Some experts say that the brand resides in the heads & hearts of the persons, and thus the MC (Marketing Communications) is all about how to create, deliver, manage & evaluate the “Brand Messages” i.e., all the information & experiences that impact how customers & other stakeholders perceive a brand.

1. BRAND
MANAGEMENT
Presentation By
Himansu S M / 18-Jul-2013
1

2. Brand Management
INTRODUCTION
 A Brand Image is what a company
believes about its products, and reputation
is the brand plus behaviour.
 Both the brand image and brand
reputation are important; ideally they
merge to create brand integrity.
2

3. DEFINITION
 A brand is defined as the net sum of its
relationships. Another way of describing a
corporate brand, then, is that it’s the net
sum of its image and reputation. These
two elements together drive brand
relationships.
 Corporate Branding is the practice of
managing the identity and image of a
corporate organisation.
3

4. WHAT BRAND MEANS
 A brand is an identification, a certain
image, a feeling or impression of a thing,
an object, a person, an organisation, etc.
 This is the result of a perception resulting
from some “experience with” &
“information about” a company or a line of
products.
4

5. WHAT BRAND MEANS
 Some experts say that the brand resides
in the heads & hearts of the persons, and
thus the MC (Marketing Communications)
is all about how to create, deliver, manage
& evaluate the “Brand Messages” i.e., all
the information & experiences that impact
how customers & other stakeholders
perceive a brand.
5

6. INTERBRAND Definition
 According to Interbrand, one of the top
brand consulting firms in the world, a
brand is the mixture of tangible &
intangible attributes symbolised in a
trademark, which if properly managed
creates influence & generates value.
 A perception can be influenced thro’
positive & negative communication
experiences but not controlled.
6

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF A
BRAND
 A brand differentiates the product from its
competitors and makes a promise to the
customers.
 The product attributes remaining the same
one brand has more market share than
another is because of the difference in
perception of its brand in the minds of the
people.
7

8. BRANDING
 This is the process of creating brand
image that engages the hearts & minds of
the customers.
 And this is precisely what separates
similar products from one another.
8

9. LOGOS
 These are distinctive graphic design used
to communicate a product, company, or
organisation identity.
 Customers & prospects are influenced by
a wide variety of messages that are sent
by both the tangible & the intangible
attributes of a product.
9

10. LOGOS
 Tangible attributes can be design,
performance, ingredients/components,
size, shape, price, etc., which can be
observed, felt, touched, & known. But the
importance lies with the intangible
attributes, which are the primary
responsibility of a marketer.
 These can be image, perceived value,
memories, experiences, & impressions,
etc. 10

11. Brands live in Heads &
Hearts of the Customers
 Although a company may own a brand
name & logo, and greatly influence what
people think about its brands, the actual
brand meaning that influences behaviour
resides in the heads & hearts of the
customers and other stakeholders.
11

12. Brands live in Heads &
Hearts of the Customers
 It’s important to note that brands operate
at different levels and have different
meanings at different stages in the
distribution chain along which products
move from manufacturers to end users,
and with different customers.
12

13. BRAND EXPERIENCES
 Ultimately, the meaning of the brand is
based on the customers’ experience with
the brand, either positive or negative. This
can come from all the message
sources, thro’ all the media, regarding all
the attributes of a brand, product or
company.
13

14. BRAND EXPERIENCES
 It has been estimated that most of the
customers switch brands NOT because of
product or performance attributes,
 BUT because of a response to customer
service and other aspects of the brand
experience that customers believe are less
than satisfactory.
14

15. Customer Experience is
very Important for Brand
Building
 Brands are “lived” and adapted by each
customer according to his own individual
expectations and experience with them.
 Positive brand experiences are created by
relevance & by offering value thro’ the
brand relationship.
15

16. Brands transform Products
 A basic principle is that a brand transforms
goods / services into something larger
than themselves.
 A powerful brand is not just a product, but
something more than that, and for this
“more” customers “don’t mind to” or
“gladly” pay a premium.
 Thus a brand & what it represents can
affect what people are willing to pay.
16

17. Brands transform Products
 Branding has such powerful impact on
consumer perception that retailers rather
than relying solely on manufacturers’
brands (Name brand), have created their
own brands (Store / House brand or
Private label), which is used exclusively by
one chain of stores for a line of products
made to the chain’s specifications.
17

18. Brands make promises & set
expectations
 In terms of consumer purchase, the
essence of brand is a promise. The
promise sets expectations for what a
person considers likely to occur when
using a product. Some experts say that a
brand is also a contract, albeit a virtual
one, between a company & a customer.
Information & knowledge about what a
brand stands for and past experience with
the brand allow customers to make a quick18

19. Brand Promise
 That’s what a promise is – you know what
to expect. Consistency is critical to the
establishment of a brand promise. A clear
& compelling brand promise consistently
communicated at all points of touch is the
principal benefit of branding. Of course,
promises mean little if the product fails to
meet expectations.
19

20. Marketing
Communication(MC)
 MC has been used for years to make
promises in order to generate sales.
 But often companies fail because they
make promises that they can’t keep.
 This can happen for two reasons:
20

21. Failure of Brand Promise
 By making unrealistic promises: The first
is that expectations are raised too high,
usually in an overzealous advertising.
 By not matching the promises with the
delivery: The second is that products or
supporting services are defective.
21

22. Failure of Brand Promise
 Companies must constantly monitor
customer expectations & product
performance to make sure there’s no gap
between them or there is a positive
gap, where the customer is delighted.
22

23. Failure of Brand Promise
 But when a negative gap exists, either the
brand promises need to be restrained, or
the managers responsible for product
performance need to be made aware that
their products are not meeting
expectations and they must take some
remedial measures.
23

24. HOW BRANDS ARE CREATED &
MAINTAINED
 Building a successful brand, whether for a
company or a new product, requires
strategic planning & a major investment.
 There are three basic steps that are
discussed.
 Once the company has more than one
brand, it then needs a system for
managing how they interrelate amongst
themselves:
24

25. Selecting the Desired Brand
Position
 There must be a clear-cut policy of the
company, on the basis of its business
objectives, as to what should be its target
audience. Brand position is the standing of
a brand in comparison with its competitors
in the minds of customers, prospects &
other stakeholders.
25

26. Selecting the Desired Brand
Position
 According to AL Ries, who had developed
the positioning concept, customers who’re
aware of several brands in a product
category automatically compare and rank
those brands on the basis of the
differences they perceive amongst them.
26

27. Selecting the Desired
Brand Position
 Although brand positions, like brands
themselves, live in the minds & hearts of
customers, a company’s MC can greatly
influence how customers perceive a brand
in relation to competition.
27

28. Selecting the Desired
Brand Position
 The real challenge is to select a position
that can be realistically supported by the
product, the company, & the MC, and that
can be appreciated by customers &
prospects.
28

29. Positioning Strategies
 A positioning strategy is generally based
on one of several variables like Category,
Image, Unique Product Feature, Benefit,
etc. According to Michael Porter, there are
three basic positioning alternatives, like
 (1) as a product / service differentiator,
 (2) as a low cost leader, and
 (3) as a niche market offerer.
29

30. Positioning Strategies
 He suggested that the marketer should be
specialist for a few strategies rather than a
generalist for several strategies. The
strategies can be based on several factors
as:
 They are discussed in details in the
following:
30

31. Category Positioning
 This type of positioning is possible
anytime a brand defines, creates, or
owns a category. Here the positioning is
done as a leader of a particular
category, so that it becomes
synonymous with that service, like
Xerox means photocopying, Essel Word
means family holiday entertainment, etc.
31

32. Category Positioning
 Similar to category positioning is Pre-
emptive positioning. This is the brand
positioning based on a generic feature
that competitions have not talked about.
The Pre-emptive positioning is often
used by commodity products, i.e. the
goods & services that have very minor
or no distinguishing differences.
32

33. Image Positioning
 This type of positioning differentiates on
the basis of created association. It is
similar to the pre-emptive positioning
that any brand can attempt to create a
differentiating image for itself.
33

34. Image Positioning
 These attempts are often not successful
because the image is not realistic, not
creatively constructed or not used long
enough to actually build up an
association between the brand & the
desired image.
34

35. Unique Product Features
Positioning
 This type of positioning is based on an
element that is unique to the product or
company. Product features are tangible
and intangible attributes of goods or
services and they provide a basis for
positioning.
35

36. Unique Product Features
Positioning
 This is also known as Attribute Positioning
which is based on a single attribute or
feature of a product / service, like
Malayala Manorama- no.1 in
circulation, Allahabad Bank- the oldest
bank, etc.
36

37. Benefit Positioning
 This type of positioning is based on
benefits, advantages that allow a
product to satisfy customers’ needs,
wants, & desires like some new
generation private banks offering ATMs
& internet banking, etc. Most benefits
are experimental, functional or symbolic,
any of which can be the basis of brand
positioning.
37

38. Benefit Positioning
 Symbolic benefits such as belonging to
a certain country club make people feel
a certain way thro’ achievements,
associations, or attitude.
38

39. Use/Application Positioning
 Positioning as the best for a particular
service application, like SBI offering
education loans, etc.
39

40. User Positioning
 Based on the requirements of some
specific target groups, like India
positioning itself as the destination of
tourists seeking inner peace of mind,
etc.
40

41. User Positioning
 Competitor Positioning: This service is
positioned primarily against a particular
competitor, like IIPM positioning itself
against IIMs – dare to think beyond
IIMs.
41

42. Quality/Price Positioning
 On the basis of quality standard at a
particular price, like Oberoi hotels offer
high class service at a high price range,
other budget hotels offering decent
minimum comfortable stay & service with
all modern amenities (but not luxury) for
affordable prices, etc.
 Marketers should be careful about their
positioning strategies to prevent certain
situations:
42

43. Some brands are over-positioned
 when the segment is too narrow for the
offer and many potential customers fail
to notice,
 Some brands are under-positioned
when the customers fail to notice any
distinctive edge,
 Some brands communicate conflicting
features / benefits to create a confusion,
43

44. Some brands are over-positioned
 Some brands offer irrelevant or
redundant features / benefits,
 Some brands offer promises which the
customer doubt whether the marketer
can deliver.
44

45. Managing a Brand’s Position
 Marketing Managers may develop high
sounding positioning statements. But they
don’t mean anything if they are not captured
in the customers’ minds. To determine how
customers perceive a brand & its
competitors, the marketers do a sample study
known as perceptual mapping, which is a
visualisation technique that indicates how
customers perceive competing brands in
terms of various criteria.
45

46. Perceptual Mapping
 These maps indicate how a sample of
customers rank each brand from low to high,
on a handful of selected criteria, like
performance, quality, style, price, features,
etc.
 Numerical rankings for each criterion are
averaged & plotted. This map enables brand
managers to quickly see how theirs brands
compare, in the minds of consumers, with
competing brands.
46

47. Repositioning a Brand
 Sometimes the brands need to be
repositioned. Because their original
position no longer fits the modern day
culture or requirements. Repositioning
may also be used when a brand extends
its product & line and needs to redefine
itself in terms of its new goods & services.
47

48. Developing Brand Identification
 The brand name & symbol chosen to
represent a brand need to reflect the
position of a brand, and they must work as
identification cues. Names & brand
symbols are what customers look for when
they shop, whether in stores, in
catalogues, on the Internet, or in the case
of B2B products, at trade shows and
exhibits.
48

49. Developing Brand Identification
 The more memorable, relevant or catchy the
brand name & symbols are, the faster & less
expensive it becomes to reach to the minds
of customers, and create awareness of the
brand. Making it easy to find & repurchase a
brand is an important factor in customer
relation.
 Thus the more specific & less ambiguous
brand identity cues are, the more they help
customers save time looking for a product,
which adds value to the brand.
49

50. Brand Names
 So, now what name to choose ? In general
we ask often what’s in a name . Or we
say, call a rose by any name, it will smell
as sweet. But in the case of brands it does
matter.
 Choosing a brand name is more art than
science. Often it is the result of extensive
& continuous research. Catchy or
attractive names linger in the hearts &
minds of the buyer. 50

51. Brand Names
 Sometimes the specific meanings of the
names create an image in the minds of the
customers. Successful brand names share
several characteristics that help make
them memorable.
 A good brand name usually communicates
one or more of the following
characteristics:
51

52.  Benefit: The name directly suggests
some benefit, like Heads & Shoulders,
Itch-Guard.
 Association: The names directly convey
the association of two or more entities,
which may be companies, categories,
themes, etc. like H-P.
52

53.  Distinctiveness: The important theme is
distinctiveness & it may be simple, but
may be unrelated to the product, like
Apple (Computers), Monster.com
(Jobs), etc.
53

54.  Simplicity: The names should be simple
& short to spell & pronounce, or it
should be phonetically easy for all. In
today’s world most of the good & big
companies go multinational, and names
should not be awkward (or meaning
awkward) for a particular linguist or
ethnic group. Ex., recent case of a hotel
in Mumbai named Hitler.
54

55. Brand Symbols
 We live in a visual world, or more precisely
audio-visual world. So having a distinctive
or unique symbol for a brand greatly
increases the identification & recognition
of a brand. In the realm of products &
companies, a distinctive logo is used to
indicate a product’s source of ownership.
55

56. Trademark
 The literal meaning of trademark is the
mark of a trade. A trademark is, similar to
but broader than a logo, is an
element, word or design that differentiates
one brand from another. Some of the
earlier trademarks were only initials of the
owners or other identification symbols or
letters. A company has exclusive use of a
trademark by using it first &
consistently, and registering it with a govt.56

57. Creating the Brand Image
 Giving a brand an identity & a position is
not enough to make the brand alive &
connect with the customers. Just like the
names & physical traits of persons are not
enough to make someone remember
them.
57

58. Creating the Brand Image
 So it needs an impression, an image in the
minds of those who can remember. Thus
the brand image is an impression or an
image created by the brand messages,
interactions & experiences.
58

59.  These attributes are assimilated into a
perception or image or impression of the
brand. Whenever that image is
encountered it makes a statement a
brand’s personality and specialities.
59

60.  An image adds value to the brand
because it can communicate something
about the buyer to other people. Experts
say that the product one wears, drives, or
subscribes to can tell (communicate)
others what one thinks important, and
about one’s personality.
60

61. HIMANSU S M / 14-JUL-2013
THANK YOU
61