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An Overview of Brand Management

2.1 Introduction of Brand management and its definition

Today, the commodity marketplace is flooded with various brands. The requirement of
the seller’s brand to stand out among other parallel brands is crucial. Hence, there is a
fierce competition among the sellers to make their products or services stand out in the
market, thereby winning new consumers and retaining the existing ones. At times, it
even leads to diverting the consumers following other brands to the seller’s brand. To
remain competitive in the marketplace, strong brand management is required.

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is,

 “A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify

the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from
those of competition.”

 A brand name is any word, “device” (design, sound, shape, or color), or combination of
these used to distinguish a seller’s goods or services.
 A brand is a set of assets & liabilities links to a name/symbol that adds to or subtracts
from the value provided by that product (David Aaker)
The fundamental purpose of branding is differentiation. A brand is a means of
differentiating the seller’s product from other competing products.

Brands characteristics;
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  Tangible characteristics
Price, the physical product, package, etc.
 Intangible characteristics
Customer’s experience with the brand, brand position, and brand image.

Objectives of a Brand

Here are some important objectives of a brand

 To establish an identity for the product or a group of products.
 To protect the product or service legally for its unique features.
 To acquire place for the product in consumers’ minds for high and consistent
quality.
 To persuade the consumer to buy the product by promising to serve their needs in
a unique way.
 To create and send the message of strong reliable business among consumers.

The contributing elements of brand essence

 Authenticity − If the brand makes a promise and fails to keep, then it is
rejected. The consumers expect the sellers to be genuine and truthful.
 Consistency − the essence of a brand is lost if it is not consistent in providing
what it promised to the consumer. Also, a brand should use its logo consistently
over time.
 Durability − the brand essence remains same over time. Even if packaging and
logos change, the essence does not change.
 Experience − It is the consumers experience with the brand.
 Uniqueness − It is how different a brand is from its competitors.
 Relevance − It is the relevance of a brand to the consumer.
 Single mindedness − It is sticking to only one thing about the brand which
keeps the brand focused.

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Elements of a Brand
 Jingle − It must be pleasant to hear and hum, relevant to the product, easy to
remember, and easy to understand over a large age group to connect consumer
with the brand.
 Slogan − It summarizes overall value proposition. It should be short, easy to
remember, and catchy. For example, KFC’s slogan is “Finger Lickin’ Good” and
Britannia’s is “Eat Healthy, Think Better”.
 Packaging − It needs to be catchy and advertising, drawing people to see the
product inside. Also, it needs to be compact, yet attractive.
 Universal Resource Locator (URL) − It forms the domain name on the internet.
A seller can register all prospective variations of brand name URLs or can buy the
existing URL of a business.
 Characters/Mascots − It is a special symbol, still, animated, or real life entity
such as an animal or a human character.
2.2 Establishing a sound Brand

1. Discover the purpose behind your brand

Every successful brand has a powerful purpose behind it.

Questions to be raised while defining a brand purpose:

 Why do you exist?

 What differentiates you?
 What problem do you solve?
 Why should people care?

You’ll use these ideas to inform the brand through a tagline, slogans, value
propositions, voice, messaging, stories, and more.

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The Golden Circle

 What – the products or services you offer to your customers

 How – the things that differentiate you from the competition
 Why – the reason you are passionate and why you exist

2. Research competitor brands

Never imitate exactly what the big brands are doing in the industry.

Creating a brand competitor research spreadsheet

Competitor research is a key element of own brand development. Start by creating a

brand competitor spreadsheet for comparison.

Choose a few competitors; two to four is a good number for your comparison chart.
You might want to take a look at other local businesses, or even aim to benchmark
against name brands.

3. Determine your brand’s target audience

The foundation for building a brand is to determine the target audience that you’ll be
focusing on. You can’t be everything to everyone, right?

4. Establish a brand mission and vision

In essence, it’ll have to craft a clear expression of what the company is most
passionate about.

Brand Building Example: Nike

We all know the Nike tagline: Just Do It. The Nike’s mission statement is “To
bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

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5. Outline the key qualities & benefits the brand offers

There will always be brands with bigger budgets and more resources to command their
industry. Starting a brand that is memorable means that dig deep to figure out what
the offer and no one else is offering.

Focus on the qualities and benefits that make the company branding unique.

Brand Building Example: Apple

One Apple’s of key qualities is having a clean design, and the key benefit is ease of
use. From unique packaging to their announcement events, Apple always reminds
customers that its products can be used right out of the box.

6. Form own unique brand voice

The voice is dependent on the company’s mission, audience, and industry.

It’s how you communicate with customers, and how they respond to you.

A brand voice could be:

 Professional

 Friendly

 Service-oriented

 Authoritative

 Technical

 Promotional

 Conversational & Informative

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There are endless adjectives and possibilities that can build a brand voice behind the
messaging.

7. Let your brand personality shine.

Customers aren’t looking for another cookie-cutter company that offers the same thing
as everyone else.

They are looking for an experience tailored to their needs, backed by genuine personal
interaction.

8. Be your brand’s biggest advocate

When you build a brand that works for your business, you (and your employees) are
the best advocates to market your brand.

No one knows your brand better than you, so it’s up to you to spread the word.

While hiring employees, ensure that they are a culture fit–aligning with the mission,
vision, and values of your brand. Encourage employees to establish a personal
brand that aligns with your company brand building process, further strengthening
reach.

2.3 Types of Brand names

Understanding the types of names available is the first step in any naming or
renaming project.

 Descriptive Brand Names

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Those which are readily convey the product or service offered by a company. They
often rely on a clever tagline to do the work of storytelling or conveying personality.

Examples: Ethiopian (Ethiopian Airlines), Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

 Evocative Brand Names

Evocative names use suggestion and metaphor to bring to mind brand
experience and/or brand positioning. Evocative names are often creative and unique,
and can be the starting point for a powerful brand voice. Because they leave some
room for interpretation, evocative names let you tell powerful brand story, creating a
brand that’s bigger than just the products or services you offer.

Examples:

 Nike
 Amazon
 Apple

 Geographical Brand Names

Geographical names imbue a brand with all the cultural and historical associations of
its name sake—for better or worse. Most often find geographical names tied to
companies that once catered to a geographically limited audience but have since made
it big.

Examples: Nile insurance, New york café

 Alpha numeric brand name

A type of a brand name which use alphabets and numbers at the same time.

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Examples: 3F… (Finfinae Furniture Factory)

 Personal/ Individual Branding

Creating a public persona that represents an individual and their work. Celebrities
often use this kind of branding because their name, image and talents are all part of
the work that they do.

Example: Haile Resort

 Service Branding

Similar to product branding, service branding identifies what makes one company's
services different from another business's. Service branding can also identify different
services offered by the same business.

Example: Sunshine laundry

 Retail branding

Retail stores create their brand through the physical design of their store. Features like
the store's layout, lighting, music and flooring contribute to the experience a customer
has when they visit the establishment.

Example: Geni chips

 Corporate branding

The expression of an organization about values, mission and exclusivity to customers.

It includes design choices such as the organization's logo and name, but it also
includes how a corporation conducts its business.

Example: GM (General Motors)

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  Event branding

Event branding works similarly to experience branding. It promotes an event or opportunity for
potential customers to attend. When used effectively, it entices participants to take part in a
planned occasion.

Example: World cup 2022

2.4 Relation and differences of Brand and product

Brand and product are among the basic factors for a company to achieve and
maintain a competitive position in the market. The customers use these factors to
differentiate and choose the solutions to their problems offered by different
manufacturers and/or sellers.

Many big companies are popular for nothing other than one or more brands and
products they offer to customers. A company can have several products under multiple
brands or multiple products under one brand. LG, for example, introduce cell phones,
washing machine, Micro wave, etc Brands take time to grow and become strong and
popular with the passage of time.

A brand is a difference between just a car and TOYOTA. A brand is what people feel
about a particular company and its products, services or ideas. Branding is about
emotions, and it is how customers feel about a company, it provides market authority
to companies. Brands are focused on a specific agenda; they stand for something. For
example, the brand slogan of Coca-Cola is “open happiness”. To simplify things further,
a brand is the image of a particular product that tells a story about the product. A
Brand is value addition to the base value of a product.
Factors contributing to build a brand:

 Uniqueness: Brands must be built on an original idea.

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  Personality: It is essential to display the character of a brand.
 Reliability: A brand needs to be trustworthy.
 Presence: Branding is all about having a bold presence and visibility.
 Consistency: No brand can survive without consistently engaging their customers.
 Competitiveness: A brand should be able to provide competitive value.

Product
A product is a physical goods, commodity, merchandise or deliverable. Goods, services,
ideas or anything that offers a solution to a problem are products.

Brand versus product – tabular comparison

BRAND VS PRODUCT

Market value

Brands add value to a product. The whole Generic products have less face and
process of branding is about meaningful market value in comparison to branded
value addition. products.

Consumers’ expectations

Brands must meet higher consumer Generic products are relatively cheaper,
expectations. In general, brands are more with fewer users’ expectations.
expensive due to higher consumer
expectation.

Emotional appeal

Brands gave an emotional relationship Products do not have a personalized

with consumers. relationship with customers.

Attraction for consumers

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Brands have a magnetic effect in attracting Many good products fail to capture
customers. Brands can be status symbols consumers because of being anonymous.
for consumers. A product without a brand is unknown.

Trustworthiness and reliability

People trust brands, and a strong brand Consumers tend to trust anonymous
can sometimes cover up for a weak products less.
product.

Market identity

Brands gave market identity, which Products have no market identity;

provides them with more authority and therefore, they have less influence and
reputation in a market. reputation over competitors.

2.5 The benefits of a strong brand

A strong brand has far-reaching effects of significant magnitude throughout an

organization.

 Allow for premium pricing

 Provide credibility to new product introductions
 Attract and retain the best employees, customers
 Facilitate teamwork and decision making
 Stronger corporate development and partnerships
 Contribute for the company’s growth, expansion or diversity
 Strengthen financial performance
 Increase return on marketing expenses
 Send a positive message to shareholders and stakeholders
 It creates differentiation
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 2.6 Why do brand matters

 Brands provide peace of mind

Consumers want comfort, happiness, and satisfaction in their lives, and they get it
in part through the products they buy. If the brands they use consistently deliver a
positive experience, consumers form an opinion that the brand is trustworthy, which
gives them peace of mind when buying.

 Brands save decision-making time

 Brands create differences
 Brands provide safety
People by nature, generally avoid risk. It’s safe and predictable choice because
you know what to expect. This way you reduce the risk of disappointment as well.
 Brands add value
 Brands express who we are
 Brands give consumers a reason to share
Branding is an important part of marketing, and something that should be at the
forefront of all we do.

2.7 Brand challenges and Opportunities

Branding needs, methodologies, and branding challenges keep changing all the time,
as the market needs, consumer preferences, and definition of quality are continually
reinvented.

 Consider branding as an asset

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In today’s competitive marketing space, the pressure on branding to deliver short-term
financial gains tempts most organizational decision-makers to focus more on such
measurable tactics. Sometimes this means neglecting the objectives of building assets
like a brand.

 Bringing up breakthrough brand concepts

With tight competition, brand building is never easy. The need for excellent ideas and
perfect execution is at a peak to bring a brand vision to life. What one think is good
may not be good enough to reap the best results.

 Financial challenges

Another top branding challenges businesses face regarding branding is the funding it
needs to be successful. A sensible budget should be allocated to branding, along with
marketing, which is a significant consideration to make.

In fact, when business finances come into the picture, many fail to do budgeting
efficiently. The primary reason for it is the need for repayment of the debt, which
slowly builds up as a troublesome affair for entrepreneurs on the go. However, these
debts can be managed efficiently with budgeting and funding for the necessary needs
like marketing and branding if you are careful.

 Creating a digital branding strategy

Brand building online is a more dynamic and complex arena when compared to
conventional brand-building channels. This need to be approached with a fresh
mindset, new initiatives and capabilities are required to succeed with an online
brand strategy.

2.8 Strategic brand management

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Strategic brand management is primarily utilized by companies to help their brands
and products get global recognition. The term “strategic” signifies that the process
deals with long-term plans and assets of a brand. This includes integrative and
sustainable policies that aid a company to create, develop and manage its brand.

Branding strategies help establish a brand and promote its product in the financial
marketplace which is based on choosing a suitable strategy for the brand’s growth and
the frequent updating of the strategy.

This long-term sustainable policy makes it possible for a company to add value to its
products and services. It is a collection of techniques that helps to create a unique
identity for an organization by maintaining brand character, quality and customer
interactions.

Importance of strategic brand management

 Provides greater appeal and differentiation to a brand

 Enhances customer loyalty and retention
 Increases employee engagement and alignment
 Improves perceptions about product performance
 Decreases vulnerability to competitive marketing actions
 Accelerates trade cooperation and consumer response
 Increases marketing communication effectiveness
 Promotes licensing opportunities

The strategic brand management process

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It is essential that every company designs an exclusive strategic brand management
process. This is crucial in building a unique personality in the modern day business
world. Strategic brand management comprises of a few distinguished aspects such as;

 Planning process identification

 Brand positioning establishment
 Brand marketing program implementation
 Brand performance measurement and interpretation
 Brand equity growth and sustainment

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