definition based on Brand relationships: Brand is created in

continuously developing brand relationships where the customer forms
a differentiating image of a product or service based on all kinds of
brand contacts that the customer is exposed to.
 Brand Identity
Brand Identity is what the owner
wants to communicate to its
potential costumers.
 BRAND IMAGE
A unique set of associations in the
minds of customers concerning what a
brand stands for and the implied
promises the brand makes.
 The importance of image
 Image communicates expectations

 Image is a filter influencing perceptions

of the performance of the firm

 Image is a function of expectations and

experiences

 Image has an internal impact on

employees
 Image and Identity
Sending Media Receiving

Brand identity Signals

Brand image
transmitted

Competition
And Noise
 Contd..
► BRAND IMAGE is a unique set of
associations in the minds of customers
concerning what a brand stands for and the
implied promises the brand makes.
► BRAND IDENTITY is the strategic goal for
the unique set of associations that a brand
should stand for. These associations also
imply a potential promise to customers.
► PERCEPTION GAP.
 Brand Hierarchy
Brand Hierarchy is how an organization organizes
the various named entities within its portfolio, and
how they relate to each other.
The four general types of Hierarchy are:
1. Master brand : Maruti Suzuki
2. Brand/sub brand : Maruti
3. Endorsed brand : Maruti Esteem
4. Separate (stand-alone or independent) brands:
LXi/ SXi
Top 10 Global Brands*

* http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx
 Brand Positioning
► Brand Positioning
“Positioning is how a product appears in relation to
other products in the market”
 Brand positioning is all about identifying the
optimal location in our customers’ minds for our
Brand vis-à-vis with our competitors
 Proper positioning makes it easier to facilitate
understanding of our Brand
Developing a Positioning Strategy
► Positioning is not what you do with a
product but what you do in the mind of the
prospects.
► Positioning requires determining the frame
of reference by identifying
► Target market
► Competition
► POP’s and POD’S
 Category membership
► Starting point in brand positioning is to determine
Category Membership.
► Category membership is product or set of products
with a brand competes and which functions as
close substitutes
► Three main ways to determine category
membership:-
► Announcing category benefit
► Comparing to exemplars
► Relying on the product descriptors
 Target Market
Consumer Aggregates
Current users
Potential users
Competitive users
Consumer Segments
Behavioral
Dem/psych/geo
 Points of Difference & Parity
Difference
► Strong, favorable, unique
► Attribute or benefit
Parity
• Shared with other brands
• Important for brand extensions
 POP’S
► Point of Parity (POP)
► Two Types
► Category : attributes that are required to
include your product as a member of that
category.
► Competitive: POP’s that negate your
competitor's POD’s
► POP’s should be “good enough” but POD’s
should be superior
Choosing the differentiating strategy
► Product differentiation
► Personal differentiation
► Channel differentiation
► Image differentiation
 Choosing the pop’s and pod’s
► Relevance
► Distinctiveness
► Believability
► Feasibility
► Communicability
► Sustainability
 Proper Positioning
► Clarifieswhat the Brand is all about
► How it is both unique and similar to
competitive brands
► Why customers should purchase and use
the Brand
 5 Factors of Brand Positioning
1. Brand Attributes : What the brand delivers through features and
benefits to consumers.

2. Consumer Expectations : What consumers expect to receive from the

brand.

3. Competitor attributes: What the other brands in the market offer

through features and benefits to consumers.

4. Price : An easily quantifiable factor – Your prices vs. your competitors’

prices.

5. Consumer perceptions: The perceived quality and value of your brand

in consumer’s minds (i.e., does your brand
offer the cheap solution, the good value for the
money solution, the high-end, high-price tag
solution, etc.?).
 The Process of Positioning

Generally, the product positioning process involves:

► Defining the market in which the product or brand

will compete (who the relevant buyers are)
► Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions)
that define the product 'space'
► Collecting information from a sample of customers
about their perceptions of each product on the
relevant attributes
 Positioning- Toothpaste
Four main segments:

► Flavor and product Flavor, Brightness

appearance

► Brightness of teeth Price Positioning

► Decay Prevention
Decay Prevention
► Low Price
 Brand Equity
► Brand Equity is the value of a brand built up over
a period of time. It is composed of four
components namely Image, Perception,
Awareness and Loyalty.
► David Aaker defines brand equity as: “A set of
assets and liabilities linked to a brand's name and
symbol that adds to or subtracts from the value
provided by a product or service to a firm and/or
that firm's customers”
► Brand Equity is an asset that can be sold or leased
► BEis an important intagible assets that has
psycological and financial value to the firm.
 Measuring Brand Equity
► Brand Audit – It is a consumer focused exercise that
involves a series of procedures to assess the health of a
brand, uncover sources of brand equity, suggest ways to
leverage that equity.
► Is current brand equity satisfactory
► What brand associations needs to be strengthened
► What brand opportunity exist
► What potential challenges exist from the brand equity.
► As a result strategic analysis to develop a new marketing
program to maximize long term brand equity
 Steps of Brand Audit
► Brand Inventory:- Provides a current comprehensive profile
of how all the product and services sold by a company are
marketed and branded.
► Marketers helps in assesing and finding the consistency od
diff product and services sharing the same brand name.
► Brand Exploratory:- It is a research activity conducted to
understand what consumers think and feel
.Surveys,questionnaire,interviewhelps in generate ideas ,
insights,
► Techniques are used as projective
technique,vizualizationword association test.
 Brand Tracking
► Collect information from consumers on a regular
basis time to time
► Helps in providing information how their marketing
programs and brands are performinh
► Tracking studies are a means of understanding
where, how much, and in what ways brand values
is been created.
► Helps in facilitating day to day decision making.
 Brand Valuation
► Itis the total financial worth of the brand.
► Premium charged*no of units sold.
 Managing Brand Equity
► Brand
Reinforcement – consistently convey the
meaning of the brand to customers
 What the core brand represents, benefits supplied,
which needs it satisfies
 How brand makes those product/service superior and
which strong favorable unique brand association should
exist in the mind of customer
 Requires new product introduction
 Requires consistency of marketing support (new
offerings, new promotions)
 Example- Nivea from skin crème to skin care and
personal care products.
 Early 70s brand still a leader-coke kodak,hienz,wrigleys
 Brand Revitalization
► Brand Revitalization –
 Go back to basics of
consumer needs and wants
– finding gaps in market or
at the other end of spectrum
– go for reinvention (Intel).
 Revitalization finds elements
of both of the above, to
refresh existing sources or
find new sources of brand
equity e.g. Lifebuoy
 Reasons of Brand Revitalization
► A new competitor may have taken over the category and
the company is struggling to generate revenues from the
current product (colgate-closeup)
► A new variant has to be launched in order to regain
market share.
► The whole product or service category may be declining,
and a brand could be one of many brands that could use
revitalization
► Revitalization may be needed in order to communicate
category leadership, as well as develop an energized new
visual identity system
► Brand may no longer meet the consumers’ needs or
desires, where in the consumer has shifted to a different
platform.
► Revitalization may just be a need increase market share as
the brand image may be becoming less relevant to people.
► It may be time to re-position the product or rejuvenation
may be a spike in promotion activity.
► The brand has lost its unique point of differentiation and
thus looking to revitalize the product or brand with a new
image.
► The target market for the brand has aged, and the brand
hasn’t managed to renew its positioning in the minds of
the next generation of consumers as was the case with.
(lalita ji – surf)
► Consumers’ needs have shifted from price to value
 Examples
► Mountain Dew – introduced in 1969
► (yahoo mountain)
► 1990- Do the Dudes (young males)
► 2000- Do the dew
 Brand Crisis
► Critical of planning is planning for worst
► Smart company have effective corporate
crisis management policy.
► Careful preparation and well managed Crisis
management program ensures corporate
credibility and trustworthiness
► Example – Frozen pizza, packaged Milk
 Brand Equity Models
► Brand Asset valuator

► Aakers Model
► Brandz
► Brand Rssonance
 Aakers model
► Viewed BE as a 5 categories of asstes and liabilities linke to
a brand that adds and subtract to the value
► Brand loyalty
► Brand awareness
► Percieved quality
► Brand association
► Other proprietory assets such as trademark patents and
channel relationship.
► Imp concept in building BE is Brand Identity who had 4
prospectives
► Brand as product, brand as organization, brand as
person,brand as symbol
Factors influencing Brand Equity
Positive or Negative Brand Equity
 Brand Extension
► Brand extension or brand stretching is a
marketing strategy in which a firm
marketing a product with a well-developed
image uses the same brand name in a
different product category. The new product
is called a spin-off. Organizations use this
strategy to increase and leverage brand
equity
 Benefits of Extension
► Price premium that a brand commands over a
generic product
► Reduce risk perceived by customers
► Increase the probability of distribution and trial
► Increase efficiency of promotional expenditures
► Reduce costs of introductory programs
► Avoid cost of developing a new brand
► Create opportunities to extend into more distant
product categories
► Build equity
 Line Extension Strategy
►When a brand is used to brand a new
product that targets a new market
segment within a product category
currently served by the parent brand.

►Examples:
 Coca-Cola diet
 Colgate for Kids
 Line Strategy
► Horizontal: the brand extends to new
varieties of the product. E.g. pineapple,
strawberry, Mango.

► Vertical:the brand extends up or down in

terms of product quality. E.g., Base &
premium
 Brand Category Extension Strategy
► Effortto use a successful brand name to
introduce a new product into a different
product category.
Examples:
 Nike MP4 player
 Colgate toothbrush
 Lilliput- Kids Shoes
Important Factors for Extending Brands
POSITIONING

MARKET
•Information EXTENSION
Success of Brand •Fit
•Characteristic and
Nº Competitors Extensions
• Choice Shares
• Sales
• Evaluation
• Perceived Risk
• Profit
•Market Share
CONSUMERS
•Knowledge BRAND/FIRM
•Risk Aversion
•Brand Strength
Disadvantages of Brand Extensions
► Can fail and hurt parent brand image
► Can succeed but diminish identification with
any one category
► Can dilute brand meaning
► Can forgo the chance to develop a new
brand
► Can damage company credibility
 What is brand personality?
►Brand Personality is a set of human
characteristics associated with a brand

►Personality is how the brand behaves

►Gender, age, socio-economic class,

psychographic, emotional
characteristics
 Some Examples
►Marlboro is ‘masculine’ while Virginia
Slims is ‘feminine’
►IBM is ‘older’ while Apple is ‘younger’
►IndiaToday is ‘old-fashioned’ while
Outlook is ‘trendier’
►Coke is ‘conforming’ while Pepsi is
‘irreverent’
 About Brand Personality
► Brand Personality, like human personality, is both
distinctive and enduring
 Both are built over a period of time
► Refers to the outcome of all the consumer’s
experiences with the brand
► Inother words, the brand’s personality is the
weighted average of previous impressions
► In consumer’s mind, these impressions merge to
form an overall concept of what to expect from
brand
 Some More
► BrandPersonality is eagerly searched by
brand strategists and researchers

► Differences
in responses by different
consumers provide useful insights

► Forexample, users of a product will

perceive a brand different from non-users
 Why use brand personality
Enriches understanding
► Helps gain an in-depth understanding of consumer
perceptions of and attitudes towards the brand

► Can provide more insight than is gained by asking

about attribute perceptions

► For ex., Microsoft, IBM etc.,

 Why Use brand personality
Contributes to a differentiating identity
► Can differentiate brands especially where
brands are similar in product attributes

► In fact, it can define not only the brand but

the product class context and experience

► Mercedes Vs BMW; Clinic Plus Vs Pantene

 Why use ……
Guides the communication effort
► Communicates the brand identity with
richness and texture

► Ifthe brand is specified only in terms of

attribute associations, very little meaningful
guidance is provided
 Is Nike shoes or sports, performance and
attitude?
 Why use…
Creates brand equity
► Builds long-term brand equity

► Differentiatesthe brand and makes it

distinct from other competitive offerings

► Serves as a powerful relationship device

 Sponsorships
► Activitiessuch as events sponsored by the
brand will influence its personality

► Pond’s sponsoring Femina’s ‘Miss India’

contest
► MRF Formula-1 racing championship
 Age
► How long a brand has been on the market
can affect its personality

► New entrants like Apple, Outlook etc., tend

to have younger brand personalities than
IBM, India Today etc.,
 Symbol
►A symbol can be a powerful influence on
brand personality since it can be controlled
and can have extremely strong associations

► Some examples…
 Apple’s bitten apple
 Nike’s swoosh
 MetLife’s Peanuts character
 To Sum Up……
► A brand personality can help a brand in several ways:
 It can provide a vehicle for customers to express their own identity
 A brand personality metaphor helps suggests the kind of
relationship that customer has with brand
 Brand personalities serve to represent and cue functional benefits
and product attributes well

► Importantly, brand personality is often a sustainable point

of differentiation
 Sustainable because it is very difficult to copy a personality
 Brand Creation
► Brand creation is about answering:-
 What to launch?
 Where to launch?
 When to launch?
 How to launch?
 For whom to launch?
 Brand creation is striking a sync between: Brand
pricing-Brand distribution-Brand quality-Brand
Image-Brand benifits
 Some More….
► Brand creation is the birth of a brand
► It is not only naming or symbolically tagging
but goes beyond that
► Headed towards fulfilling all promises and
top class services.
► Brand creation is an expensive and tricky
affair
 Examples
► Nike - tick mark (always right)
► Wipro – spent Rs 35 crore for new logo
(applying thaught)
► Videocon
 Brand Customer Relationship
► Brand are essentially the collective
perceptions of an organizations key
constituents(customer,supplier,inverstor,em
ployee etc..)
► Defined more by deeds than by words
► Brand is how your customer experience
what you do.
 Steps to build strong customer
Relationship
► Clearly articulate your brand identity
► Establish a customer value proposition
► A Strong Vision Regarding Service that is Clearly
Communicated
► Constant Service “Talk”
► Customer Friendly Systems
► A Balance Between Technology and the Personal Touch
► Do the optimal customer experience and create a holistic
brand experience
► Cultivate relationship and treat them carefully by listening
what are u told , learn from it and respond
 Devising a Branding strategy
► Can develop new brand element for new
product
► Can apply some of its brand element
► Can use a combination of new and existing
brand elements.
 Branding Strategy
New Products
Brand extension – use established brand name to launch a new product
Sub-brand – combine a new brand with an existing brand (Adobe Acrobat
software,Toyata camary automobiles,american express bluecards)
Parent brand – existing brand gives birth to a brand extension (Procter $ Gamble)
Family brand – parent brand associated with multiple brand extensions e.g.
Kellogg’s, Heinz, DelMonte)
Line extension – use of a parent brand to brand a new product, targeting anew
market segment served by the parent (e.g. new flavors)
Category extension (brand stretching – use of a parent brand to enter a different
product category from that served by the parent (Yamaha ---motorbikes to
pianos, sports equipment)
Brand line – all products sold under a particular brand (Heinz 57)
Brand mix – set of all brands offered to buyers (P & G has 71 brands)
Branded variants – specific brand lines supplied to particular retailers or channels
(e.g. Guinness Stout, Guinness Extra Stout)
 Financial aspects of Brand
► In the past, marketing was often said to be unaccountable.
Not any more. Today, marketers are required to show how
their expenditure is delivering a return, by contributing to
brand and business success. And there are clear benefits in
putting a value on the brand plan. First, it allows for return
on investment calculations to be based on a truly long
term perspective, not just on outcome within one fiscal
year. And second, it enables testing of investment
hypotheses — for example, to find out what happens if
expenditure is reduced — within a framework both
marketing and finance can understand.
 Branding in Different Sectors
► Industrial Sector
 Company Name Branding
►Often, especially in the industrial sector, it is just the
company's name which is promoted (leading to one
of the most powerful statements of "branding"; the
saying, before the company's downgrading, "No one
ever got fired for buying IBM").

►In this case a very strong brand name (or company

name) is made the vehicle for a range of products
(for example,Reliance and hilty)
 Financial Sector
► Branding in financial services has its own
characteristics, the crucial element being
consumer trust, after all the institutions are
handling your money. For this reason in most
cases the brand and the institution’s name are one
and the same.
 Core brand values
► Recognition/awareness
► Trust/reliability
► Value/price
► Service
► Availability/distribution
► Product range
► Innovation
► Professional expertise
 Service Sector
► The 4-M approach centers on the 4 basic elements that a service
provider must manage for branding services effectively. In a nutshell
the 4-M approach involves

 Managing Egos- People always react negatively when they perceive a

threat. Also, research has shown that more than the physical threat; it is
threat to one's sense of self-one's ego that elicits the most negative
response. Thus managing egos is important in maintaining healthy and
positive relationships with the company's customers-both internal as well
as the external. Only if the internal customers (employees) feel safe and
do not perceive any threat to their egos, will they provide superior service
to the external customers.

 Managing Perceptions- Brands are not static but are continuously

evolving and changing with changing customer perceptions. Thus, a brand
is not simply the promise of said quality but is in fact a manifestation of
consumer perceptions of that promise- whether they see it as useful or
not, truthful or not, consistent or not etc. Thus, managing perceptions of
both internal and external customers is crucial in branding services.
 Contd….
 Managing Attitudes- What people think about you matters! In any
service, people are the walking billboards of the company. As primary
service providers they interact with customers directly to deliver the
service. What they think about the company is invariably reflected in the
service they deliver. Thus, managing their opinions is critical in branding
services. Also, each satisfied customer can direct another ten prospects
towards your service. This word-of mouth publicity which is unique to the
service industry can only be leveraged if your customers think highly of
you as a service provider.

 Managing Awareness- Goods have the advantage of ocular presence

and physical existence. This tangibility helps consumers to first experience
the product through the various senses, build a perception about the same
and then decide to buy or not. However, in the case of services, the
intangibility of the service causes the customer to buy the product and
then decide whether it appealed to their senses or not. Branding services
therefore becomes extremely tricky since there are very few ways of
creating brand awareness and conveying the brand promise to the
customers. Nevertheless, managing service awareness, though challenging
can be achieved using physical evidence and media. Physical evidence
refers to the material touch and feel factors that accompany the service
and these are important in conveying the brand promise to the customers.
Media on the other hand, is extremely useful in branding services by
creating brand awareness.
 Consumer Sector
► Sound: Here i would like to quote an example by Martin
Lindstorm of Coke. According to him, whenever a user
open the website of Coca Cola - a sound of Fizz while
opening Coke should be there. With that as these days
people go to hypermarkets and buy in bulk, so they spend
lot of time there. SO the experience out there is important.
And the right music there can really help. Also these big
FMCG giants occupy one section for their respective
projects. So they can utilize the space.

► Sight: There are different dimensions here. First is the

packaging which is normally said the 5th P of marketing.
You know after HLL getting a tough competion from
Regional players in India, because of packaging, started
focusing a lot in this area. Looks definately matter. Other
thing is retail displays/ merchandising. If the products are
placed at the eye level, there is a high chance of
consumers to but them in basket.
 Contd…..
► Smell: As mentioned in point 1, with music, aroma of
different products according to the company or the product
categories can also be introduced. Then in case of
Agarbattis, soaps, toothpaste as Puru mentioned, smell
plays a major role. Also count deos and perfumes here.

► Taste: It is more of a product attribute and is considered

to be a tangible. Obviously Nestle Maggi Noodles should
taste which will force buyers to refill their empty stock next
time they visit retail.

► Touch: There are some products like classbooks like ITC's

Classmate for which the quality of the paper is very
important. This also involve an angle of touch.