STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS FROM THE FIRST SIX SESSIONS

1. Absence of doubt is believe; Trust is blind.
2. What you say, you deliver.
3. Youll have to learn to declare (Declaration), as what youll deliver, if you want to
create your brand. Declarations help in managing expectations.
4. Most people cant find out, what it is that they can deliver.
5. Brand is not sales.
6. Money and equity are two very different things.
7. Brand is an asset that goes to balance sheet.
8. Asset has value which can be monetized (into money, another asset, job,
appointments, favours, etc), thus providing money for P&L.
9. Assets are valuable when others think that it is valuable.
10. Brand is the only asset which gets appreciated when managed properly.
11. The one problem with brands is that they create new equity and their existing equity
gets deteriorated.
12. Performance and consistency helps in creating value.
13. Learn to nurture your brand.
14. Never fully monetize your brand or assets.
15. When you sell your product, you use your equity.
16. You become Brand only by giving something valuable to others (when net effect is of
giving).
17. Money is the cheapest way to buy anything.
18. Advertising doesnt build brands.
19. Branding is opposite of chaos.
20. Trophy branding - do something small and have branding.
21. The absence of suspicion marks the presence of brand.
22. Focus- helps in positioning
23. Brand equity is the value of brand in the minds of customers.
24. Association of a brand and its product
a. FMCG: strong and close
b. Corporate brands: weak
c. Service companies: slightly weak
25. Source of equity creation need not be same as source of money generation, as
equity creation is giving and money generation is asking.
26. Marketing and advertising is the laziest and most expensive way of creating brand
and therefore is not sustainable.
27. The entire world of brand management revolves around just three actions :
a. Creating brand equity
b. Storing brand equity
c. Monetizing brand equity
28. Reduction of equity can be done by:
a. Use
b. Consume
c. Leverage
d. Leakage
e. Monetisation
29. Brands are desperate about consuming equity
30. Equity is equivalent to karma
31. Transformation Process: somebody elses equity is being transformed and becomes
your equity.
32. Four pillars that create brand equity: Actions, Presentations, Interactions
(Communication), Performance
33. If you create a brand which tries to become everything for everyone, then your
brand will be nothing and for no-one.
34. The important question to ask is Does your customer feel important and not
whether you think your customer is important.
35. Master principle of brand equity creation: Every time you create brand equity for
your customers, dont just think about branding your product/services, think about
branding your customer, and make her feel important.
36. Make value for customer, brand your customer and your brand automatically gets
created.
37. You can be fully conscious but not fully in control.
38. Primary purpose of brand identity is not to just identify the product, but to store
brand equity.
39. Unique identity is required so that nobody else leverage your brand equity.
40. Brand identity is important:
a. Identification
b. Acceptance
c. Differentiation
d. Positioning
e. Quality
f. Consistency
g. Attraction
h. Image
i. Equity
41. Storing brand equity: your brand is an asset that makes use of your brand identity, to
store brand equity you created.
42. Do not try to monetize the brand equity while creating it.
43. The less you sell, the more you create equity.
44. Acquiring customers is not same as building brand.
45. Concept of brand as an asset:
a. When you buy a branded product, you dont own the brand, you own the
product. But you own the right to use the brand in exchange of money you
pay for product.
 b. The longer the product lasts, the longer is your right to use the brand and
more you have to pay for it.
46. With every asset comes returns, and hence risks.
a. Concept of branding is closely linked to risk.
b. Branding is process of reducing the risk.
47. Building trust is building brand.
48. If you try to do something like value for money, your brand will not get created,
though sales may happen.
49. Value Customers:
a. I dont want to pay brand premium, but I also want to get quality,
performance of product and I am ready to pay premium for the product.
b. This is possible in commoditised products.
50. Private labels:
a. For value conscious customers
b. Doesnt care about image, only about performance
c. For sales purpose and not for equity
d. For preferences and not for premium
51. The primary condition for private label is that you must have a distribution channel
in place, as you dont advertise
52. There are four categories:
a. Commodity
b. Branded commodity
c. Private label
d. Popular brands
53. Monetizing the brand equity
a. Price your products higher, demand better payment terms.
b. Pay lesser to employees, lower cost of retention
c. Seek higher valuation from investors.
d. Expect discounts from suppliers and better payment terms
e. Brand licensing, franchising, distribution rights
54. Most people are negotiating on price. Smart brands negotiate on everything other
than price.
55. If your customers focus is on the cost of production or transaction rather than value
of your relationship with her, then its not a brand.
56. Your positioning is what you would not change about your business in next 5 years
57. Positioning is a declaration that clearly defines your brands place in market
58. Real place for positioning statement is in consumers mind
59. Types of positioning
a. Product
b. Market
c. Brand
60. Mind the gap
a. Between customers expectation and your delivery
b. Between actions and delivery
61. RAM or ROM: try to capture ROM of customer
62. Go deeper into the minds of customer
a. Razor sharp focus and differentiation
b. Extremely high clarity
c. Consistency