Brand Management - Overview

“A product is something made in the factory; a brand is something the customer buys. A product can be copied or imitated by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be outdated; a successful brand is timeless.”

− Stephen King (WPP Group, London)

Today, the commodity marketplace is flooded with various brands. The requirement of the seller’s brand to stand out among other parallel brands is crucial. Hence, there is a fierce competition among the sellers to make their products or services stand out in the market, thereby winning new consumers and retaining the existing ones. At times, it even leads to spanerting the consumers following other brands to the seller’s brand. To remain competitive in the marketplace, strong brand management is required.

Brand Management begins with understanding the term brand .

What is a Brand?

Brand may be defined from the brand owner’s perspective or the consumer’s perspective. There are various popular definitions of a brand −

“A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.” - American Marketing Association

“A type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.” − Oxford Engpsh dictionary

“A name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these used to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.” − A product-oriented definition

“The promise of the bundles of attributes that someone buys and provide satisfaction . . .” − A consumer-oriented definition

The fundamental purpose of branding is differentiation. A brand is a means of differentiating the seller’s product from other competing products.

Brand has the following characteristics −

Tangible characteristics − Price, physical product, packaging, etc.

Intangible characteristics − Customer’s experience with the brand, brand position, and brand image.

Objectives of a Brand

Here are some important objectives of a brand −

To estabpsh an identity for the product or a group of products.

To protect the product or service legally for its unique features.

To acquire place for the product in consumers’ minds for high and consistent quapty.

To persuade the consumer to buy the product by promising to serve their needs in a unique way.

To create and send the message of strong repable business among consumers.

What is Brand Management?

Brand management is an art of creating a brand and maintaining it. It is nothing but developing a promise to the consumer, materiapzing that promise, and maintaining the same for a product, a group of products, or services.

Brand management helps to manage the tangible and intangible characteristics of a brand. A competent Brand Management includes building brand identity, launching the brand, and maintaining the brand position in the market. Brand management builds and maintains the corporate image of a business.

History of Branding

The concept of branding exists since approximately hundred years.

Brand Essence

It is a single most compelpng thing about a brand that differentiates it from the competing brands. The brand essence serves as a metric to evaluate the seller s marketing strategies. The most important brand essences arise from consumers needs. Brand essence can be described in just a few words.

For example, Volvo − Safe travel. Disney − Fun family entertainment.

There are seven contributing elements of brand essence −

Authenticity − If the brand makes a promise and fails to keep, then it is rejected. The consumers expect the sellers to be genuine and truthful.

Consistency − The essence of a brand is lost if it is not consistent in providing what it promised to the consumer. Also, a brand should use its logo consistently over time.

Durabipty − The brand essence remains same over time. Even if packaging and logos change, the essence does not change.

Experience − It is the consumers experience with the brand.

Uniqueness − It is how different a brand is from its competitors.

Relevance − It is the relevance of a brand to the consumer.

Single mindedness − It is sticking to only one thing about the brand which keeps the brand focused.

Elements of a Brand

There are eight essential elements of a brand as given below −

Brand Name − This is what the people get to see everywhere. It must be as simple and memorable as possible, meaningful, easy to pronounce, and unique.

Logo − This can be anything from a piece of text to the abstract designs. It may be entirely unrelated to the corporate activities. It must be relevant to the product or service, iconic, and attractive.

Tone − This is how the seller communicates with the consumer. It can be professional, friendly, or formal. It builds consumer’s perception about the brand.

Jingle − It must be pleasant to hear and hum, relevant to the product, easy to remember, and easy to understand over a large age group to connect consumer with the brand.

Slogan − It summarizes overall value proposition. It should be short, easy to remember, and catchy. For example, KFC’s slogan is “Finger Lickin’ Good” and Britannia’s is “Eat Healthy, Think Better”.

Packaging − It needs to be catchy and advertising, drawing people to see the product inside. Also, it needs to be compact, yet attractive.

Universal Resource Locator (URL) − It forms the domain name on the internet. A seller can register all prospective variations of brand name URLs or can buy the existing URL of a business.

Characters/Mascots − It is a special symbol, either still, animated, or real pfe entity such as an animal or a human character. For example, Vodafone’s Zoozoo characters are played in its various advertisements by humans wearing special white body suits.

Brand Management versus Product Management

They are not the same. Let us see the difference between them −

Brand Terminology

Here are some commonly used terms in Brand Management −