UNDERSTANDING

BRANDS & BRAND MANAGEMENT

Dr. Etinder Pal Singh

What is a brand?

Emotional/Feelings

TRUST

Brands vs. Products

Brand is the difference between a

bottle of soda and
coke

Is the difference between mp3 player and an

ipod

Is the difference between coffee cup and

starbucks

Psychological differences are

more strong than functional
differential advantage.

Emotional associations are

difficult to copy

What is a brand?
Something that has actually created a certain
amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and
so on in the marketplace

Brand Definitions
A Brand is a name, term, sign symbol or design or a combination
of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller
or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of
competitors
- Philip Kotler

Brand Definitions
A successful brand is an identifiable product,
service, place or person, augmented in such a
way that the buyer or user perceives relevant,
unique added values which match their needs
most closely. Furthermore, its success results
from being able to sustain these added values
in face of competition
- Leslie & Malcolm, in Creating Powerful Brands

Brand Definitions
A Brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (such
as a logo, trade mark, or package design) intended to
identify the goods or services of either one seller or a
group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods or
services from those of competitors
David Aaker

Five Levels of Meaning for a Product

The core benefit level - fundamental need or want
The generic product level- a stripped-down, no-frills version of the
product that adequately performs the product function
The expected product level- set of attributes or characteristics that
buyers normally expect and agree to when they purchase a product
The augmented product level- includes additional product attributes,
benefits, or related services that distinguish the product from
competitors
The potential product level- includes all the augmentations and
transformations that a product might ultimately undergo in the future

Historical Evolution of Brands

Branding was Stamping (Animals) for Identification
Defined by Oxford Dictionary as, 'to mark permanently as proof
of ownership, as a sign of quality, or for any other purpose'
Hence Branding began as a legal issue even on products,
however is soon became important in that Source of Product became traceable
Quality was assured

Consumer loyalty to a producer became legitimate and

expected

Historical Evolution of Brands Contd

Rapid rise of urban growth from 1960s and growing
distance between producer and consumer led to rapid
growth in Branding
The growth was supported by advent and proliferation
of MASS MEDIA and ORGANISED RETAILING. The former
facilitating branding and the latter necessitating it
From 1980s Intangible Value addition has come to be a
chief value building element and hence today all the
more importance of Branding

Branding
Branding is a process of brand development and its
management (which includes issues as Brand Extension,
Brand Health Monitoring, Brand Rejuvenation & the like)
Brand is a collection of associations, commercially material
with regard to a commercial entity (which can be
Product/product category/firm/Places/personality & like
entities)

Why do brands matter?

Importance of Brands to Consumers

Identification of the source of the product
Assignment of responsibility to product
maker
Risk reducer
Search cost reducer
Promise, bond, or pact with product maker
Symbolic device
Signal of quality

Reducing the Risks in Product Decisions

Functional risk
Physical risk
Financial risk
Social risk
Psychological risk
Time risk

Importance of Brands to Firms

Valuable pieces of legal property, capable of
influencing consumer behavior, being bought
and sold, and providing the security of
sustained future revenues
Identification to simplify handling or tracing

Importance of Brands to Firms Contd

Legally protecting unique features

Signal of quality level
Endowing products with unique associations
Source of competitive advantage
Source of financial returns

What all can be Branded?

Remember
Brand is something that resides in the minds
of consumers
And the key to branding is -consumers
perceive differences among brands in a
product category
Examples of commodity branding?

What all is branded?

Physical goods
Services
Retailers and distributors
Online products and services
People and organizations
Sports, arts, and entertainment
Geographic locations
Ideas and causes

What are the strongest brands?

The Leading Brands - 1925-1985

Product
Leading Brand, 1925 Position 1985
BatteriesEveryday Leader

Biscuits

NabiscoLeader

Breakfast Cereal Kellogg Leader

Cameras KodakLeader
Canned Fruit Del Monte Leader
Chewing Gum Wrigley Leader
Chocolates Wrigley No. 2
Flour Gold Medal Leader
Mint Candies Life Savers Leader
Paint Sherwin-Williams Leader

Top Ten Global Brands 2013

1.42

Importance of Brand Management

The bottom line is that any brandno matter
how strong at one point in timeis
vulnerable, and susceptible to poor brand
management

Branding Challenges and Opportunities

Savvy customers
Brand proliferation
Media fragmentation
Increased competition
Increased costs
Greater accountability

Strategic Brand Management

Involves the design and implementation of
marketing programs and activities to build,
measure, and manage brand equity.

Strategic Brand Management

Process
Steps

Key Concepts

Identify and establish

brand positioning and values

Mental maps
Competitive frame of reference
Points-of-parity and points-of-difference
Core brand values
Brand mantra

Plan and implement

brand marketing programs

Mixing and matching of brand elements

Integrating brand marketing activities
Leveraging of secondary associations

Measure and interpret

brand performance

Grow and sustain

brand equity

Brand value chain

Brand audits
Brand tracking
Brand equity management system
Brand-product matrix
Brand portfolios and hierarchies
Brand expansion strategies
Brand reinforcement and revitalization

Strategic Value of Brand Loyalty

Enhances brand equity and hence the value of the firm
Reduced Marketing Costs
Trade & Retail Leverage
Attracting new customers
Brand Awareness created
Re-assurance to new customers
Time to respond to competitive threats

Constituent Categories of the Product

Product- Function, Design, Packaging, Price, Efficacy, Features
Services- Before Sales Service, After Sales Service, Delivery,
Availability, Advice, Finance, Warrantees, Gurantee, Add-ons
Brand- Perceptions on issues (like Ethical reliability, Quality, etc.)
with regard to Corporate Brand, Product/s Brand

Commodity to Brand
Branded
Markets

Price
Differentiation
/ Margins

Commodity
Markets

Product/Image Differentiation

Intangible
Value
Addition

illusion of Truth
Consumer Preference Tests on Diet Coke & Diet Pepsi
Blind Tests Open Branded Test
Prefer Pepsi 51% 23%
Prefer Coke 44% 65%
Equal/cannot say 5% 12%
Consumers Experience the Power of the Brand

The Key to Branding

For branding strategies to be successful,
consumers must be convinced that there are
meaningful differences among brands in the
product or service category.
Consumer must not think that all brands in the
category are the same.
PERCEPTION = VALUE

BRAND ELEMENTS TO BUILD BRAND EQUITY

Brand Names
Logos and Symbols
Characters
URLs
Slogans
Jingles
Packaging

Criteria for Choosing Brand Elements

Memorability
Meaningfulness
Likability
Transferability
Adaptability
Protectability

Marketers offensive strategy

and build brand equity

Defensive role for leveraging

and maintaining brand equity

Brand Naming Guidelines

Brand awareness
Simplicity and ease of pronunciation and spelling
Familiarity and meaningfulness
Differentiated, distinctive, and uniqueness

Brand associations
The explicit and implicit meanings consumers
extract from it are important

Brand Naming Procedures

Define objectives
Generate names
Initial Screening
Study possible names
Research the final names
Select the final name

Logos and Symbols

Play a critical role in building brand equity and
especially brand awareness
Logos range from corporate names or trademarks
written in a distinctive form, to entirely abstract
designs

Characters
A special type of brand symbolone that takes on
human or real-life characteristics
Some are animated or live-action figures like
Pillsburys Poppin Fresh Doughboy, Amuls girl
butters, and McDonalds Joker Or MDH, Country Club

URLs
URLs (uniform resource locators) specify
locations of pages on the web
Copyright infringement, buying or register all
conceivable variations of its brand as domain
names ahead of time

Slogans
Short phrases that communicate descriptive or
persuasive information about the brand.
Extremely efficient means to build brand equity

Jingles
Musical messages written around the brand.
Have catchy hooks and choruses to become
almost permanently registered in the minds of
listenerssometimes whether they want them
to or not!
Perhaps most valuable in enhancing brand
awareness.

Packaging
Objectives:
Identify the brand
Convey descriptive and persuasive information
Facilitate product transportation and protection
Assist at-home storage
Aid product consumption

Source: Susan B. Bassin, Value-Added Packaging Cuts through Store

Clutter,
Marketing News, 26 September 1988, 21.

Packaging can
Influence Taste
Influence Value

Packaging Can Influence Consumption

Studies of 48 different types of foods and
personal care products have shown that
people pour and consume between 18% and
32% more of a product as the size of the
container doubles.

Valerie Folkes, Ingrid Martin and Kamal Gupta,

When to Say When: Effects of Supply on Usage,
Journal of Consumer Research, 20 December 1993, 467-47

Packaging Can Influence How a Person Uses

a Product
One strategy to increase use of mature products has
been to encourage people to use the brand in new
situations, like soup for breakfast, or new uses, like
baking soda as a refrigerator deodorizer.
An analysis of 26 products and 402 consumers
showed that twice as many people learned about the
new use from the package than from television ads.

Putting It All Together

The entire set of brand elements makes up the
brand identity, resulting in awareness and
image
The cohesiveness of the brand identity
depends on the extent to which the brand
elements are consistent.