Marketing Communications

Chapter 20 : Brand Management

Brands And Their Significance

Attributes
Benefits
Values
Target User
Personality
Culture
Categories of Brands

Characteristics of Successful Brands
Role of Brands

Branding Strategies

Line Extensions
Brand Extensions
Corporate Branding
Multi-Branding
Co-Branding

Brand Equity

Managing Brand Equity

Brand Loyalty
Brand Awareness
Perceived Quality
Brand Associations
Branding and Marketing Communications
International Branding Considerations
Brand Management During Recessions
Corporate Image and Brand Management

Chapter Summary

A brand communicates attributes, benefits, values, culture, personality and use. The power of a brand lies in what is imprinted in the minds of customers. What they learn, feel, see and hear about the brand as a result of experiences over time plays a role. The categories of brands include the manufacturer’s brand, own-label brands and generic brands.

Brands play a number of roles like communicating a promise of utility, value, safety and reliability to customers. Companies can adopt different brand strategies depending on various factors, such as environment, budget, etc. The different branding strategies include line extensions, brand extensions, corporate branding, multi-branding and co-branding.

Brand equity is the overall result of factors like monetary value, intangibility and perceived quality. The brand equity of a product or service has five major determinants, awareness, quality perception, loyalty, patents and trademarks. Brand awareness is the ability of a person to recall the brand name. Perceived quality is a relative term used to establish the overall image of the brand in comparison to alternatives based on key attributes.

Brand association is the linking of the brand to the customer. Brand communications includes four imperative factors critical to the success of the brand. These are consistency in advertising, sales promotion and brand image, sponsorships and spokespersons and packaging.

International branding considerations consist of vital factors like language, culture and religion, which a company has to consider in depth. Any shortcomings in this regard can lead to the loss of billions. The components of corporate image consist of the perceptions of the customer and the corporate itself.

Brand management during recession is at the discretion of managers and requires their intuition and good tactics to deal with the situation. This would involve avoiding discounting methods for short-term profitability and sticking to advertising for improving brand awareness.

Next Chapter>>