SUMMARY BRAND MANAGEMENT
Module 1: Brand management
Brand management: The past
Commodities were indifferentiable by seller/manufacturer, nobody knew who was the
manufacturer or seller, quality varied highly, many manufacturers/sellers for the same
commodity how to get someone to prefer yours? differentiate branding.
Brand (in the past): “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them,
intended to identify the goods and services or one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competition”
Brand management: The present
Product (in the present): “anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition,
use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want”. 4 levels:
- Core product (pen)
- Tangible product (different shapes, colors, long lasting ink capsule, etc.)
- Augmented product (with lifetime guarantee)
- Total product (gives me status, fortune, fame, etc.)
A company can be seriously involved in creating a product/brand up to the augmented
product inside out: brand/product to customer, I decide what you think send to
market outer layer is outside in: customer to brand, what a brand really stands for; status,
exclusivity, etc.
Brand management: The present: product versus brand
Physical product: brand from the organizations’ point of view (up to augmented product)
Psychological product: brand from customers’ point of view (total product)
Product: tangible, can be copied, can be outdated, involves transactions
Brand: intangible, unique, potentially timeless, forms basis of connections
Brand (in the present): a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in
some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need.
These valued differences can be:
- Rational and tangible
- Symbolic, emotional and intangible
Brand management: The present: organization versus customer
Customer value: From customer perspective (fitness for use, convenience, engagement,
etc.). A combination of all benefits perceived vs. the costs tradeoff between gains and
pains elements of value pyramid (module 5). Two strategies: increase gains/reduce pains.
Value proposition: From organization’s perspective (processes, employees, products, etc.).
Promise of the value to be delivered by the company to the customer pain creators, pain
relievers, products and services. Can apply to an entire organization, or parts thereof,
customer accounts, products/services or brands
What can go wrong: mismatch between value proposition and customer value the thing
that the company offers does not match with what the customer is looking for. Could be that
organizations don’t have a clear idea what a customer value is.
Brand management: The present: importance
Why are brands important for…
,1. Customers:
- Identification of source of product
- Assignment of responsibility to product maker (Porch makes new car, we have an
idea about the performances because it’s produced by Porch)
- Risk reducer
- Search cost reducer (buy brand I have a good experience with in different categories,
must be good in this category)
- Bond/pact with maker of the product
- Symbolic device
- Signal of quality
2. Producers:
- Means of identification to simplify handling or tracing (show customers this is what
they need)
- Means of legally protecting unique features
- Signal of quality level (e.g., made by … instead of logo does the trick, copycat
branding: people think it has all the qualities of the real brand but for lower price)
- Means of endowing products with unique associations
- Source of competitive advantage (barriers of entry)
- Source of financial returns
Brand equity stresses the importance of the role of the brand in marketing strategies.
Differences in outcomes arise from “added value” as a result of past marketing activities for
the brand. Brand equity provides a common denominator for interpreting marketing
strategies and assessing the value of a brand. Values van be greater gains or lower pains.
Customer based brand equity (CBBE): differential effect that brand knowledge has on
consumer response to the marketing of that brand. CBBE is positive if customer responds in
a more favorable way to that product and all its marketing instruments when the brand is
identified than when it is not.
build, sustain, and leverage positive strong, active, unique meanings of the brand
Financial-based brand equity (FBBE) CBBE to enable the brand to earn more in the short
and long run.
Key to branding: customers perceive differences among brands in a product category or the
brand resided I the minds of consumers (CBBE) give a label (how to identify) + provide
meaning (what it does).
Physical goods Fast moving packaged consumer goods: almost 100% of all
products are branded.
B2B products: creating a positive image and reputation for a
company as a whole.
High-tech products: financial success no longer driven by product
innovation or latest product specifications and features alone.
Services Brand symbols to make abstract nature more concrete
Retailers and Generate consumer interest, patronage and loyalty in a store and
distributors learn consumers to expect certain brands and products from a
store
Private label brands
Online Improving customer associations because unique product
products/services attributes of the brand are not enough
And: People and organizations – sports, arts and entertainment (experience goods) –
geographic locations – ideas and causes
,Brand management: The future
Why do some brands fail? some marketers fail to take into account the changing market
conditions and continued to operate with “business as usual” or they were inappropriate in
their response (e.g., Nokia was number 1 in cellphones 50 years ago, who owns one now)
Brand management: The future: challenges and opportunities
1. Savvy customers: difficult to persuade more experiences consumers with traditional
communications … and to be “respected” is not enough
2. Brand proliferation: more complex brand families and portfolios, few “mono” brands
3. Media fragmentation: films spend more on nontraditional and new forms of
communication (interactive, social media) increase expenditures on promotion,
decrease expenditures on advertising
4. Increased costs: NP-intro, existing product support
5. Increase competition more difficult to differentiate
demand-side: mature markets
supply-side: brand extensions/deregulation/globalization low-priced competitors (growth
of private labels and increasing trade power)
6. Greater accountability: short-term performance orientation, increasing job turnover
Brand management: The process
Business value chain: 4 stage model
What firms do -------------- What customers think, feel, do ----------- what firms get
Very good fit with what customers thinks, increasing gains, lowering pains purchase our
product = market performance will increase shareholder value (FBBE).
Customer’s mindset (and changing) = CBBE
Marketing program investment: product, communication, trade, employee, other
have an effect on:
Customer mindset: awareness, associations, attitudes, attachment, activity
have an effect on:
Market performance: price premiums, price elasticities, market share, expansion success,
cost structures, profitability have an effect on:
Shareholder value: stock price, P/E ratio, market capitalization
What firms get = financial performance (e.g., market share, brand equity)
What firms do = marketing program (e.g., marketing mix, brand elements)
Brand management: the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to
build, measure, and manage brand equity
Brand management: deadly sins
1. Brand memory loss: when a brand forgets what it’s supposed to stand for (old brands)
2. Brand egoism: over-estimating own importance and capability. Brand believes it can
support a market single-handedly. When a brand enters a new market for which it is ill-
suited.
3. Brand deception: telling lies, covering up reality of their product, with internet and other
technologies consumers can no longer be deceived.
, 4. Brand fatigue: keep brand updated
5. Brand paranoia: opposite of brand ego, changing brand and brand image frequently can
destroy your brand. Symptoms: file lawsuits against rival companies, willingness to
reinvent brand every six months, longing to imitate competitors
6. Brand irrelevance: make sure brand does not become obsolete, when market evolves
brand has this risk. Strive to maintain relevant by staying ahead or product category
Module 2: brand identity
Brand identity: how strategists want the brand to be perceived sending from organization
to customer
Brand positioning: the part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively
communicated to a target audience
Brand image: how the brand is actually perceived by customers
Once you have defined what customers think of you does that match brand identity?
Brand identity
Before you can tell people what you want them to think about you, you must really know
who you are.
- External: nobody wants to do business with a nobody
- Internal
Brand identity: the unique composition of physical, social and psychological components of
a brand intended to identify its crucial, lasting and remarkable position in the mind of the
customer
- Aspects:
o Central: displays the singularity of the object/subject
o Enduring: should be displayed over a period of time
o Distinctive: is unique and belongs to something or somebody
- Components:
o Physical: external characteristics, logo
o Psychological: experiences, character, point of view
o Social: spokesperson, category, relationship, users
Brand heritage: a set of symbols and values that reinforce the identity of the brand and
express its anchoring in the past and the continuity between past, present, and future that
characterizes the concepts of heritage. It’s both:
- An identity-related representation of the past and
- A dynamic construction oriented toward future transmission
In hard times, people look for comfort from the past
Components: history, consistent, passion, leadership
Effects: authentic (=real), trustworthy (=safe), intimate (=warm), expert (=excellence)
performance and experience will benefit.
Brand authenticity: perception of the brand’s fidelity to itself and its consumers, responsible
and able to help consumers remain true to themselves very important in decision-making
and forming perceptions.
Brand identity: personalities
Brand personality: a set of human characteristics associated with a brand. If you don’t have
a defined personality, people will have a hard time reaching the conclusion that you’re one
of them.
