Brand Management
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| What is Branding in Marketing and Brand Strategy? |
Branding management combines several key areas:
- brand management theory;
- strategic brand management ;
- corporate brand management ( portfolio management ) ;
- brand management process - branding as a tool for generating additional company profits.
Also, brand management is the planning and overall coordination of the marketing activities of an organization related to a particular brand or portfolio of brands.
What is the Brand?
The brand is not limited to the logo of a company, the elements that make up the visual identity, or the product/service offered by a company. The brand concept represents the feeling that the public has or creates about a product, service, or company. So, in essence, it's about an organization's promise of delivery.
According to Kotler,
"Developing a strong brand is both an art and a science. Strong brands generate intense consumer loyalty - and their essence is a great product."
The brand is perceived in different ways by people, according to their beliefs, cultures, social contexts, values, and economic realities. But the main factor that determines how a person perceives a brand is the experience they have had with it. That is, whether or not a company's product or service met their expectations and needs.
While bad experiences reflect a loss of engagement with the public and a drop in the company's reputation and revenue, the opposite is also true. Companies with a strengthened brand gain, in addition to a good consolidated reputation, greater revenue, and engagement, also gain brand ambassadors. That is people who, in addition to always giving preference to buying from that company, promote their products/services in their circles of relationships, recommending the company to other customers.
This is the reason that explains the importance of good brand management.
Brand Management
Brand management is the activity of creating, managing, and maintaining intangible value for the company. Well-managed brands create clear differentiation between them and their competitors, generating associated attributes that differentiate them and increase the perception of value. By building trust and credibility, they gain the public's preference, which guarantees more sales, reputation, and results.
Building a strong brand means much more than building a brand promise that is delivered through the product experience. Brand strategy must go beyond advertising and communication, shaping and differentiating all touchpoints in the consumer journey. From the digital to the real world, from the sale to the experience, and especially when it comes to helping the consumer with a real problem. The best and most successful brands are completely coherent in the management of all their assets, in a consistent, differentiated, relevant, and proprietary way.
The Brand's assets range from its name, logo, and slogan, to its entire visual and verbal universe (Colors, shapes, typography, iconography, gestures, rituals, smell, sound, tone of voice, territory of words, and photographic identity).
Currently, a brand's digital experience is also one of the ways to create a proprietary universe. From the digital journey to the UX (user-experience), movement between screens, buttons, and movement of interfaces also tries to create something unique and differentiated.
From the outside, building a brand seems simple. It involves the frequent, irritating, and sometimes obsessive repetition of a simple, and often extravagant, statement, expressed through a catchy phrase “slogan”, a few colors, and a distinctive logo, placed more or less at random everywhere.
In fact, if we look more closely, we can see that the construction process is not so simple. There are many genres of brands, from consumer goods like Coca-Cola to brands traditionally divided between B2B (business-to-business) Brands and B2C (business-to-consumer), etc. With all these divisions and subdivisions and others not yet mentioned, it is not surprising that Brand Management when analyzed more concretely is extremely complex.
It's not easy to build a successful brand, many new brands fail (they die at birth, or prematurely). So Brand Management is above all the creation and maintenance of trust. The best Brands are managed in a completely coherent way, every aspect of what they are and how they relate to each other reinforces the Brand. The best Brands have a consistency that is built and maintained by people within their organization, fully absorbed by what the Brand symbolizes.
According to Wally Olins, a kind of branding " guru " and author of the book “A Marca”, brand management can have eleven guidelines:
1.)The four four-vectors clearest way to begin to understand a brand is to look at it, paying attention to the four vectors in which it manifests itself:
- Product: what the organization makes or sells
- Environment: where the organization makes or sells the product
- Communication: the way the organization tells people, to each consumer, what it does
- Behavior: the way each person working within the brand behaves in their interactions with other individuals or organizations
The comparative meaning of each of these vectors varies according to the nature of the Brand.
2.) Brand architecture. The brand structure has three options:
The first is corporate, where a name and a visual idea are used to describe everything the organization does (eg Nokia).
The second option is validated, when an organization has a series of brands, each with its own name and identity (eg ACCOR Group and the chain's brands, such as Sofitel and Mercure).
The third is individualized (branded), in which each unit or brand is designed separately for the consumer and is seen as being completely independent, although in reality it is managed by an entity that manages, markets, and distributes it. (eg Diageo which manages the Guinness brand)
3.) Brand invented, reinvented, or name changed. There is a big difference between invented and reinvented brands. When you invent a new brand, there is no business, nobody works for it, and you literally start with a blank sheet of paper; but when a brand is reinvented, things are different: there is already a structure, a culture, a tradition, a reputation. So in these cases, there is a need for the company to move in a new direction: it will need to be reinvented and repositioned.
4.) Product quality. When launching or relaunching a certain brand, it is necessary to be very clear about the quality of the product. If the product is the best there is in terms of price, quality, and service, that is a stepping stone to entering the race.
However, even if the product is the best among the existing ones, it is advisable not to stand still, because competitors will certainly try to get close. Finally, if the product is not as good as the best, then it is certain to fail.
5.) The interior and exterior. The elementary rule in marketing says that the end customer comes first. If it is not possible to understand and captivate the end customer, all is lost. While it's true that brands die if they don't have customers, it's also true that brands that offer poor service are potentially suicidal: their own people will eventually destroy their customer base. Brands thus have two roles: to persuade outsiders to buy and to persuade insiders to believe.
6.) Differentiators or central ideas. A product or service must be "different": there must be something unusual, and unique about it. Sometimes, design is what makes the difference, creating a product that is more beautiful, lighter, smaller, easier to use, or more attractive to a specific audience (example: domestic express machines ).
7.) Break with the model. Sometimes it becomes necessary to come up with a new product or service which means a rejection of the conventions that surround a business and introducing something entirely new (ex: the emergence of Apple, in 1976, broke with the model that was in force in the area).
8.) Reduce risk/research. Brand management always involves risk. Managers spend a lot of time trying to reduce risk. Indeed, much of the research work is extremely useful, particularly at the macro level, but it is best not to really too much on it at the micro level. Research is a tool to reduce risk, but never to completely eliminate it.
9.) Promotion. A brand can't succeed if no one knows about it. The use of promotion mechanisms is essential.
10.) Distribution. The Internet indeed has patterns of some products and services quite a bit, but for most people, it's just another distribution channel - important, certainly, but not revolutionary. Good distribution needs good coverage.
To manage distribution, it is necessary to have a lot of knowledge of the market potential, production capacity, and ways to optimize distribution logistics so that the product is always available at the point of sale (POS) when the consumer is impacted by communication efforts. and promotion.
All these efforts converge at the point of sale, whether online or offline. If the product is available at the right place and time, the chance of "converting" that consumer is much greater.
11.) Consistency, Clarity, and Congruence. All these guidelines are important, but the whole experience, from first to the last contact, has to reinforce and underline trust in the brand.
Everything has to fit together and be coherent: the brand has to be the same, anytime, anywhere, whether you are buying or selling it, whether you have a partnership with it or whether you are negotiating your actions. There needs to be consistency in attitude, style, and culture.
Brand Identity
Some authors insist on the importance of brand identity, which responds to and completes that brand image.
According to Geraldine Michel (2000), the brand is composed of a central core and a periphery.
Saverio Tomasella (2002) extended this approach. He developed a trivalent spherical model of brand identity so that each brand, "through its own mythology, can be studied in terms of three articulated subsets that define its identity in motion: the fundamental identifiers, hinge identifiers, and peripheral identifiers”.
The spherical representation illustrates the dynamic complexity of brand identity.
- The first, central circle is the core of the brand: it brings together the “essential” values.
- The second circle, the articulation, ensures the cohesion of the brand and brings together the "intermediate" values.
- The third circle, on the periphery, filters new information, coming from the interactions of the brand with its environment: it is composed of “circumstantial” values.
"This ternary model makes it possible to test any brand extension project, but also any new communication campaign, by ensuring that the targeted market segment will perceive the identity of the brand, transformed by these projects, without being betrayed or unrecognizable". Such a perspective favors the differentiation of the brand, sensitively and not only intellectually.
It allows the development of an extended marketing mix based on seven fundamental variables (5p2i). The expanded marketing mix is global: it is developed based on the brand's positioning and identity.
You need to design a distinctive, meaningful, and attractive identity for the target client; communicate the right message; make sure to deliver a service that meets customer expectations, and provide them with a unique experience.
Brand Strategy
Brand strategy or brand strategy (formerly brand strategy) is a methodological tool of brand management. This is a long-term plan for creating and managing a brand, a technology for the systematic development of a brand to achieve its goals. The brand strategy is built by the essence of the brand and the principles of competition.
Brand Culture
Brand culture is the defining element of brand management, the essence, the soul of brand strategy. The core of a brand's culture is the content of the entire culture. A brand that can become an ideal in the minds of consumers is created using various brand management methodological systems that take into account the psychological and cultural mechanisms of a particular market.
Positioning (Brand Positioning)
Brand positioning can be considered the marketing activities of the company to fix the brand in the mind of the consumer as different from brands of similar products. Includes such concepts as personality, brand identity, brand personality, brand repositioning, brand archetype, etc.
A brand that carries an archetype, that is, a psychological and cultural mechanism embedded in it and tested by time, becomes a symbol, the essential meaning of its product category, and leads the market.
Brand Architecture
Brand architecture is understood as the hierarchy of the company's brands, a reflection of its marketing strategy, as well as the consistency and verbal-visual ordering of all brand elements.
The main types of architecture are distinguished: monolithic, umbrella or subsidiary brands, supporting, pluralistic, etc. It also includes the concept of brand attributes - physical, sensory (appearance, design, color, smell, packaging, etc.), and functional characteristics of the brand.
As a rule, brand attributes include brand-supporting graphics, which, in turn, is an auxiliary element of its signature. The basic elements of a signature are:- a symbol, logo, and brand slogan.
Consumer behavior when choosing a brand at the international level (Global Consumer Culture Positioning, GCCP) is based on a commitment to a particular brand culture.
In the new economic space of the 21st century, an open network structure is characterized by hyper-competition and a high degree of dynamism. In this situation, brand management is called upon to ensure a significant share of global income. The issues of effective promotion with the help of brands in the presence of steady growth in demand require an early solution and further theoretical study.
Social Networks
Even though social networks have changed their tactics for marketing brands, their main goals remain the same, to attract and keep their customers. However, companies have now experienced new challenges with the introduction of social networks. This change strikes the right balance between getting customers to share the word about brands with different platforms, while still controlling the main purpose of the company in terms of marketing strategy.
Marketing via word of mouth on social media falls into another category of viral marketing, it broadly describes any strategy that encourages individuals to spread the message. This creates the potential for exponential expansion in message exposure and influence.
Basic forms of this are seen when a customer comments on a product, company, or endorses a brand. This marketing technique allows users to spread the word about the brand, which creates exposure for the company. Because of this, brands are becoming more interested in exploring or using, social media for commercial benefit.
Brand Strategy
How to create a brand
For example, to the question: " What brand would you give to a crunchy chocolate candy intended for children aged 6 to 12", three types of answers can be given:
- a response in the form of promising brand ⇒ chocolate (we promise you something: here to bite into chocolate).
- a response in the form of a target brand ⇒ chocolate (we are targeting a particular market: here the toddler market).
- a response in the form of a universe brand ⇒ chocolate (we are referring to an environment: here the field of “recreation” activities).
Brand alliances
Brand strategies can serve the company by:
- co-development: two firms work together to develop a new brand (e.g. Mercedes and Swatch for Smart)
- joint advertising: a firm inserts a brand, a logo, or a recommendation of another brand, often located in the surrounding market or the support market (e.g. Dell recommends Google)
- coupled promotion: this form of batch promotion is often found on the market for everyday consumer goods such as food (e.g. Bacardi rum sold with a bottle of Coca-Cola)
- functional codename: two firms join forces to create a product marketed under both brand names (e.g. Yoplait /Chocolate mousse)
- conceptual co-branding: two firms join forces to associate a brand image with an existing product (e.g. Clio Chipie)
Develop your brand image on the internet
When a company starts, like any start-up, it must develop a brand image as quickly as possible. There are many strategies for this. This is often associated with the notion of visibility. If large companies use conventional methods (advertising, partnership, sponsorship, affiliation, etc.), some small companies focus on less costly methods, which consist of increasing their relationships with the few prospects/customers, to aim for rapid profitability, such as that :
- Develop a mailing list
- Optimize the engagement rate of its users
- Blogging
- Go fishing for contacts in themed lounges
Referring to white papers or a Checklist to develop your brand image is a reliable solution so that you don't forget any information.
The concept of useful mark
A useful brand approach consists in making the brand useful in the eyes of consumers through a societal action not directly linked to the product. It is generally the provision of a useful and free product or service.
This product is not the main product related to the company's core business even if the product is itself useful. This is another product, which the company does not trade. On the other hand, it is often a product referring to the context of the brand.
Examples:
- Michelin, a tire manufacturer decided to get involved in 1911 in the numbering of roads, non-existent at the time.
- Always, manufacturer of periodic protections, underlined its positioning as a "protective brand for women", by offering a smartphone application allowing women to secure their journey on foot against attacks 9
- A travel agency offering free wall world maps.
- the SNCF "Hapi" application plays tourist guides by allowing you to discover images and information on the sites crossed, by geolocation.
- Many useful technical guides in the form of books but also posters to hang in the technical workplace (garage, workshop, etc.), with the sponsor brand visible.
The different type of Trademarks
Range mark
A range mark is a mark of a set of products that have a link between them. The brand image of a product spreads to the other products in the range. The cost of communication on the range brand serves all the products in the range.
Umbrella Brand
The umbrella brand, also spelled umbrella brand, refers to a brand that houses and groups other brands, generally a set of heterogeneous products (at the scale of a group or at the level of a range).
For example, Michelin (guides, tires…), the Ibis hotel chain. Each product carries a promise and a consumer benefit and is supported by global, common communication, under the same brand name.
Global Brand
The separation between convenience/food service and technology is not a matter of luck: both sectors are highly dependent on sales to individual consumers which must be able to rely on cleanliness/quality or reliability/value, respectively.
For this reason, industries like agriculture (which sells to other companies in the agribusiness), student loans (which have a relationship with universities and schools instead of individual donors), and electricity (which are generally a monopoly control) have a less abundant and less recognized brand image.
Brand value is not simply a cheated sense of consumer interest, but an active amount of goodwill value under generally reckoned and accepted principles. Companies will rigorously defend their brand names, including prosecution for trademark infringement. Occasionally, trademarks will differ by country.
Among the most recognized brands as well as the most visible, there is the slogan as well as the logo of Coca-Cola products for example. Despite numerous blind tests indicating that Coke's flavor is not everyone's favorite, Coca-Cola continues to enjoy a dominant share of the cola market.
The history of Coca-Cola is filled with uncertainties that folklore has settled around the brand, including the disproved myth that Coca-Cola invented the Santa Claus who is dressed in red. This is used to gain market entry into less capitalist regions of the world such as China or Russia. Cultural translation is useful for the country entering new markets.
Modern brand management also intersects with legal issues such as the generalization of trademarks. The "Xerox" company continues to fight the media intensely no matter when a reporter or other writer simply uses "Xerox" as a synonym for photocopying. Should the use of Xeros be accepted as the American standard in terms of “photocopying” so that Xeros competitors can successfully argue in court that they are allowed to create “Xeros” machines as well? Achieving this stage of market dominance is a triumph of brand management, and becoming dominant usually leads to great profits.
Product-brand
It associates a name and a specific product promise. Examples: Ariel, Vizir, Dash, Zest, Camay, Badoit, Fruity, Evian, etc.
Bond mark
It is linked to several complex product lines and complements other brands to authenticate the product.
Examples: { Danone, Dany, Danette}, { Gillette, Gill, Contour} { Lidl }.
Private label
A private label (owned by a distributor) allows the latter to recover a higher margin even if the prices charged are lower than for producer brands. It competes fiercely with producers who are also subject to margins upstream and downstream from distributors, forced promotion, and “stripping”.
Line marker
It brings together under the same name products that are aimed at a particular clientele and benefit from a specific promise.
Examples: Dior, Poison (perfume).
Claw
This is the signature of the original creation. The territory of the label is expressed by a recognized skill and a style.
Examples: Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Studio Harcourt.
E-brand
The expression e-brand is the expression used to designate a brand designed on the Internet 10.
Examples: Dell, Amazon.
Trademarks Technology
The brand image
The brand image is defined by the image that the organization wants to project. A psychological meaning or profile associated with the brand.
The brand association
The brand association refers to an information node that keeps in memory the form of a network of associations and is linked to a key variable. For example, variables such as brand image, brand personality, or brand preference are nodes in a network that describe sources of brand congruence.
The brand's attitude
Brand attitude cites a general evaluation of the brand concerning its ability to perceive abilities to achieve consistent motivation.
Brand awareness
Brand awareness is the point where consumers can identify a brand under several conditions. Marketers can usually identify two distinct types of brand awareness, such as brand recognition and brand recall.
Brand Equity
Brand equity comes from marketing where brand equity is dealt with in measuring the strength of consumers' attachment to the brand; a description of the associations and beliefs the consumer has about the brand.
The personality of the brand
Brand personality focuses on human personality traits that are applied, as well as significant to the brand.
The congruity of itself
Congruence itself refers to consumers who prefer brands that have similar personalities to theirs. Consumers tend to form a strong attachment to the personalities of brands that represent their own.
Brand preference
Brand preference is distinguished by the predisposition of consumers to certain brands that summarize their cognitive information on brand stimuli.
Brand Auditing
Intangible assets when developed internally, brands are a good example of valuation techniques that could be used for other indicators of intangible capital. There are several main methods to evaluate a brand:
Approach by costs
It consists of valuing a brand in relation either to the costs that were incurred to create it or to the costs that it would be necessary to incur to develop a similar brand. In the latter case, it is more of a dimension of replacement costs than historical costs.
Market approach
A second method is a market approach, of the "comparable" type, which consists of examining the price paid for another brand, and by comparison with an aggregate that seems relevant (turnover, number of units sold, etc.) it is then possible to deduce the value of the brand to be assessed.
Income approach
It is broken down into two sub-methods:
- That is known as royalties, which values the brand by discounting the future income it is supposed to generate, or in the perspective of an acquisition, the future savings linked to the non-payment of royalty, such as the fact of being an owner of a building saves rent.
- The so-called super profit updates the super profit that the company will be able to generate thanks to the brand. This super profit is defined as the profit that the brand will allow generating beyond the profit expected for the remuneration of the capital employed. Clearly, the brand makes it possible to apply a premium to the price, but since it also generates additional costs, it is this discounted differential that is the value of the brand.
Approach by the perceived value and the share of preferences
- The perceived value of a brand by a person depends on his involvement, the person's preference criteria, and the discriminating qualities that he attributes to the brand. The perceived value of a brand is obtained by a specific study protocol which allows the modeling of the universe of customer preferences in a given market, from a representative sample.
- This approach also leads to the evaluation of the preference shares of competing brands in a given market. The preference share of an offer is the proportion of people who a priori prefer this offer to compete for offers. There is a causal relationship between preference share and market share. Studies with city doctors have demonstrated this relationship. The share of preferences cannot be calculated from a simple declaration. It is obtained from the values that a representative sample gives to each competing offer.
