Brand Management - Term Paper Example

Running head: BRAND MANAGEMENT Brand Management Insert Insert Insert instructor’s name December 17 2010 Brand Management Introduction A brand can be defined as a symbol or mark that is unique to a particular product/service or groups of products/services from a particular company that distinguishes it/them from other products. The need to have brands stems from the human perception of concepts. It is true that many people often understand the different products they use very well. However, ‘recognizing that the most potent consumer needs are often emotional rather than functional, we look to intangible qualities [of the products] to provide the differentiation, we build a brand’ (Howard-Spink para.2). It actually provides the identity of the product or service. The standardization mark is usually approved by some regulatory board and the use of the same mark by another company is then prohibited. The brand name could be a symbol, sign, some design, or a combination of these styles. Brand orientation refers to the case where a company or business organization formulates its marketing strategies based on brands. It is a company’s inclination towards the dealing with different brands as a marketing strategy (Urde 1). Brand Management: Definition and Related Concepts Brand management This refers to the analyses of all factors and aspects related to a brand and then coming up with a strategic plan to have a uniformly distributed brand. It involves the use of marketing strategies in ensuring that the users of a particular product do not shift their interest from the brand in question. Brand awareness This refers to the ability of the consumers of a particular product to identify and classify the product among other competing products and associate it with the manufacturer (Urde 10). It enables the consumer to know what the brand has that can make it more preferable to the others. It is important for the management to ensure that awareness is carried out concerning the company’s product since no customer will buy a product he does not understand. Brand valuation This is the establishment of the financial value of a brand. Brand valuation has important applications both in strategic brand management and in financial transaction. In the former case, brand valuation ‘focuses mainly on internal audiences by providing tools and processes to manage and increase the economic value of brands’ (Brand Valuation 10). In particular, brand valuation is used in strategic brand management in the following ways: Making decisions on business investments Measuring the returns on brand investments based on brand value to arrive at an ROI that can directly be compared to other investments Making decisions on brand investments Making the decision on licensing the brand to subsidiary companies Turning the marketing department from a cost center into a profit center by connecting brand investments and brand returns Allocating marketing expenditures according to the benefits each business unit derives from the brand itself, etc. (Brand Valuation 10) Brand identity The brand identity is a critical aspect that the management needs to look into while designing their brand names/logo. It is the explanation offered by the company, through the brand, as to why this and only this brand should be preferred by the consumers to the rest. The brand identity coupled with brand orientation can conflict with market orientation if not properly managed. Urde observed that ‘what is demanded by customers at any given moment is not necessarily the same as that which will strengthen the brand as a strategic resource’ (5). It is an important aspect since a well-designed brand with high identity will enable the brand to win the market all by itself. Balmer (para.4) observed that ‘although the acquisition of a strong and favorable corporate brand can result into a considerable strategic leverage, if it is not handled correctly there can be difficulties leading to strategic weaknesses’. He further observed that the positioning of a corporate brand is a challenging managerial task that requires diligence while being executed. Balmer asserts that the corporate brands are ‘about what is lived…what customer and stakeholder communities believe about a corporate brand; they have emotional ownership of the corporate brand’ (para.5 Brand equity This broad terminology emerges because of the need to establish the closeness between customers and a particular brand. It has since been defined in relation to the brand valuation, measurement of brand strength, and brand description. Thus, brand equity refers to the value of the product as a separate entity, the degree of attachment of a customer to the brand, and the description that the customers have about the brand. However, other definitions have been given recently some of which distinguishes the brand assets from their valuation. Brand equity is a managerial concern in resource development. As Urde (7) points out, ‘resource development is aimed at strengthening brand identity and accumulating brand equity in order to thereby satisfy customers’ wants and needs’. The new approaches ‘do not put financial value on the brands; instead, they measure consumer behavior and attitudes that have an impact on the economic performance of the brands’ (Brand Valuation 6). It has since been considered as the name that a brand gets, that makes it more favorable to consumers among many brands in the market. The management is charged with the responsibility of identifying the factors that can indicate that their brand is of high equity. It has been noted that ‘the understanding, interpretation, and measuring of brand equity indicators is crucial for assessing the financial value of the brands’ (Brand Valuation 7). Companies that have brands with high equity do enjoy some advantages. Firstly, the companies have excellent opportunities for expansion and extension of their products and service brands. Secondly, since their products brand already receive reputation among many consumer, the efforts by competing companies to challenge the company through a series of advertisements just adds advantage to this company, which does not incur the advertisement costs and still dominates the market. Finally, the company’s domination in the market can also demoralize the other emerging companies that would be interested in dealing in the same product(s). Properties of a Good Brand The attributes associated with a particular brand dictates the product’s performance in the market. Thus, a lot of care should be taken by the management in designing the brand name of their products. Firstly, as way protection against the use of the same symbols or terms by the other companies, the brand needs to be legally protected under the trademark law (Urde 7). The company needs to register their symbol with a regulatory board that is concerned with the issue of trademark. Secondly, the brand needs to portray the image of the product and the company that produces it. A brand will receive high reputation among the product consumers if it describes positive characteristics of the product brand that elevate it far above the other brands. In some way, the brand need to outline to the consumer the possible benefits one enjoys while using the product. The brand name also needs to be easy to manage by the manufacturer and among the consumers. The name needs to easy to remember and recognize. It needs to be easy to pronounce and memorize. This helps the product distributors especially during advertisement of the product. The consumers also find it easy dealing with the product since by being able to recognize a brand by its precise name, they are able to access it easily. In order to take into account the language diversity in most of the market places, the brand needs to be easy to be translated into the different possible languages in the market place. The management thus has the responsibility of determining the major languages that are used in their market places and come up with a name or symbol that can fit in all of the languages. Finally, the symbol, sign or name that is used for a brand needs to attract the consumers’ attention. It should be bold and more conspicuous compared to the other brands of similar products. This enables the product brand to survive in a competitive market with the other brands. Functions of Brands An important problem that one can opt to address is the need to have a product brand, that is, the importance or use of a product brand. A product brand has roles it plays both to the consumers and to the manufacturer of the product. A properly designed brand, whish has the above-described properties, will enable the consumers to identify the source of the product. By identifying the product manufacturer and the production procedures, a consumer is able to develop the required confidence in the product brand (Urde 6). Secondly, a good brand will help the consumer to reduce the risks and uncertainty associated with the use of the product. As has been stated the brand name suggests to the consumer the product image and thus the consumer already has an insight of the quality of the product right before buying it. A well-designed brand also reduces the cost that a consumer would incur in looking for a good brand. The suggestion on the brand name about the quality of the product will enable a consumer to settle easily on the product brand before assessing several brands, which could be expensive in terms of time and cost. The brand description is also used by the consumer to denote the quality of the product brand. By suggesting the quality of the product brand, the brand enables the consumers to give a responsibility to the manufacture of the product. The manufacturers have to strive to achieve the standards described on the brand that draws the consumers’ attention towards the brand. In other words, a brand should deliver its values qualitatively and quantitatively to the consumer and live up to the consumer expectations. On the other hand, the use of a brand enables a product manufacturer to seek legal protection against use by other competing product manufacturers (Urde 7). The provisions in the Acts defined by the regulatory board will protect the brand name from being misused by a different company. If a company illegally brand its product and fails to meet the quality and standards that were specified by the original brand, the consumers will lose interest in the brand leading to reduction in sales. The original producer will then lose much at the expense of the pirate producer. Thus, to an organization dealing in a competitive market, ‘the brand is one of the few assets that can provide long-term competitive advantage’ (Brand Valuation 12). The brand name is also used for identification purposes by the manufacturer. A company is able to tell its brand from the others who are not able to imitate that brand (Urde 6). With each brand having its own specifications, handling the products is made easier. It enables the classification of the products depending on their closeness to each other. It thus enables a product to be uniquely associated with the related products. Finally, a brand signifies the product quality in relation to the expectations of the product consumers. Works Cited Balmer, John M. “The BP Deepwater Horizon debacle and corporate brand exuberance.” A journal of brand Management, 18, 97-104. Oct 26, 2010. 16 December 2010. http://www.palgrave-journals.com/bm/journal/v18/n2/full/bm201033a.html. Brand Valuation. A chapter from Brands and Branding: An Economist Book. April 2004. 16 December 2010. http://www.marketingritson.com/documents/week1brandvaluation.pdf Howard-Spink, Jon. Using Archetypes to Build Stronger Brands. Dec 6, 2010. 16 December 2010. http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2010/12/using-archetypes-to-build-stronger-brands.html#more. Urde, Mats. “Brand Orientation: A Mindset for building Brands into Strategic Resources.” A Journal of Marketing Management, 15, 117-133. 1999. 16 December 2010. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&hid=110&sid=0c1d8106-aa61-4a64-b6c0-d476f9609acf%40sessionmgr112. Read More