Summary Brand Management:
Topic 1: Brand Management
Brand Management: The past
Commodities in the past:
- Undifferentiable by seller/manufacturer
- Often sold loose
- Quality highly variable
- In competitive markets we have many mfrs./sellers for the same commodity
Question: How do I get a buyer to prefer and buy my ‘commodity’?
Answer: Differentiate it from competition and make it more attractive
How: By branding your ‘commodity’ → So people can recognise
Brand= a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to
identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them
from those of competition. (AMA)
In the past a brand was intended to identify the goods from a seller that were competing
on the same market. → Inside-out, the company says what you are as brand
In practice … a brand creates a certain amount of meaning, reputation, preference, and so
on … in the eyes of the customer
Nowadays brand are becoming more intangible than tangible, the status is becoming more
important than the functionality of a product. → WTP goes up, people are willing to spend
more → Outside-in, customers say what you are as brand
Brand Management: The Present
Changing perspectives:
- From the organisations’ point of view:
o Physical product
- To the customers’ point of view:
o Psychological product
Core product= car, vehicle with 4 wheels
Tangible product= what is the design of the car, people use this to differentiate
Augmented product= a car guarantee of 7 years on the parts of the car
Total product= what people think about the car brand as a whole
,Evolvement of Brand Management:
Used to be physical, what does the product do objectively → to be physiological product
what does the product say about me, how does it resonate the thing I believe in
Blind test is a physical product → Outside-in
Identified test is psychological product → Inside-out
Brand= a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from
other products designed to satisfy (the same) needs
These valued differences can be:
- Rational and tangible, but are often → product attributes,
- Intangible, emotional, and symbolic → Status, feeling
→ Brands are more and more intangibles that have become the key source of corporate
value (intangible assets: patents, brand value, customer data) (tangible: inventory, cash,
bonds, equipment, buildings)
Consumers value brands not just for their functional attributes but also for the sensory
pleasure and potential self-expression they may experience when buying and using the
brand. These so-called brand values might include concepts like:
- Brand quality → What is the quality of the brand?
- Brand credibility → X, Twitter has a big issue with this because it it still credible?
- Brand likeability → Tony’s is very liked
- Brand authenticity → Is the brand the real thing?
- Brand transparency
- Brand status
- Brand sustainability
Consequently, managers need more research on those brand values that are relevant to and
align (resonate) with the personal value of the target audience and they need better
recommendations how to manage these specific brand values more precisely.
Product= anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or
consumption.
Branded Product= a product that has been given a name for identification purposes.
Brand= a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from
other products designed to satisfy the (same) needs. (has meaning)
Product vs brand:
, Product → Branded product Branded product → Brand
Physical product perspective Psychological product perspective
- Tangible: can be touched by - Intangible: lives in customer’s mind
customer
- Can be copied - Unique
- Can be outdated - Potentially timeless
- Involves transactions - Forms basis of connections
Product: Brand:
- Differentiation - Relevance
- Attributes - Personality
- Promise - Relationship
- Static - Dynamic
- Mass - Individual
- Awareness - Meaningfulness
→ Typing machine / Soft drinks → Apple / Coca Cola
→ Sneakers / Coffee → Nike / Starbucks
Brand Management: The present
Importance:
Why are brands important for … ?
1) Consumers:
- Identification of product … and source
- Assignment of responsibility to product maker
- Risk reducer (different kinds of risk)
- Search cost reducer (e.g., heuristic)
- Bond / pact with maker of product
- Symbolic device
- Signal of quality
o Etc…
2) Producers:
- Means of identification to simplify handling or tracing
- Means of legally protecting unique features (patents)
- Signal of quality level (e.g., made by … (Samsonite, Polestar in which Volvo is involved
in design/production))
- Means of endowing products with unique associations
- Source of competitive advantage (barriers of entry (BigMac, happy meal))
- Source of financial returns
o Etc…
→ Uber, Facebook, Amazon, Ben, Airbnb, Page
→ Price premium of water: Aldi water €0,19 vs Evian water €1,00
→ Brands can generate significant price premiums
Customer Based Brand Equity:
CBBE= (1) differential effect that (2) brand knowledge has on (3) consumer response to the
marketing of that brand. So, people act differently because they have identified a certain
brand.
, A brand has positive customer-based brand equity when customers react more favourably to
a product and the way it is marketed when the brand is identified than when it is not (e.g.,
when it is attributed to a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the product)
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
- This value can be created in many different ways
- Brand equity provides a common denominator (kind of standard) for interpreting
marketing strategies and assessing the value of a brand
- Value can be manifested in different ways e.g., greater proceeds (gains) a/o lower
costs (pains)
Brand Mangement Goals:
- Consumer-based brand equity (CBBE)
o Build, sustain, and leverage positive, strong, active, unique meanings of the
brand … → inside people mind that has an effect on their behaviour
- Financial-based brand equity (FBBE)
o … to enable the brand to earn more in the short and long run → people’s
buying behaviour
The key to branding is that consumers perceive relevant differences among brands in a
product category / the brand resides in the minds of consumers, so…
- Give it a label (how to identify), and
- Provide meaning (what it does for you)
→ Can everything be branded? Yes, even commodities (milk, cheese, banana’s)
1) Physical goods
- Fast moving packaged consumer goods (PCG’s): almost 100% of all products are
“branded”
- B2B products: creating a positive image and reputation for a company as a whole
(e.g. Boeing 737, plane quality went wrong, brand was seriously damaged)
- High-tech products: financial success no longer driven by product innovation or latest
product specifications and features alone (e.g., Intel, Vanderlande, ASML)
2) Services (Deloitte, Visa, PayPal)
- Address potential intangibility and variability problems
- Brand symbols to make abstract nature more concrete
3) Retailers and Distributors
- Generate consumer interest, patronage and loyalty in a store
- Learn consumers to expect certain brands and products from a store
- Private label brands (e.g. AH, Tesco → AH bio, excellent, basic, terra)
4) Online products and Services
- Improving customer associations because unique product attributes of the brand
(convenience, price, etc) are not enough (e.g., Google vs Googol, Zoom)
5) People and Organisations (Puss in Boots, Shrek)
