BRAND BUILDING AND MANAGEMENT

Introduction The process by which marketers attempt to optimise the 'Marketing mix' for a specific brand. Branding involves decisions that establish an identity for a product with the goal of distinguishing it from competitors' offerings.What is a Brand In Principles of Marketing, by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong a brand is defined as a name, term, sign symbol or a combination of these, that identifies the maker or seller of the product. Brand Switching A consumer that purchases multiple brands of a product. For example, a consumer that Purchases Pepsione week and Coke then ext week. Brand Impact A technique used to measure the effectiveness of advertising. Brand manager the individual that in an organization which is responsible for planning, implementing, and controlling the marketing program for a particular brand. Brand managers are sometimes referred to as product managers. Brand building model The 4 Steps of brand building :4 Steps of brand building Building brands, according to CBBE model, can be thought of as a sequence of steps, in which each step is contingent on successfully achieving the previous step: Ensure identification of the brand with customers & an association of the brand in customers mind with a specific product class or customer need Firmly establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible & intangible brand associations with certain properties Elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identification & brand meaning Convert brand responses to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers & the brand 4 Steps of brand building:4 Steps of brand building. These 4 steps constitute fundamental questions customers ask about brands

Who are you? What are you? What about you? What do I think or fee lab out you? What about you and me?

Brand building blocks Brand building blocks Resonance Judgement Feelings Performance Imagery Salience 1. Identity Who are you? 2. Meaning What are you? 3. Response What About you? 4. Relationship What about you & me? Sub dimensions of brand building model :Sub dimensions of brand building model Loyalty Attachment Community Engagement Quality Warmth, Fun Credibility Excitement Consideration Security Superiority Social approval, Self-respect Primary characteristics & User profiles Secondary features Purchase & usage situations Product reliability Personality & values Durability & serviceability History, heritage Service effectiveness & Experiences Efficiency & empathy Style & design, Price Category identification Need satisfied Brand building blocks :Brand building blocks Salience Performance Imagery Judgment Feelings Resonance Brand salience : Brand salience What basic function does the brand provide to customers? Breadth & depth of awareness Product category structure Breadth & depth of awareness (eg Tropicana) At the most basic level, its necessary that consumers recognise the Tropicana brand when it is presented or exposed to them Beyond that, consumers should think of Tropicana whenever they think of orange juice, particularly when they are thinking of purchase in that category Additionally, consumers ideally would think of Tropicana whenever they were deciding which type of beverage to drink, specially when seeking a tasty but healthy beverage some of the needs presumably satisfied by orange juice Thus , consumers must think of Tropicana in terms of satisfying a certain set of needs whenever those needs arise. Product category structure (beverages) Product category structure(beverages) Beverages Water Flavour Alcoholic Nonalcoholic Milk Juices Wine Distilled spirit Hot beverages Soft drinks Beer. Product category structure Product category structure To fully understand brand recall, it is important to appreciate product category structure, or how product categories are organised in memory, for example beverages: As the configuration for beverages show, consumers often make decisions in top down fashion Implications: Understanding the hierarchy gives a clue on how to increase awareness, as well as position the brand In some cases, the best route for

improving sales for a brand is not by improving consumer attitudes toward the brand but, instead, by increasing the breadth of brand awareness & situations in which consumer would consider using the brand. For example:to increase consumption, Tropicana is extending orange drink to occasions beyond breakfast Brand performance Brand performance product itself is at the heart of brand equity, because it is the primary influence on what consumers experience with a brand, what they hear about a brand from others, & what the firm can tell customers about the brand in their communications: Designing & delivering a product that fully satisfies consumer needs & wants is a prerequisite for successful marketing To create brand loyalty & resonance, consumers experiences with the product must at least meet, if not actually surpass, their expectations Brand imagery Brand imagery Brand imagery is how people think about a brand abstractly, rather than what they think brand actually does. Imagery associations can be formed: Directly: from consumers own experiences & contact with product, brand, target market, or usage situation Indirectly: depiction of these same considerations as communicated in brand advertising or by some other source of information, such as W.O.M. 4 categories can be highlighted: User profiles Purchase & usage situations Personality & values History, heritage & experiences Brand judgement Brand judgement how customers put together all the different performance & imagery associations of the brand to form different kinds of opinions. Four types of summary judgments particularly important: Brand quality Brand credibility
Brand consideration

Brand superiority.

Brand feelings Brand feelings emotions evoked by a brand can become so strongly associated that they are acessible during product consumption or use: Researchers have defined transformational advertising as advertising designed to change consumers perception of the actual usage experience with the product Following are 6 important types of brand-building feelings: Warmth Fun Excitement Security Social approval Self-respect First 3 types of feelings are experiential and immediate, increasing in level of intensity later three are private & enduring,increasing in level of gravity. Brand resonance Brand resonance resonance is characterised in terms of intensity, or depth of the psychological bond that the customers have with the brand, as well as the level of activity. Engendered by this loyalty Behavioural loyalty Attitudinal attachment Sense of community Active engagement Finally, perhaps the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty is when customers are willing to invest time, energy, money, or other resources in the brand beyond those expended during purchase or consumption of the brand Strong attitudinal attachment or social identity or both are typically necessary, however, for active engagement with the brand to occur. Brand building implications

Brand building implications Customers own brands Dont take short-cuts with brands Brands should have duality Brands should have richness Brand resonance provides important focus

Brands should have duality Brands should have duality strong brands blend product performance & imagery to create a rich, varied, but complementary set of consumer responses to the brand by appealing

to both rational & emotional concerns, a strong brand provides consumers with multiple access points to the brand while reducing competitive vulnerability. Brand should have richness Brand should have richness the various associations making up the brand image may be reinforcing, helping to strengthen or increase the favorability of other brand associations, or may be unique, helping to add distinctiveness or offset some potential deficiencies: Strong brands thus have both breadth & depth At the same time brands should not necessarily be expected to score high on all the various dimensions & categories making up each core brand value. Building blocks can have hierarchies Building blocks can have hierarchies Brand awareness It is typically important to first establish category identification in some way before considering strategies to expand breadth via needs satisfied or benefits offered. Brand performance Often necessary to first link primary characteristics & related features before attempting to link additional, more peripheral associations. Brand imagery Often begins with fairly concrete initial articulation of user & user imagery that, over time, leads to broader, more abstract brand associations of personality, value, history, heritage, & experience. Brand judgment Usually begin with positive quality & credibility perceptions that can lead to brand consideration & then perhaps assessment of brand superiority. Brand feelings Usually start with either experiential ones or inward ones. Brand resonance Behavioral loyalty is a starting point but attitudinal attachment or a sense of community is almost always needed for active engagement to occur. Brand resonance provides important focus Brand resonance provides important focus brand resonance is the pinacle of cbbe model & provides important focus & priority for decision making- regarding marketing: To what extent is marketing activity affecting the key dimensions of brand resonance? Is marketing activity creating brand performance & imagery associations & consumer

judgments & feelings that will support these brand resonance dimensions? In a application of CBBE model, the M.R. firm, Knowledge Network, found that brands that scored highest on loyalty & attachment were not necessarily same that scored high on community & engagement. However, by defining the proper role for the brand, higher levels of brand resonance should be obtainable. Principles A good brand name should: Be protected under trademark law. Be easy to pronounce. Be easy to remember. Be easy to recognize. Be easy to translate into all languages in the markets where the brand will be used. Attract attention. Suggest product benefits or suggest usage. Suggest the company or product image. Distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition. Be attractive. Stand out among a group of other brands. Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term brand. It includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers committed to your business. A strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to your business. Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging, etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers experience. The intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service. Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an identity. It is nothing but capturing your customers mind with your brand name. It gives an image of an experienced, huge and reliable business.

It is all about capturing the niche market for your product / service and about creating a confidence in the current and prospective customers minds that you are the unique solution to their problem. The aim of branding is to convey brand message vividly, create customer loyalty, persuade the buyer for the product, and establish an emotional connectivity with the customers. Branding forms customer perceptions about the product. It should raise customer expectations about the product. The primary aim of branding is to create differentiation. Strong brands reduce customers perceived monetary, social and safety risks in buying goods/services. The customers can better imagine the intangible goods with the help of brand name. Strong brand organizations have a high market share. The brand should be given good support so that it can sustain itself in long run. It is essential to manage all brands and build brand equity over a period of time. Here comes importance and usefulness of brand management. Brand management helps in building a corporate image. A brand manager has to oversee overall brand performance. A successful brand can only be created if the brand management system is competent. Symbols Symbols help customers memorize organizations products and services. They help us correlate positive attributes that bring us closer and make it convenient for us to purchase those products and services. Symbols emphasize our brand expectations and shape corporate images. Symbols become a key component of brand equity and help in differentiating the brand characteristics. Symbols are easier to memorize than the brand names as they are visual images. These can include logos, people, geometric shapes, cartoon images, anything. For instance, Marlboro has its famous cowboy, Pillsbury has its Poppin Fresh doughboy, Duracell has its bunny rabbit, Mc Donald has Ronald, Fed Ex has an arrow, and Nikes swoosh. All these symbols help us remember the brands associated with them. Brand symbols are strong means to attract attention and enhance brand personalities by making customers like them. It is feasible to learn the relationship between symbol and brand if the symbol is reflective/representative of the brand. For instance, the symbol of LG symbolize the world, future, youth, humanity, and technology. Also, it represents LGs efforts to keep close relationships with their customers.

LOGOS A logo is a unique graphic or symbol that represents a company, product, service, or other entity. It represents an organization very well and make the customers well-acquainted with the company. It is due to logo that customers form an image for the product/service in mind. Adidass Three Stripes is a famous brand identified by its corporate logo. Features of a good logo are : It should be simple. It should be distinguished/unique. It should differentiate itself. It should be functional so that it can be used widely. It should be effective, i.e., it must have an impact on the intended audience. It should be memorable. It should be easily identifiable in full colours, limited colour palettes, or in black and white. It should be a perfect reflection/representation of the organization. It should be easy to correlate by the customers and should develop customers trust in the organization. It should not loose its integrity when transferred on fabric or any other material. It should portray companys values, mission and objectives.

The elements of a logo are: Logotype - It can be a simple or expanded name. Icon - It is a name or visual symbol that communicates a market position. Slogan - It is best way of conveying companys message to the consumers. TRADEMARKS Trademark is a unique symbol, design, or any form of identification that helps people recognize a brand. A renowned brand has a popular trademark and that helps consumers purchase quality products. The goodwill of the dealer/maker of the product also enhances by use of trademark. Trademark totally indicates the commercial source of product/service.

Trademark contribute in brand equity formation of a brand. Trademark name should be original. A trademark is chosen by the following symbols: Registration of trademark is essential in some countries to give exclusive rights to it. Without adequate trademark protection, brand names can become legally declared generic. Generic names are never protectable as was the case with Vaseline, escalator and thermos. Some guidelines for trademark protection are as follows: Go for formal trademark registration. Never use trademark as a noun or verb. Always use it as an adjective. Use correct trademark spelling. Challenge each misuse of trademark, specifically by competitors in market. Capitalize first letter of trademark. If a trademark appears in point, ensure that it Brand loyalty can be developed through various measures such as quick service, ensuring quality products, continuous improvement, wide distribution network, etc. When consumers are brand loyal they love you for being you, and they will minutely consider any other alternative brand as a replacement. Examples of brand loyalty can be seen in US where true Apple customers have the brand's logo tattooed onto their bodies. Similarly in Finland, Nokia customers remained loyal to Nokia because they admired the design of the handsets or because of user friendly menu system used by Nokia phones. Brand loyalty can be defined as relative possibility of customer shifting to another brand in case there is a change in products features, price or quality. As brand loyalty increases, customers will respond less to competitive moves and actions. Brand loyal customers remain committed to the brand, are willing to pay higher price for that brand, and will promote their brand always. A company having brand loyal customers will have greater sales, less marketing and advertising costs, and best pricing. This is because the brand loyal customers are less reluctant to shift to other brands, respond less to price changes and self promote the brand as they perceive that their brand have unique value which is not provided by other competitive brands. Brand loyalty is always developed post purchase. To develop brand loyalty, an organization should know their niche market, target them, support their product, ensure easy

access of their product, provide customer satisfaction, bring constant innovation in their product and offer schemes on their product so as to ensure that customers repeatedly purchase the product. Conclusion Thus the brands do not exist without consumer and consumer do not exist without brands. Brands serve as a temptation that utilizes other intermediaries to lure the customers from whom value is extracted. Customers serve as a profit-medium for brands to encash their brand value. Both the concepts are highly co-related.