Chapter# 1

Brands and Brand ManagementCompiled by

Saami Haamid

What is a Brand?

• As per AMA, a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

• Whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, brand has been created

What is a Brand?

• Different components of a brand that identify or differentiate with others, are brand elements

• Brand Names Based on :– People (e.g., Estee Lauder cosmetics, Porsche

automobiles)– Places (e.g., Chrysler’s New Yorker automobile, British

Airways)– Things or objects (e.g., Apple computers, Shell

gasoline)– Animals or birds (e.g., Mustang automobiles, Dove

soap, Greyhound buses)

What is a Brand?

• Brand Names use words with:– Inherent product meanings (e.g., JustJuice,

Ticketron)– Important attributes/benefits (e.g., DieHard auto

batteries, Mop & Glo floor cleaner)– Prefixes and suffixes (e.g., Intel microprocessors,

Compaq computers)– And so on in different ways

What is a Brand?

• Brand Vs Product– Product could be anything offered to the market

for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy the need or want

– For example:• Physical good (a cereals, tennis racquet, or automobile)• Service (an airline, bank, or insurance company)• Retail store (a supermarket, or specialty store)• Person (a political figure, entertainer, or athlete)• Organization (nonprofit, trade, or arts group)• Place (a city, state, or country)• Idea (a political or social cause)

What is a Brand?

• Brand Vs Product– Kottler defines five levels of a product• The core benefit level: fundamental need or want that

consumers satisfy by consuming the product/service• The generic product level: basic version of a product

that adequately perform the product function, but with no distinguishing features• The expected product level: set of attributes that

buyers normally expect and agree to when purchase• The augmented product level: additional product

attributes, benefits, or related services that distinguish• The potential product level: all of the augmentations or

transformation that a product might undergo in future

Why Do Brand Matters?

• For consumers, simplifies the purchasing decisions

• Save cost & time in searching product• Brands have better relationship due to

consumer’s trust• Self-image• Value building• Play a significant role in signaling certain

product characteristics to consumers• Reduce risk

Why Do Brand Matters?

• For firms they serve an identification purpose• Help to organize inventory and accounting• Offers legal protection for unique features• Retain intellectual property rights• Name can be protected through registered

trademark, manufacturing processes through patents, and packaging through copyrights and designs

Can Anything Be Branded?

• Brand is something that resides in the mind of consumers

• A brand is a perceptual entity that is rooted in reality

• To brand a product/service, it is necessary to give consumers a label and meaning

• The key to branding is that consumers perceive difference among brand in a product category

Can Anything Be Branded?

• A commodity is a product presumably so basic that it cannot be physically differentiated in the minds of consumers

• Numbers of brands have emerged in this category. For example– Coffee (Maxwell House), bath soap (Ivory), flour

(Gold Medal), beer (Budweiser), salt (Morton), oatmeal (Quaker), pickles (Vlasic), bananas (Chiquita), chickens (Perdue), pineapples (Dole), water (Perrier)

Can Anything Be Branded?

• Reason being, marketers have convinced that a product was not a commodity and vary appreciably in quality

• A recent example of this approach is Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaign

Can Anything Be Branded?• Physical Goods – Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Kodak• Services – American Express, Hilton Hotels, FedEx,

Ernst & Young, Mobilink Indigo• Retailers & distributors – Sainsbury, Tesco, Marks &

Spencer, Sears• Online Products & Services – Google, Amazon.com• People and Organizations – Ghamdi, Zubaida Tariq, the

American Red Cross, UNICEF, National Geographic• Sports, Arts, and Entertainment – nike, NCA, Batman,

Scream, Harry Potter• Geographic Locations – Multan ka Sohan Halwa• Ideas and Causes – AIDS ribbons

What Are The Strongest Brands?

• Any brand – No matter how strong at any one point in time – is vulnerable and susceptible to poor brand management

• Factors determining Enduring Leadership– Vision of the mass market (e.g., Pampers)– Managerial persistence (e.g., JVC)– Financial commitment (e.g., hp)– Relentless innovation (e.g., Gillette)– Asset leverage (e.g., Coke)

Branding Challenges & Opportunities

• Brand management may be more difficult than ever

• Challenges to brand builders– Savvy customers– Brand proliferation– Media fragmentation– Increased competition– Increased costs– Greater Accountability

The Brand Equity Concept

• The brand equity concept stresses the importance of the brand in marketing strategies.

• Brand equity is defined in terms of the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brand.

– Brand equity relates to the fact that different outcomes result in the marketing of a product or service because of its brand name, as compared to if the same product or service did not have that name.

Strategic Brand Management Process

• Strategic brand management involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity.

• The strategic brand management process is defined as involving four main steps:1) Identifying and establishing brand positioning and values2)  Planning and implementing brand marketing programs3)  Measuring and interpreting brand performance4)  Growing and sustaining brand equity

Strategic Brand Management Process

Mental mapsCompetitive frame of referencePoints-of-parity and points-of-differenceCore brand valuesBrand mantra

Mixing and matching of brand elementsIntegrating brand marketing activitiesLeveraging of secondary associations

Brand Value ChainBrand auditsBrand trackingBrand equity management system

Brand-product matrixBrand portfolios and hierarchiesBrand expansion strategiesBrand reinforcement and revitalization

KEY CONCEPTSSTEPS

Grow and SustainBrand Equity

Identify and EstablishBrand Positioning and Values

Plan and Implement Brand Marketing Programs

Measure and InterpretBrand Performance

Strategic Brand Management Process

• Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE)

– Differential effect

– Customer brand knowledge

– Customer response to brand marketing

• Determinants of CBBE

– Customer is aware of and familiar with the brand

– Customer holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory

Strategic Brand Management Process

• Building CBBE: Brand knowledge structures depend on . . .

– The initial choices for the brand elements

– The supporting marketing program and the manner by which the brand is integrated into it

– Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand by linking it to some other entities

Strategic Brand Management Process

• Benefits of CBBE

– Enjoy greater brand loyalty, usage, and affinity

– Command larger price premiums– Receive greater trade cooperation &

support– Increase marketing communication

effectiveness– Yield licensing opportunities– Support brand extensions

Strategic Brand Management Process

• CBBE as a “bridge”– Customer-based brand equity

represents the “added value” endowed to a product as a result of past investments in the marketing of a brand.

– Customer-based brand equity provides direction and focus to future marketing activities

Strategic Brand Management Process

• For branding strategies to be successful, consumers must be convinced that there are meaningful differences among brands in the product or service category.

• Consumer must not think that all brands in the category are the same.

• PERCEPTION = VALUE

References

• Keller, K.L., “Chapter1 Brands and Brand Management”, Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, 2nd Edition, Low Price Edition Pearson Education, Prentice Hall, India