IILM INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

COURSE MANUAL
PRODUCT AND BRAND MANAGEMENT

PGP 2009-11

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 I. COURSE FACILITATORS

Jones Matthew: jones.matthew@iilm.edu

Sufia Khan: sufia.khan@iilm.edu
Deepti Srivastava : deepti.srivastava@iilm.edu
Aayushman Gupta : aayushmangupta@gmail.com
Anil Vashisht : anil.vashisht@iilm.edu
Sujata Khandai : sujata.khandai@iilm.edu

II. COURSE OVERVIEW

Products / Brands are a company’s most precious assets. CEOs & financial directors have
now realized that the value of brands is a concept distinct from the net income of the
company. This explains the paradox that even though a company is making a loss; it is bought
for a very high price because of its well-known brands. By paying a high price for a company
with brands, the financial analyst is acquiring near certain future cash flows as the brands
remove the risk. The value of a brand comes from its ability to gain an exclusive, positive and
prominent meaning in the minds of a large number of consumers.

COURSE TOPICS

 Understanding the importance of Product Management & Brand Management

 BCG matrix calculations & creation of GE Nine Cell matrix
 Concept of Brand Equity
 Measurement of Brand Equity
 Brand Extensions
 Leveraging secondary brand associations

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objective of the course is to help you to:

o Understand the correlation between product management & brand
management
o Appreciate the importance of having strong brands
o Design branding strategies
o Building brand equities & measuring them

PRE-REQUISITES

It is essential that the student has a thorough understanding of concepts from Marketing
Management and Marketing Planning & Applications

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CORE TEXTS

Product Management:
1. Donald R.Lehmann and Russel.S, “Product Management”, Tata McGraw Hill
Brand Management:
1. Kevin Lane Keller (KLK), “Strategic Brand Management“ Pearson Education.

III.SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS

1. Kapferer Noel Jean (KNJ), Strategic Brand Management

2. Sengupta S., Brand Positioning
3. VanAuken Brad, The Brand Management Checklist

Video session:
Brands that made India, CNN IBN; 1 hour duration (from IILM Library)

IV. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

S.No Parameter Weightage

1 Surprise Quizzes (Best of 4) 20%
2 Group Assignments (Case study analysis) 10%
3 Group Project 10%
3 End Term 60%

(A) CASE PRESENTATIONS (if any):

Students are required to form groups and they would have to analyse the cases allotted to
their group with the help of power point presentations, videos, props, etc.. The case
presentation would last 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion on the case. Every
student is encouraged to read all cases and to participate in discussions. Marking would apart
from content also be based on individual presentation styles.

(B) PROJECTS:
The groups formed in the class have to also work towards a project prepared on word
document. Each project would be about 15 pages. Students have to choose one brand from
work on Brand Analysis while trying to study the life cycle of their chosen brand. They
would have to do a historical analysis and find information on why their chosen brand has
done well overtime and what strategies the companies have followed to keep their brand alive
and kicking. Students are also encouraged to do a comparative analysis with a similar product
brand which would have captured the fascination of public rather swiftly. They are also
encouraged to do primary research to gauge public opinion. Marking would be to the group
as a whole. Projects have to be emailed at the mentioned email id of the concerned faculty
members by the 22nd session.

Possible Project Topics (for an organisation that has brand equity built in the minds of
customer):

1. Bajaj Automobile
2. SBI Banks

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 3. Nokia
4. ITC
5. Sony
The list is indicative, not exhaustive. Students may choose a brand of their choice. No two
groups should present a project with the same brand.

Project Outline:

• Objective
• Method used for study
• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Identification of brand related issues
• Proposed strategy / Plan
• Value proposition
• Brand Equity Measurement
• Creating the CBBE Pyramid
• Conclusion

SESSION PLAN

Session Topic Pre reading Chapter/activity

1 Introduction to Product Lehmann & Winer
Management Chapter-1

2 Marketing Planning Lehmann & Winer

Chapter-1
Case1: Lifebuoy – a
new initiative
3 Developing Product Strategy
Lehmann & Winer
• Elements of Product Chapter-8
Strategy Case2: Harley
• Setting Objectives Davidson
• Selection of Strategic
Alternatives
• Positioning
4 Introduction to Brand
KNJ
Management
Chapter-1
5 Rules of Brand Management KNJ
Chapter- 2
6 Brand identity KNJ
Chapter-3

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7 Brand challenges & Article: Brand
opportunities MatrixLeadership
Kevin L Keller
• Why do Brands Matter? Chapter 1
• Can anything be branded?
• Strong Brands Case3: Marketing
PVR
8 • Establishing Brand Mantras Kevin L Keller
• Internal Branding Chapter 3

9 • Service brands Article: Marketing to

Case4: Vertu mobile
• Luxury brand phones – luxury
the Affluent Indian
redefined
10 Basics about Brand Equity Article: Negative Kevin L Keller
Brand Equity Chapter 2/8
11 Customer Based Brand Equity & Kevin L Keller
its measurement Chapter 2/8
Page 70 - 71

hkikj12 Different measures of Brand Kevin L Keller

Pg 338 - 340
Equity Chapter 2/8

13 Brand Positioning
Case5: Airtel: Kevin L Keller
• Identifying and establishing
Positioning & Chapter 3
Brand Positioning
repositioning
• Positioning Guidelines
14 MIDTERM
15 Choosing Brand Elements “Science of
Branding” page 164-
Kevin L Keller
• Criteria for choosing Brand 165, KLK
Chapter 4 & 5
elements Case6: Baskin-
• Options and Tactics for Robbins: Innovative
Brand Elements marketing

16 Leveraging secondary Brand

Associations Kevin L Keller
Pg 302-305, KLK Chapter 4 & 5
• Conceptualizing the
leveraging process
• Co-branding
17 Designing Marketing Programs
-I
Pg 207 – 211 Kevin L Keller
• Product Strategy Pg 222 - 225 Chapter 5
• Pricing strategy

18 Designing Marketing Programs Pg 233 – 237 Kevin L Keller

-II Pg 252 - 255 Chapter 5

• Channel Strategy

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 • Communication Strategy
19 Designing and Implementing
Branding Strategies
Kevin L Keller
Case7: Maggi Brand
• Branding Strategies Chapter 11
in india
• Designing a Branding
Strategy

20 Brand Hierarchy Kevin L Keller

Pg 455 - 456
Chapter 11
21 Brand Extensions
Pg 512 – 515
• Advantages and Kevin L Keller
Case8:Red Bull’s
Disadvantage of Brand Chapter 12
Innovative
Extensions
Programme
22 Understanding Consumer
Evaluation of Brands Case9: All Out- Kevin L Keller
Mosquito repellant Chapter 12

23 Managing Brand Over time Case 10: Scorpio: Kevin L Keller

marketing an Chapter 13
• Reinforcing Brands automobile brand
• Revitalizing Brands
24 Adjustments to Brand Portfolio Kevin L Keller
Pg 569 - 572
• Going Global Chapter 13

V. SESSION DETAILS

1.Introduction to Product Management:

• Marketing Organizations
• Market focused organisation
• Functionally focused organisations

The role of product management spans many activities from strategic to tactical and varies
based on the organizational structure of the company. Product management can be a function
separate on its own or a member of marketing or engineering. Product management often
serves an inter-disciplinary role, bridging gaps within the company between teams of
different expertise, most notably between engineering-oriented teams and business-oriented
teams. For example product managers often translate business objectives set for a product by
Marketing or Sales into engineering requirements. Conversely they may work to explain the
capabilities and limitations of the finished product back to Marketing and Sales.

Questions for discussion: What are the different levels of products for say the hotel industry
and what are the various strategies that can be followed ta each level?

2. Marketing Planning:
• Overview

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 • The Planning Process
• Components of Marketing Plan

Competitive marketing strategy occurs within departments, across organisations, and within
people’s minds as a way of doing business. Market planning is a way to arrive at strategies
that establish a profitable & sustainable market position for the firm against all forces that
determine industry competiton by continuously creating & developing acompetitive
advantage from the potential sources that exist in a firm’s value chain.

Questions for discussion: Go back to the MPS that you studied in Term IV and try to draw
out a plan for brand development for say a new product line being introduced by Wills
Lifestyle (say kids line of clothing).

3. Developing Product Strategy

In this session we delve into the importance of Product Lifecycle management, New product
development, and technology adoption cycles. Look at the diagram below:

Questions for discussion: Think of a new product that an organisations say, Cadburys wants
to launch in india. What steps would it follow to ensure that this new product sees a
successful launch and a fast acceptance by target market?

4. Introduction to Brand Management:

What is a brand? There are definitions aplenty for this term but what’s critical is the
implication that end customers attach to the brand.
Organisations have realised that one of their most valuable assets is the brand names
associated with their products & services. A strong brand has an ability to simplify decision
making, reduce risk and set expectations. We will in this session look into what is brand
promise and how does it get converted into brand knowledge. For this we will place emphasis
on understanding psychological principles at the individual &/or at organisational level in
order to make better decisions about brands.

Questions for discussion: Look into the IPL fiasco which erupted in early 2010 and think
about the brand promises made and where the institution faltered?

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5. Rules of Brand management

Branding, which is now considered indispensable, is the terminal phase of a process that
involves the company’s resources and all of its functions. There are certain rules that
organisations follow and treat them as thumb rules for success: rules like; brand is a long
term vision; constantly renewing brand difference; Brand is a living memory; brand is a
contract,…

Questions for discussion: Analyse certain historical brands like DoorDarshan and trace the
rules that were followed or not followed, and yet the brand and its content is a living memory.

6. Brand identity

Few brands actually know who they are, what they stand for and what makes them unique.
Brand identity may be a recent notion, but many researchers have already delved into the
organisational identity of companies. The Brand Identity Prism is a tool which helps to
elucidate the 6 facets of identity.

Questions for discussion: What needs are brands fulfilling? What are the signs that make
them recognisable? What are their values?

7. Brand challenges & Opportunities

Brand management has become more difficult than ever. Changing market dynamics,
changing customer preferences have a direct impact on branding activities. Customers have
become more savvy and demanding. What they want from a product or a service has
changed. More than that emerging competitor have changed the industry scenario with
proliferation more products/services and therefore brands. Then again there is a gradual
increase in costs and there is now greater accountability for every organisations. Over time
more and more challenges are thrown up and with challenges come opportunities. This
session will bring the students face to face with such scenarios and they should be able to
come out with solutions at the end of the session.

Questions for discussion: In the mobile instrument industry for instance, what kind of
challenges are brands like Micromax & Karbonn throwing for established brands like Nokia
and Samsung?

8. Establishing brand values & internal branding

Brand mantra is the articulation of the heart and soul of the brand, a short three to five words
that spell out the essence of the brand. It could also be the “core brand promise”. They
provide guidance about what products to introduce under the brand, what ad campaigns to
run, and where and how the brand should be run.
Internal branding ias an important part of brand mantra, whereby company employees are
made an integral part of branding exercises. Emphasis is laid within organisations to
familiarise employees with the various brands the company is catering to and the significance
of each.

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Questions for discussion: Are companies taking it as a serious project within their
organisations to develop “brand respect” and “brand recall” amongst their employees?
Marico is one such company. Find out what they do to facilitate internal branding?

9. Service brands & Luxury brands

In this session we will look into the difference between product brands & service brands. We
will analyse the intricacies involved in promoting services with branding as a promotional
tool. For example banks which are renowned have to live up to their brand image with add on
services and customer relationship tools.
In India especially a new segment has emerged for the upper class echelons, who are looking
at luxury products & services. These brands have an iconic backing, are often endorsed by
celebrities and are charging premium prices from their clients. Brand management of luxury
products is an expensive affair and calls for high level of customer engagement.

Questions for discussion: Look around for some extremely famous brands like Mcdonalds
and Gucci, for instance. What according to you is done by keepers of these brands to connect
better with customers?

10. Basics about Brand Equity

Brand equity refers to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its
brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the
brand name. And at the root of these marketing effects is consumers’ knowledge. In other
words, consumers' knowledge about a brand makes manufacturers/advertisers respond
differently or adopt appropriately adept measures for the marketing of the brand. The study of
brand equity is increasingly popular as some marketing researchers have concluded that
brands are one of the most valuable assets that a company has. Brand equity is one of the
factors which can increase the financial value of a brand to the brand owner, although not the
only one.

Questions for discussion: What causes brand equity to exist? How do marketers create it?

11. Customer Based Brand Equity

The CBBE model incorporates theoretical advances in understanding & influencing

consumer behaviour. Technically it looks at brand building as a sequence of steps, each of
which is contingent on successfully achieving the objectives of the previous one. The
Blueprint for this pyramid is as shown below:

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Questions for discussion: For any brand would you be able to draw the CBBE Pyramid &
explain the various facets?

12. Measures of Brand Equity

There are quite a few methods of calculation of financial value of Brand equity. Some of
them are Cost Based like Historical costs & Replacement costs. Then there’s Price based
methods like Market share equalisation method & Brand indifference method. The
underlying understanding is that Brand Equity is not just a qualitative evaluation of any
brand’s goodwill but it can be quantified using various methods. These calculations are a
direct reflection on how viable the brand is and; what can be inferred is the Brand’s
contribution in revenues generated for the organisation.

Questions for discussion: Given the sales for the coming 3 years, you need to calculate the
net present value of the brand if the rate of discount is provided. What method would be
followed here?

13. Brand Positioning

Positioning means identifying & establishing points of parity and points of difference to
establish the right brand identity & brand image. Unique and meaningful ‘PODs’ provide a
competitive advantage and generate reasons for consumers to buy a particular brand. On the
other hand ‘POPs’ create brand associations which create familiarity with customers. In this
session we would also be looking at Positioning guidelines and delving into concepts like
Competitive frame of reference and Brand mantras.

Questions for discussion: With its huge product portfolio try to analyse how Pepsico and
Coca Cola have tried to reach out effectively into the minds of their customers?

14. Midterm

15. Choosing Brand Elements

Brand elements sometimes called Brand identities, are those tradmarkable devices that serve
to identify & differentiate the brand. The main ones are brand names, URLs, logos, symbols,
characters, spokespeople, slogans, jingles, packages & signages. Brand elements should be
chosen to enhance brand awareness. The test of the brand-building ability of brand elements

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is what consumers would think or feel about the product if they knew not only its brand
element but other associated aspects like logo, symbols, etc. A brand element that provides a
positive contribution to brand equity conveys or implies certain valued associations or
responses.

Questions for discussion: Having read about the various brand elements, try to fathom the
creativity involved in Vodafone’s (erstwhile Hutch) brand building strategy and their
innovative use of varied brand elements?

16. Leveraging secondary brand associations:

Brands may be linked to other entities that have their own knowledge structures in the minds
of consumers. Because of these linkages, consumers may assume or infer that some of the
associations & responses that characterise the other entities may also be true for the brand.
The brand “borrows” some knowledge and perhaps some brand equity from other entities.
This indirect approach to building brand equity is leveraging secondary brand knowledge
for the brand. The various entities could be other companies, countries, channels of
distribution, spokespersons, events, etc.

Questions for discussion: A lot of companies are using celebrity endorsement as one of the
tools to get closer to customers and to generate high brand recall. Do you think there could
certain drawbacks in this strategy?

17. Designing Marketing Programs –I (Product & Pricing Strategy)

The product itself is the primary influence on what consumers experience with a brand, what
they hear about a brand from others, and what the firm can tell customers about the brand.
Invariably at the heart of a great brand is a great product.
Pricing is one of the most flexible tools within a marketing mix and is oft used to push brands
keeping in mind the target market and the inventory stock. There are various strategies that
are followed when it comes to pricing, and it has to be blended such that brand dilution does
not happen.

Questions for discussion: What would be the kind of marketing programme a luxury brand
would follow in India in an effort to keep its exclusivity and yet reach the desired target
market (while not falling for the “great Indian Middle Class” trap)?

18. Designing Marketing Programs –I (Channel & Promotion Strategy)

The manner by which a product is sold or distributed can have a profound impact on the
resulting equity and ultimate sales success of a brand. Channel strategy includes the design
and management of intermediaries such as wholesalers, distributors, brokers and retailers.
Although advertising and other communication options can play different roles in the
marketing programme, one important purpose they all serve is to contribute to brand equity.
How much and what kind of communications are necessary, especially when the main aim is
to connect the points-of-parity and points-of-disparity and generate a positive association in
the minds of customers? Definitely communication is all pervasive in creating a brand feeling
in the minds and hearts of people.

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Questions for discussion: Analyse the way Hindi film industry has started spending crores in
promotional strategies. Do you think it has a positive impact on movie ticket sales or all it
does is create unnecessary hype?

19. Designing and Implementing Branding Strategies

The branding strategy or Brand Architecture, for a firm tells marketers which brand names,
logos, symbols, and so forth to apply to which new & existing products/services. We often
distinguish branding strategies by whether a firm is or should be employing an umbrella
corporate or family brand for all its products (as a Branded House), or a collection of
individual brands all with different names (as a House of Brands).

Questions for discussion: Look at the Brand matrix given above and draw this for Pepsico.

20. Brand Hierarchy

Brand hierarchy is a useful means of graphically portraying a firm’s branding strategy by

displaying the number and nature of common & distinctive brand elements across the firm’s
products, revealing the explicit ordering of brand elements. Its based on the realisation that
we can brand a product in different ways depending on how many new and existing brand
elements we use and how we combine them for any one product. We construct hierarchies to
represent how products are nested with other products because of their common brand
elements.

Questions for discussion: Look at the Brand Hierachy template given above and draw this
for HUL.

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21. Brand Extensions

In this session we shall discuss some of the basic issues about brand extensions and outlining
their advantages & disadvantages. A brand extension occurs when a firm uses an established
brand name to introduce a new product. There would be sub-brands, family brands, parent
brands, etc..

Questions for discussion: For the Brand Hierarchy sketched out for HUL, analyse the
different product lines where brand extensions have been used, and their advantages and
disadvantages.

22. Understanding Consumer Evaluation of Brands

What determines whether a brand extension is able to capitalise on the potential advantages,
and whether they have avoided the disadvantages. There are successful and unsuccessful
brand extensions, all which is very critically evaluated by customers. Consumers use their
existing brand knowledge, as well as what they know about the extension category, to try to
infer what the extension product might be like. This also gives a perspective to managers
about whether to go for a brand extension or not.

Questions for discussion: Consider the brand extension of Maggi for every food product
launched by Nestle. Do you think it was one of the reasons products like maggi pickles,
pazzta and cup-o-mania failed?

23. Managing Brand Over time

One of the obvious challenges in managing brands is the many changes in the marketing
environment in recent years. The marketing environment will continue to evolve and change,
often in very significant ways. Shifts in consumer behaviour, competitive strategies,
government regulations and other aspects of the marketing environment can profoundly
affect the fortunes of a brand.

Questions for discussion: Analyse the changing dynamics of the economy of India and their
impact on service brands like those in Retail and Hospitality industry.

24. Adjustments to Brand Portfolio

Managing brand equity and the brand portfolio requires taking a long-term view and carefully
considering over time the role of different brands in the portfolio and their relationships. In
particular, a brand migration strategy should help consumers understand how various brands
in the portfolio can satisfy their needs as they change over time, or as the products and brands
themselves change over time.

Questions for discussion: Look at the Automobile sector and study how they have modified
their strategies as they moved from the developed countries to emerging nations like the
BRIC countries.

Web References

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www.brandchannel.com
http://www.brandforward.com/bf_home.html
www.mckinseyquarterly.com
http://www.prophet.com/downloads/articles/aaker-think-big.pdf
http://www.buildingbrands.com/didyouknow/26_communicating_brand_value.php
http://www.brandkeys.com/news/
http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/16333
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/08/11/346850/index.htm
iPod: http://ciprianidesign.com/include/pdf/cipriani_applePaper.pdf
http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/marketing/PAPERS/AAKER/BOOKS/BUILDING/brand_per
sonality.html
http://www.mckinsey.com/practices/marketing/ourknowledge/pdf/Solutions_SuccessfulBrand
Repositioning.pdf
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/top_brands/index.asp
http://www.warc.com
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=1360
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/393_Interbrand_Made_In_China_2007.pdf
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=1319
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/377_New%20approach%20to%20customer
%20loyalty%20reveals%20hidden%20opportunities
%20-%20Vittorio%20Raimondi.pdf
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/297_Luxury_Branding_India.pdf
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=1253
Brand
Valuationhttp://www.bbdo.de/de/home/studien.download.Par.0003.Link1Download.File1Title
.pdf
Brand Equity http://www.brandz.com/output/Valuation.aspx
http://www.ica-ad.com/pdf/publications/MeasuringBrandEquity.pdf
http://www.venturerepublic.com/resources/brand_glossary.asp
NPD
http://www.productinnovators.com/georgia/events/summit2005/documents/RadicallyAcceler
ateAndImproveNPD.pdf

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