Brand Management

What Is A Brand?
The most distinctive skills of professional marketers is to create, maintain, protect
and enhance brands. It may be said that branding is the art and cornerstone of marketing.
The brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of any number of
them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller and to differentiate them
from those of competitors. Thus, a brand identifies the seller or maker.
A brand is essentially a seller’s promise to deliver a specific set of values,
features, benefits and services to the customer, consistently. The most enduring meanings
of a brand are its values, culture and personality and they define a brand’s essence.
The most important objective before all brand managers is to build a brand which
takes the consumers/customers from brand awareness to brand acceptability to brand
preference to brand loyalty.
The first and most basic function of brand is to cost-effectively identify a product
or service. In short, the brand is the short cut in the communication process. With a name,
a brand, follow a full set of impressions and emotions. This ability to trigger a stored set
of values in the minds of customers is an important role of the brand.

Brand building:
It refers to building the values represented by the brand. It is used to describe the
graphical or artistic execution of brand identity i.e. shape/form of logo, design of
corporate literature etc.
To build real brands, you need to build strong values, i.e. by having strong values
attached to your brand, the brand will have commercial power and it will stay in the
minds of customers for a long time.
Graphical/visual identity example BP
Values, example American Express card (cardholders are perceived by retailers as
different and that they spend more).
 Successful brand management focuses on building a high repeat purchase
value. The key element is to ensure that there is proper match between
expectation and reality. (Delight the customer)
 First purchase of product depends upon level of attraction of different
alternatives. The attraction is a function of communication.
For a brand to gain new customers, it needs to have strong attraction values, potential
customers must perceive it to be superior to others and it must provide them with the
benefits they are looking for.

Going From Registered Trademarks To Brands That Generate Value

A name is a brand if it fulfills the following criteria:
1. It carries distinct values. It has a clear profile in the minds of customers in respect
of what it stands for E.g. Xerox (photocopiers company), Microsoft (software
company), Intel (reliable chips company)
2. It is differentiated. Differentiate but do not move it out of the mainstream market.
This can be dangerous as brand can lose appeal to majority of customers and become
a sidelined brand instead of being a leading one.
 3. It is appealing to the customer. It has to be attractive and be a fine experience to
him.
4. It should have a clear identity. It is important that the brand must be easily
recognized. e.g. most of the branded apparels or cars have their logo displayed
prominently in front like Nike and Mercedes.
There are occasions when a brand becomes a name but this is not always good as it is
difficult to manage the values and profile of the brand. e.g. “Colgate” is synonymous
with toothpaste but it does not ensure higher sales for the company.

Origins:
“To brand” means literally “to burn”, i.e. to burn a mark on something. The word comes
from the Scandinavian word for burning which is “branna” and a fire in Swedish is a
brand. In other words, to brand is to put one’s mark on one’s property, or on items one
has produced.
The first example of branding refers to the manufacture of oil lamps in Greek islands. In
this case, branding is a method for identifying quality products.

Key Reasons For Rise Of Modern Brands

1. Industrialization, making it possible to produce goods in large quantities.
2. The advent of railways. It made possible to transport goods across countries and
in case of US, across continents.
3. Distance between producer and buyer suddenly became large. There was no
longer any possibility to communicate in person and other means of
communication had to be relied upon.

Naming:
2. The name of the companies themselves. e.g. BMW,3M, Maruti etc
3. brand having strong connection to origins of product. E.g. Coca-Cola (coca leaf
and kola nut)
4. pure imagination. E.g. George Eastman created Kodak by pure imagination.
5. brand names are devised in order to capitalize on specific values. E.g. Ivory soap
from P & G (the name reflected the white color of the soap)

Brand building model:

Communicatio
Experience
n

Brand

Over-
satisfaction
All brands are created in the minds of the customers:
 The process starts by the experience and /or the communication, influencing the
perception of brand and then, over time, brand values are established.
 Brand owner must ensure that each usage of brand is a fine experience. By
ensuring a fine experience, the brand owner can create a positive, virtuous circle
where actual and perceived experiences explore each other and thus enhance
standing of brand.
 Most of the brands have initially very few resources to advertise in effective way,
so there is no other alternative to experience-based brand building. e.g. Marks and
Spencer is one of UK’s strongest brands, it has received very little advertising
support.
 Experience is the main factor in building the brand, communication comes
second. The reason being that while experience can build a brand of its own, it is
highly unlikely that a brand can be built by communication alone. i.e. by
generating interest and brand values through communication and letting it down
by unsatisfactory experiences.
 The role of communication in brand building is to enhance experience. It also
builds values in expectation of usage so that customers feel inclined to try the
product for first time. E.g. Picasso brand was established with help of solid
product values and inspired communication whereas Dalli focused more on
communication. In the short run, both painters were rated equally and
commanded heavy premiums in the art market. But in the long run, Dalli brand
stands nowhere near Picasso.
Another case in point is that of BMW. It is one of the best examples of
branding. In 1959, the company was virtually bankrupt and on the verge of being
taken over by Daimler-Benz. During late 1970’s and early 1980’s , BMW carried
out a brand building exercise by positioning itself as a producer of cars that are
enjoyable to drive (as expressed in a UK advertisement –“The Ultimate Driving
Machine”). By 1996, BMW was one of the top 10 car manufacturers.
Reasons for BMW’s success:
1. Distinct positioning: Ultimate driving machine.
2. The power of product that actually delivers on brand promise.
3. Distinct, differentiating and highly relevant advertising.
4. A graphic identity which is consistently implemented down to last detail
as well as being in harmony with brand personality.

Brand Values:
 All brands are built upon key values. Successful brands are built on combination
of product benefits (mainly tangible values) and emotions or abstract values
(intangibles).
 For most product sectors, only a few value dimensions are of importance. It is3 or
4 dimensions that have a significant impact across customer base. Traditionally,
marketing focused on only one value (USP- Unique Value Proposition), but
brands are not that simplistic. To ensure you are successful, it is not enough to
 focus on one dimension, you have to fulfill all basic criteria for market success as
well as having some element of distinction.

General And Brand Specific Values:

Any brand would have two set of values, viz. general and brand specific values.
1. General Values: these values apply to all the brands in a market sector. It is
impossible to survive in that sector without these values. For example: Taste and
Hygiene are the two general values in food market.
General values apply to all brands but of course, each brand would deliver on
these values in varying degrees. They serve as entry ticket to sector and
represent minimum acceptable standards.
2. Specific values: These are those values that differentiate the winners from also-
rans. it is a value proposition that only one or perhaps a few brands have mastered
and made their own.
These values create a distinct profile, one that sets one brand apart from the
others. It should be unique and inimitable.

_________