BRAND MANAGEMENT

UNIT 5
BRANDING IN PRACTICE
HANDLING BRAND NAME CHANGES
When it comes to brand name changes, some examples flash such as Anderson → Accenture,
Datsun → Nissan, Pal → Pedigree, and Phillips → Whirlpool, Backrub → Google, to name a few.

Brand transfer is a lot more than brand’s name change. A brand’s established name has links with
emotional associations, empathy, and preference in its consumers’ mind. The loyalty and trust of
the customers cannot be transferred easily to just one entity: the brand name. The brand image is
required to be transferred.
When to Change a Brand Name
A brand’s name is changed in the following scenarios −
• When the existing name sounds weak or is not able to establish its position in the market.
• When a brand wants to present its upgraded product or service.
• When a brand wants to introduce more clarity in its name.
• When a brand needs to distant itself from negating effects of the existing name.
• When a brand wants to get instant recognition in the market while expanding globally.
What to do Before Changing a Brand Name
There are few estimations the brand managers need to work on −
• Estimate and quantify the costs
• Judge the benefits and losses
• Analyze target audience and market

BRAND IMAGE TRANSFER

The following three factors facilitate brand image transfer −
Product Resemblance
When consumers consider source brand’s product and target brand’s product or product category
similar. For example, it is more likely for a pasteurized milk brand to boost a low-calorie cheese
brand than a soap brand.
Target Group Resemblance
If the target brand aims for the same target group as the source brand, there are high chances of
target brand succeeding as the initial purchases of a target brand will mainly be made by consumers
of the source brand.
Family Resemblance
Family resemblance means that the look and feel of the source brand and the target brand have to
be largely the same.
REBRANDING

A company requires to rebrand when it decides to change any of its brand elements such as brand
name, logo, slogan, or even a small change in the message for better communication and more
relevant brand promise. Rebranding is extremely important, expensive to execute, and risky.
Why do Companies Rebrand?
There are multiple reasons behind why companies initiate rebranding. These reasons can be
categorized into two types − proactive or reactive. Let us take a deeper look.
Proactive Rebranding
It happens when a company anticipates and prepares for future changes in the market.
• To prevent or prepare for future potential threats by competitors.
• To plan for international growth, rebranding the products and services into a consolidated
brand thereby saving money over time and creating a greater sense of brand unity.
• To enter into a category of business, product, or market which no longer remains cohesive to
the existing brand identity. In case of Apple Inc., as the company evolved into new businesses
beyond computers, the original brand name Apple Computers became too restrictive. It was
then changed to Apple Inc. At the same time, Apple Inc. updated its logo depicting its progress.
• To attract new audience, or want to appeal to it. In case of McDonald’s ads, it refers to itself
as McDonald’s to target a different demographic from its traditional audience.
• To increase the brand relevance in consumer’s mind, the company might decide to rebrand.
For example, when the use of printed Yellow Pages directories started declining, Yellow Pages
rebranded to YP.

REACTIVE REBRANDING
This branding occurs when the companies need to react to a significant change. Reactive
rebranding might happen in the following situations −
• When companies need to work on negative brand image.
For example, during 1990-2000, the London based men’s clothes making company
Burberry’s public image was associated with hooliganism and violence. The brand had lost
its image so badly that the clubs and pubs in UK had started banning entry for the people
wearing Burberry. The company worked to disassociate itself from such an image by
changing styles of the product, changing their logo, and applying excellence in everything.
 • When companies merge or acquire other companies, or when they separate. For example,
California based Intel rival and chipmaker, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is considering
to split shortly.
• When there are legal issues with branding. Trademarks are often the root cause for
rebranding. For example, an Australian business tries to expand into USA and finds that its
existing name is already trademarked and not available for use in USA.
• When a competitor manifests a company’s brand as useless or outdated, then rebranding
helps to get an opportunity to facelift the brand to effectively strike back in the market.
• When changes take place in business regulations, laws, competitors, etc.
• When a company lands up into a significant controversy or negative publicity, it considers
rebranding to rebuild the trust of consumers and stakeholders. It cuts up all the ties with the
issues in picture and moves on with the new form of brand.

When To Rebrand:
1.New locations
If you are expanding to international markets, who won’t identify with your current logo,
messaging.

2.New philosophy
Make sure your brand mission, vision, and values should govern every decision you make
— including brand decisions. By pivoting the Right direction of your business along with them,
you will need to re-evaluate your brand.

3.Market repositioning
If your brand targets a completely new customer profile — whether through product, place,
price, or promotion — your brand will need to follow suit.

4.Mergers and acquisitions

When two companies merge, two brands s also join. If your brand was acquired or merged
with another company, you could not just let both brands battle it out. Finding a new brand that
displays the new entity will prevent confusion and help in building trust.

Not to Rebrand When:

These are legitimate reasons for rebranding while below reasons should not be considered
for rebranding. Boredom, Ego, to gain attention and cover-up crisis should not be the reasons to
start rebranding.

BRAND REJUVENATION VS REBRANDING: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

• Isn’t that just the same thing as a rebrand?! Many people get confused between the two terms,
and while there are some overlaps, the meanings vary slightly.
A brand goes beyond the name, logo and visual elements of a business. It describes how
your business exists in the minds of your consumers; how they feel about your business,
rather than just how it looks. That means that a re-brand is more than just changing the name
or redesigning the logo. It’s about creating an entire new identity for your business, setting
it apart from its competitors and making it memorable because of the way people feel about
it.
Relaunching
Relaunching a brand is reintroducing a brand into the market.
Relaunching implies that a company was marketing the brand but
stopped doing so for some reasons. Relaunching is an opportunity to
set new objectives for the brand.
Relaunching a brand can demand the changes ranging from the
aspects as minor as logo prints on stationery and cutlery, staff
uniforms, to as major as website of the company, changes in premises, etc.
How to Relaunch a Brand?
When a company relaunches a brand, it hopes to avoid
the mistakes from past experience and wants to set a
strong foot in the market.
A brand manager needs to consider the following DO’S
AND DON’TS while relaunching a brand.
• Analyzing the marketplace and target market segment.
• Knowing about the competitor brands.
• Conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis.
• Positioning the brand in an appropriate new form.
• Avoiding too many changes in too short time. This type of strategy can lead to the
risk of not retaining consumer’s attention and interest for a long time. In future, it
can make the company and its products unrecognizable to its existing customers.
Let the consumer know about the new form the brand has taken.
• Communicating clearly about the brand relaunch. Creating awareness among
people about new objectives and distinctive offers. Making the changes gradually
and noticeably.

BRAND REVITALIZATION is a strategical process initiated for improving the existing

product, process or brand to meet the changing demands and requirements of the consumers in the
evolving market. It is a corrective measure applied when the business or the product is at the
maturity or decline stage (alarming phase) of its life cycle and is on the verge of becoming obsolete.
At the decline phase, the company experiences a downfall in the sales, customer turnover, reduced
profitability and falling market share. All these symptoms point towards adopting a suitable brand
revival strategy.

Why do companies go for brand revitalization? Is it just a problem-solving method for the
companies?

Brand revitalization is a transformational strategy where the companies aim at overall business
growth. To know the various reasons for which reviving of a brand is necessary, read below:
 • Globalization: The company need to revive the brand before selling its product in
international markets, to make it universally adaptable.
• Technology: With the evolving technology, the companies generate a need for constant
upgradation of the brand and the products.
• Competition: In a competitive market, brand revitalization helps to break the stereotype
and attract the target audience.
• Reputation: Brand revival becomes necessary to resolve specific issues which harm the
company’s goodwill; or unnerves employees or consumers.
• Rationalization: It is a suitable strategy to handle situations like product complexity, cost
inefficiency, consumer turnover and dip in profits.
• Pertinence: Brand revival becomes essential when the company no longer serves the
purpose of the consumers and tends to go old-fashioned for them.
• Expansion: The company has to go for brand revitalization for fulfilling the requirements
of a larger organization while restructuring the business.
• Legal Obligations: It is a vital practice to deal with specific copyright problems like two
or more brands having identical names, logos or design for their products.
• Mergers and Acquisitions: A corporate merger requires restructuring and rebranding to
please the existing consumers of both companies. Also, in the acquisition, the acquiring
company is a dominant player revives the target company’s brand to aim a larger market
share.

BRAND REVITALIZING STRATEGIES:

ADVANTAGES OF BRAND REVITALIZING

• Feasible Strategy: If compared to the failure of a brand (in the decline stage of the
business or product life cycle), it is expedient to revive it on time.
• Enhances Brand Equity: The renaissance of a brand
can prove to be an efficient tool in attracting and
engaging the new consumers.
• Improves Profitability: With an increasing number
of loyal and satisfied customers, the company avails
the opportunity to generate higher profit than its
competitors.
• Appreciates Market Share: The companies which
go with the flow of the market and makes constant
improvements can secure more significant market
share.

DISADVANTAGES OF BRAND REVITALIZING

• Customer Turnover: The improvisation of the brand or the product, may result in
dissatisfaction of some existing customers.
• Resistant to Change: The people associated with the
brand, i.e., the employees, customers, shareholders, etc.,
remain accustomed to the old ways.
• Involves Cost: The designing of the new project as well as
the promotion, advertising and marketing of the revived
brand or product is an expensive affair.
• Creates Confusion: A revived product or brand may distract the buyers; however, this
temporary drawback can be overcome through massive brand awareness programs.

BRANDING FOR GLOBAL MARKETS

Venturing into global markets is inevitable for brands. A brand is global when it is visible and
sold at every possible place in the world. The consumer around the world become aware of
various international brands if they travel worldwide or just watch a satellite television at home.
Before you take the brand in the global market, you need to cater to various aspects of the global
consumer such as −
Culture of Consumers −
• The values the consumers follow
• The customs they observe
• Particular symbols and language they use
• The tone of their behavior
• Consumer’s level of income and buying power
Economic status of the country in terms of −
• Power supply
• Infrastructure
• Communication systems
• Distribution systems
Laws and Regulations enforced −
• Is it lawful there too?
• Political stability of the country
When the brand transits from local to global, it competes with other global brands. For example,
Nokia battles Motorola and Samsung. The brand managers must manage the transnational brand
to remain superior on the essentials such as the brand’s price, performance, features, and
imagery.

Advantages of Global Marketing Programs

Economies of scale in production and distribution
Lower marketing costs
Power and scope
Consistency in brand image
Ability to leverage good ideas quickly and efficiently
Uniformity of marketing

Disadvantages of Global Marketing Programs

Differences in consumer needs, wants, and usage patterns for products
Differences in brand product development and the competitive environment
Differences in the legal environment
Differences in marketing institutions
Differences in administrative procedures

BRAND GLOBALISATION
Brand globalisation refers to a scenario where brands gain recognition worldwide, for example,
Apple, Google and Adidas.
In order to achieve brand globalisation in today's economic climate, firms need to:
1) Identify the target market for their brand;
2) Conduct market research before deciding which countries to expand to;
3) Determine the category in which the brand would be positioned;
 4) Decide which decisions have to be taken at the central level and at the local level.
5) The process of brand globalisation
6) The impact of globalisation in recent years has led to the popularity and importance of the
brand globalisation process, which consists of several phases, including:

Defining brand identity: The first step in brand globalisation is developing a brand identity and
defining its constraints. Brands also need to be careful that they don’t lose their identity throughout
the globalisation process. Brands need to be aware of the fact that when they expand to different
countries, the overall confidence in the brand may take a hit and it can take time to build this
confidence up again. Before entering a new country, it is important that brands conduct a thorough
analysis of the market conditions in the country, which should include:
Size of existing market;
Purchasing power;
Consumer choices;
Level of competition;
Type of distribution channels present;
Presence of entry barriers;
Opportunity to register the existing brand name.

Accessing the markets: A brand is not limited to just being a name on the packaging of products,
it is something that differentiates those products from its competitors and also adds value and
confidence to the products. Therefore, when a brand enters a new market or country, its first
initiative is fundamental in determining its long-term popularity. That is why, in this period of
globalisation, brands have introduced multi-level branding with a parent brand and a daughter
brand. In these situations, the parent brand can only go through the globalisation process with the
assistance of the daughter brand. In such cases, the daughter brand includes the range of products.
When these brands enter a new market, they usually do it using two methods, including:

Creating a new category: This is when brands attract attention in a new market by creating a new
product category altogether. A parent brand establishes itself by using the daughter brand as a
point of reference in a new category. The best part about using this method is that the product has
no competition and helps in better negotiations with distributors who want innovation in products.
And;
Segmenting a pre-existing category: The other viable option in this scenario is to launch a similar
but differentiated product in a category that already exists.

Selecting products that have been adapted to the new markets: When a brand decides to enter
a new market, it is important that it adapts its products to suit the market consumers. This needs to
be carried out carefully and with the help of proper strategy and the adapted products should result
in rapid growth and confidence in the brand.

Setting up local campaigns: Recently, brands are preferring to set up local campaigns in different
markets compared to using a single campaign globally. Giving local subsidiaries the freedom to
create their own campaigns helps in creating buzz around the brand in a new market.

HOW DO GLOBAL BRANDS COMPETE?

Some examples of global brands that are in on-going competition with each other include; Apple
vs OnePlus, Pepsi vs Coca-Cola, HP vs Dell and Lindt vs Ghirardelli. In an attempt to stand out
or get one over their competition, global brands try implementing several strategies, including:

Thinking globally: Top firms aim to be perceived as a global brand because this is what attracts
consumers to their products. Airbnb used this global thought process in a business marketing
strategy where they asked people across the world to accomplish random acts of hospitality for
strangers and then upload a photo or a video of it, with the hashtag #OneLessStranger. This
example of a marketing strategy worked wonders as within three weeks of its launch, more than
3,000,000 were following or participating in it (source: Hubspot.com).

Controlling the dark side: Even though some firms are global brands, it does not mean that
consumers always view them in a positive manner. If there are some negative perceptions of your
firm, it is advisable to create campaigns that show your firm in a positive light. Another way of
portraying this is to display consumer and client testimonials in advertisements and on your
website and social media.

Converting corporate social responsibility (CSR) into entrepreneurship opportunities: CSR

has become an important feature in top organisations across the world. However, the impact of
these activities is questionable with most of these efforts directed towards public relations.
Consumers are able to see through such activities, which end up harming the goodwill and image
of the firm. Hence firms must be seen doing something that actually benefits or helps the society
in general.
CSR is a management concept in which organisations incorporate environmental and social
concerns into their business operations. This is the best method in which organisations can achieve
a balance of economic, environmental and social objectives.

STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL GLOBAL BRAND

Take a look at various strategies that will help you in building a successful global brand:
Positioning is important: How you position your brand will help in determining if it has the
potential to go global. Excellent positioning involves properly understanding your competition and
then analyzing your competitive advantage over them.

Understand consumer behaviour: The behaviour of consumers is not standard across the world
as consumer habits can change from country to country. This is one of the primary reasons why
some brands fail when they target a global market. Barbara E. Kahn gave an apt example of
business strategy which failed in her book Global Brand Power, where she mentioned that Walmart
they set up outlets in China near industrial parks when consumers preferred to shop closer to their
homes instead of closer to work.

Brand translation: When you are deciding to take your brand global, ensure its name does not
have a negative connotation in another language. For example, the French cheese brand Kiri
changed its name to Kibi when expanding to Iran, as Kiri meant rotten in Farsi.

Broaden your mindset: When deciding on a name for your brand, ensure it is broad enough to
accommodate any new products that you might introduce in the future.
Branding for Global Markets:
Venturing into global markets is inevitable for brands. A brand is global when it is visible
and sold at every possible place in the world. The consumer around the world become
aware of various international brands if they travel worldwide or just watch a satellite television
at home. Before you take the brand in the global market, you need to cater to
various aspects of the global consumer such as.,
Culture of Consumers
The values the consumers follow.
The customs they observe
Particular symbols and language they use
The tone of their behavior
Consumer’s level of income and buying power
Economic status of the country in terms of
Power supply
Infrastructure
Communication systems
Distribution systems
Laws and Regulations enforced
Is it lawful there too?
Political stability of the country.
When the brand transits from local to global, it competes with other global brands. For example,
Nokia battles Motorola and Samsung. The brand managers must manage the transnational
brand to remain superior on the essentials such as the brand’s price, performance, features, and
imagery.

BUILDING BRANDS ONLINE

Building Online brand comes with the challenge of integrating the marketing mix (putting the right
product, at the right price, at the right time) with the multi-channel, multi-device digital marketing.
Online brand promotion leverages the power of Internet to present the brand to worldwide
audience. But it is a kind of double-edged sword as whatever good a brand has can reach globally
so does the brand’s weaknesses. There are various ways to promote a brand online. Such as
• Publishing articles, news, spreading business links throughout the web, channeling the
promotional schemes and ads towards the target audience, creating and updating the blogs
and the forums.
• Creating and sharing videos, audios, and pictures of the brand on top ranking websites such
as YouTube.
• Creating the company’s business account on leading social networking websites such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and promoting the brand by gaining new followers.
• Engaging in social gaming such as Zynga, Kongregate, etc., under the name of the brand.
WHY SHOPPING ONLINE IS BETTER THAN IN STORE
Extra products online
• It is no secret that most stores have a larger amount of stock online than at their physical
locations. Due to the capacity of warehouses and the space constraints of local stores, you
can often access a much larger range of products online, and search buttons make it even
easier to find the products that you want in a minimal amount of time.
Online discounts and voucher codes
• Although it is often rare to find an in-store voucher unless the store is hosting a special
event, many retailers offer a copious amount of discounts and voucher codes to be used
online as part of their marketing promotions.
Home delivery for online orders
• Most companies on the internet now even offer free delivery for addresses within the
country, meaning that you do not have to worry about added costs to your purchase and at
the same time save on the cost of transportation to a physical location.
• Home delivery also makes returns easier than ever as all you need to do is fill out a postal
form and send your package from your local post office, where your refund will then be
delivered into your bank account.
Time-saving
 • The most convenient aspect of the internet is its time-saving nature, making online
shopping perfect for those individuals whose busy lifestyles prevent them from visiting the
high street on a regular basis. Rather than spending hours browsing through multiple shops,
you can buy products in a couple of clicks online.
• The total amount of time that you spend making an online purchase is reduced to seconds.
If you need your products immediately, there is also often a host of delivery options at an
extra cost, such as same or next-day delivery.
24/7 shopping
• An extremely advantageous factor for working adults is the ability to shop 24 hours a day
and 7 days a week. Where once you had to wait until the weekend or hurry after work to
buy the products that you needed, you now have these products at your fingertips whenever
you need them. Rather than have to wait until your day off to visit a shopping center, you
can now access online stores at any time of the day or night.
• Although there are often still restrictions on human resource-based services such as live
chat functions and limits on next-day delivery, for the most part, e-commerce shops are
now completely 24/7, allowing you to buy products whenever you need them.

Find what you want

• Using e-commerce stores, it is now quick and easy to browse through hundreds of products
in a matter of seconds to find exactly what you need. With the addition of search functions
on e-commerce stores and search engines such as Google and Bing, you can now find the
products and sellers that have the product that you want in-stock without having to browse
potential locations which may not have the exact item that you desire.
• For instance, if you are looking for a ‘little black dress’, you can now type this into a search
engine and get hundreds of results within seconds.
Wider variety of products
• Huge range of products available online at your convenience.

INDIANIZATION OF FOREIGN BRANDS

• When a global brand plays out its grand debut in India, there’s excitement in the air.
Marketing campaigns make sure that the brand name is out there on the television, radio,
hoardings etc. On the day of the launch, a long queue of excited shoppers awaits. But
sometimes, once the doors open, there’s nothing but disappointment? Why? Because while
the products on display are the same international products, they do not go with the Indian
psyche.
• With increasing globalization and international trade, a number of international brands are
entering into India which is one of the fastest growing and highly competitive markets in
the world. Though, most of the global firms failed to understand the needs of Indian
consumers as well as the market characteristics but there are a few of them who have been
successful in positioning their brands into the Indian market because they attempt to
understand well the needs of target group before introducing a brand into the market. Even
some of the most successful brands in today’s time had committed several blunders or
mistake while initially entering into Indian market.
• For instance, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, LG, Reebok and Coca-Cola are among such global
brands who initially introduced standard products by following standardized global
 strategies but later realized their mistakes and thus modified their product or services
according to the needs of Indian consumers and became successful.
• Entrepreneur India takes a look at the various ways in which global brands globalize
themselves to adapt to the Indian needs.
Launching new products
• To satisfy the end user, while products have to maintain their unique quality, it’s important
to also change the look of the product so as to understand the culture of the country they
are in. And that includes festivals, especially in a country like India, where festivals mean
new clothes. Now that the festivities are around the corner, with Diwali just two weeks
away, Jimmy Choo has announced an exclusive collection for India. The collection named
Celeste has the signature golden sparkle that comes with Diwali. Similarly, Hermes had
even introduced a sari collection for its Indian audience.
Revamping existing products
• For many luxury brands, while launching a new product or line specifically for the Indian
market might seem like a difficult task, revamping existing products is an easy way out.
The brand American Tourister, for example, produces the largest version of its backpacks
only for the Indian audience. Even the fabric and the stitching of the product are Indianized.
The pen brand Montblanc too has designed the marketing of its products by regionalizing
it for different states and languages of India.
Change in their Sale Pattern
• Gone are the black Friday sales and 4th of July discounts and taking their place are Diwali
discounts and Independence Day sales. The Indian consumer tends to shop when a big
festival is around the corner. Keeping the same in mind, there are major shifts in the sales
pattern for most retail stores. Even e-retail outlets like Amazon had to switch to the Indian
sale schedule.
Partnering with Indian Biggies
• Another way in which global brands decide to take on the Indian market is by partnering
with already established names in the Indian industry. In the luxury footwear segment,
Christian Louboutin had collaborated with the Indian designer Sabyasachi for a limited-
edition collection.
• But the idea isn’t just limited to luxury lifestyle. The very famous game Cut the Rope,
produced by Zepto Lab had partnered with Nazara technologies to Indianize the game for
the Indian market.
Globalization
• When global brands enter the Indian market, they “globalize” themselves by adapting to
the needs of the Indian market. Tech companies too have changed their methodologies to
reach out to a wider audience in India. LinkedIn India has partnered with IL&FS Skills
Development Corporation to provide blue collared jobs in India. While LinkedIn was
primarily known for creating connections for white collar jobs, considering the Indian
market where people seeking for blue collared jobs are plenty, the move seems to be a good
one. The social networking giant Facebook too launched Facebook Hindi for the vernacular
audience in India.