“A product is something made in the

factory; a brand is something the customer

buys. A product can be copied or imitated
by a competitor; a brand is unique. A
product can be outdated; a successful
brand is timeless.”
− Stephen king (wpp group, london)
 Unit – I
Introduction to Brand
Management
Brands & Branding- Brand Management: Brand-
Elements of Brand- Core brand values and Brand
Mantras-Brand Management Process- Brand Choice
Decisions and Models- Brand Value chain- Brand
Value Proposition- Re-branding and re-launching
Branding:
• Branding is the process of building a brand.
• The fundamental purpose of branding is differentiation.
• Branding is about creating and delivering a promise to the target customers.
• Brand Management begins with understanding the term 'brand’.

Brand Meaning:
• According to Keller, to make the brand meaningful it is essential to create a
brand image and characteristics. Brand meaning arises out of brand
associations, which can be imagery-related or function-related. The
imagery-related associations depict how well the brand meets social and
psychological needs of the consumer. The function-related association such
as product or service performance is what the consumer looks for primarily
Definition of a brand:
“A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one
seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal
term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of
items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the
preferred term is trade name.” - American Marketing Association
Brand Management:
•Brand management is an art of creating a brand and
maintaining it.
•Developing a promise to the consumer, materializing that
promise, and maintaining the same for a product, a group of
products, or services.
•Brand management helps to manage the tangible and
intangible characteristics of a brand.
•Includes building brand identity, launching the brand, and
maintaining the brand position in the market.
Elements of a Brand:
Advantages of Brand Management

1. Helps to create an emotional connect between customers and products.

2. Helps the business to grow as consumers become loyal and advocate for the
products & services.

3. Taking critical and important feedback helps companies improve based on

consumer insights.

4. Brand managements helps companies adapt their strategies with changing times
based on the needs and requirements of the customers.

5. Tools like brand development index (BDI), help a brand grow and fight
competition.
Core brand values:

• Core brand values are fundamental beliefs that guide a company's

actions and decision-making processes.
• They reflect what a company stands for and are integral to its identity,
influencing its interactions with customers, employees, and other
stakeholders
• some key aspects of core brand values are Authenticity, Quality,
Integrity, Innovation, Customer-Centricity, Sustainability,
Community, Inclusivity, Reliability, Empathy help to create a
strong brand identity, foster customer loyalty, and guide the company's
strategic decisions.
Brand Mantras
• A brand mantra is highly related to branding concepts such as brand essence or
core brand promise used by others.

• A brand mantra is an articulation of the “heart and soul” of the brand.

• Brand mantras are short, three-to-five word phrases that capture the irrefutable
essence or spirit of the brand positioning and brand values.

• Their purpose is to ensure that all employees within the organization and all
external marketing partners understand what the brand most fundamentally is to
represent with consumers so that they can adjust their actions accordingly.

• Brand mantras typically are designed to capture the brand's points of difference,
that is, what is unique about the brand
Designing a Brand Mantra
Brand Management Process
 Brand Choice Decisions
1. Brand Awareness
2. Perceived Quality
3. Brand Loyalty
4. Brand Associations
5. Price
6. Marketing and Advertising
7. Social Influence
8. Product Availability
9. Brand Image and Identity
10. Consumer Experience
11. Innovation
12. Brand Equity
 Framework for Analyzing Brand Choice Decisions:
1. Identify Target Audience –
Understand the demographics - age, gender, income level, occupation
Psychographics - lifestyle, values, interests, and attitudes
Behavioral characteristics - purchasing habits, brand loyalty, usage
frequency

2. Analyze Competitors –
Examine the competitive landscape
Understand competitive positioning and perception
3. Evaluate Brand Positioning –
Assess brand attributes
Benefits and values
Brand personality
4. Conduct Market Research –
Surveys - quantitative data on consumer preferences, brand awareness, and
perceptions
Focus groups - qualitative insights into consumer attitudes and feelings
toward a brand or product
Other research methods - observational research, interviews, and customer
feedback analysis
5. Measure Brand Performance –
Market share - brand's share of total sales in the market
Brand equity - This is the value derived from consumer perception of the brand
Customer satisfaction- measures how satisfied customers
Loyalty - measured by the percentage of repeat customers and the frequency of
repeat purchases
6. Develop Brand Strategy-
Enhance brand awareness - advertising campaigns
Improve perceived quality
Build loyalty
Strengthen brand associations - done by aligning
the brand with specific values, experiences, or emotions
7. Implement Marketing Tactics –
Targeted marketing campaigns
Promotions and activities
Advertising and content creation

8. Monitor and Adapt –

Monitor market trends
Track consumer behavior
Respond to competitive actions
Adapt strategies
Brand value chain
Definition:

• The Brand Value Chain is defined as the effectiveness of the sum of

all company functions delivered to your customers and the
marketplace: Marketing, Sales, Product/Service Quality, Customer
Service, Pricing, Warranties/Returns, Customer Relationship &
Experience Quality, etc.
• Premises- marketing program --- customers’ mind-sets ---- investment community

• Three multipliers - The program multiplier, The customer multiplier, The market
multiplier
Brand Value Proposition
A brand value proposition is a statement that defines what a company offers to its
target customers to differentiate itself from its competitors. It communicates the
most important benefit of doing business with the company and why customers
should choose it over other options.

Attributes or Fundamental Steps to Create an Effective Value Proposition:

1. Clarity and Simplicity
2. Relevance and Resonance
3. Authenticity
4. Consistency
Rebranding
• Rebranding is the process of changing the corporate image of an
organisation.
• It is a market strategy of giving a new name, symbol, or change in
design for an already established brand.
• The idea behind rebranding is to create a different identity for a brand,
from its competitors, in the market.

Reasons behind why companies initiate rebranding:

1. Proactive Rebranding
2. Reactive Rebranding
1. Proactive Rebranding
It happens when a company anticipates and prepares for future
changes in the market.
•To prevent or prepare for future potential threats by
competitors
•To plan for international growth
•To enter into a category of business, product, or market which
no longer remains cohesive to the existing brand identity
•To attract new audience, or want to appeal to it.
•To increase the brand relevance in consumer’s mind
2. Reactive Rebranding
This branding occurs when the companies need to react to a significant
change.
∙ When companies merge or acquire other companies, or when they
separate.
∙ When there are legal issues with branding.
∙ When a competitor manifests a company’s brand as useless or outdated
∙ When changes take place in business regulations, laws, competitors, etc.
∙ To rebuild the trust of consumers and stakeholders.
∙ When companies need to work on negative brand image.
During 1990-2000, the London based men’s clothes making company Burberry’s
public image was associated with hooliganism and violence. The brand had lost its
image so badly that the clubs and pubs in UK had started banning entry for the
people wearing Burberry. The company worked to disassociate itself from such an
image by changing styles of the product, changing their logo, and applying
excellence in everything.
When to go for rebranding?

1. Trying for new location

2. New Philosophy

3. Market repositioning

4. Mergers and acquisition

Successful Indian examples: SBI, Bajaj, Britannia, Hutch, Aditya Birla
Relaunching
• Relaunching a brand is reintroducing a brand into the market.
• Relaunching implies that a company was marketing the brand but stopped doing
so for some reasons.
• Relaunching is an opportunity to set new objectives for the brand.
• Relaunching a brand can demand the changes ranging from the aspects as minor as
logo prints on stationery and cutlery, staff uniforms, to as major as website of the
company, changes in premises, etc.

Two main strategies for brand relaunching:

∙ A brand that has failed due to an inappropriate marketing mix

∙ To reposition a brand for faster growth and market share
How to Relaunch a Brand?

• When a company relaunches a brand, it hopes to avoid the mistakes from past experience
and wants to set a strong foot in the market.

• A brand manager needs to consider the following do’s and don’ts while relaunching a
brand –
❖ Analyzing the marketplace and target market segment.
❖ Knowing about the competitor brands.
❖ Conducting SWOT analysis.
❖ Positioning the brand in an appropriate new form.
❖ Avoiding too many changes in too short time.
❖ Communicating clearly about the brand relaunch
Models in Branding:
1. Brand Identity Prism (Kapferer):
Helps in understanding and crafting a brand's identity and how it is perceived by
consumers.
2. Brand Equity Model (Aaker) – Apple
Guides the management of brand equity to increase the overall value of the brand.

3. Brand Resonance Pyramid (Keller) - Nike

Helps in understanding how consumers connect with the
brand on an emotional level, leading to brand loyalty
and advocacy.
 4. BCG Matrix (Boston Consulting Group) – Unilever
• Categorizes a company’s products or brands into
four quadrants based on market growth and
market share.

✔ Stars: products to invest in

✔ Cash Cows: brands generating cash but

not expanding

✔ Question Marks: products that may

succeed or fail

✔ Dogs: brands with little future potential

• Assists in making decisions about where to

invest, develop, or divest brands.
 5. Ansoff Matrix – Starbucks
Provides a framework for identifying growth strategies based on product and market
combinations. Identifies strategies for business growth through four paths:
1. Market Penetration: Selling more existing products to the same market
2. Market Development: Introducing existing products to new markets
3. Product Development: Introducing new products to existing markets
4. Diversification: Launching new products into new markets

6. Brand Positioning Map – BMW Vs Tesla

• A visual representation of how a brand compares to competitors based on
attributes like price, quality, innovation, performance.

• identify opportunities to differentiate or fill gaps.

7. House of Brands vs. Branded House – P&G Vs TATA Group

• Differentiates between brand architecture strategies where a company uses

multiple distinct brands (House of Brands) versus a single master brand (Branded
House).
✔ House of Brands: A company owns multiple, distinct brands (e.g., P&G
owns Tide, Vicks, Ariel, Head & Shoulders, etc.)
✔ Branded House: A single brand covers multiple products or services (e.g.,
TATA has Tata Tea, Tata Salt, Tata consultancy services, etc.).

• Helps companies decide how to structure their brands for optimal market success.
 8. Brand Archetypes – Red Bull
• Brand archetypes are used to create a personality that
resonates with consumers on a deep emotional and
psychological level.

• Derived from Carl Jung's theory, these archetypes

represent universal symbols or character types that are
familiar to people across cultures and time periods.

• In branding, these archetypes help companies craft a

strong, consistent identity that connects with the human
psyche, making their products or services more relatable,
memorable, and emotionally engaging. (e.g., Hero,
Outlaw, Caregiver, Innovation)
9. Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) Model - LEGO

• Focuses on building strong brands by understanding consumer perceptions and

experiences.
✔ Building positive associations (LEGO as a creative, fun toy).
✔ Shaping consumer attitudes (trusted, high-quality).
✔ Encouraging loyalty and advocacy (LEGO fans stay loyal for years).

• Helps in creating and maintaining brand equity by addressing consumer

associations, attitudes, and loyalty. Companies like LEGO build long-term
customer relationships and maintain brand equity through positive experiences
and emotional connections