BRAND MANAGEMENT

Since classical Greek times branding in one or the other form has been used at least to differentiate products of the same kind having little difference between the brand and the company; typically the brand and the name of the company were the one and the same. 

Branding began to develop and came into existence in the USA in early 20th century. 
Many famous brands such as American Express and Coca-Cola date back to this time; 
Growing consumer sophistication added to branding a mix of values that communicated consumers a message about a product. 

 The brand used to be a guarantee  and an indication of product. For example, in medieval trade guilds in Europe, potters marked their products with some other distinguishing marks set into the wet clay.  
They expected customers to search out the distinguishing mark in the future if they were satiated with their previous purchase experience.

 Branding acquired  more importance over time as manufacturers and sellers lost direct interaction with their customers due to the appearance of various ways of distributing products across wide trading areas, like railways in instance. 
Since there was an absence of direct seller customer communication, the brand ensured product authenticity and consistency of quality.

Defining Brand

There are several definitions of a brand.  
Brandt and Johnson(1997) and Gilmore (1997) defined brand as a "tangible product plus intangible values." 
Aaker (1991), Keller (1998), Kotler (1994) and Lovelock (1999) considered brand as a "distinguishing name and/or symbol aimed to identify and differentiate".
Peter Doyle of Warwick University has provided a comprehensive definition of brand which consists 'A name, symbol, design, or some combination identifying the product of a particular organization as having a substantial, differential advantage".

The business dictionary has gave a more comprehensive definition of brand as in the words ’The brand management is a process of maintaining, improving, and upholding a brand associated with positive results involving aspects such as customer satisfaction, in-store presentation, and competition. Brand management is built on a marketing foundation but focuses directly on the brand and how that brand can remain favorable to customers. Proper brand management can result in greater sales of products associated with that brand. For example, if a customer likes Pillsbury biscuits and trusts the brand, he or she is more likely to try other products the company offers such as chocolate chip cookies.

Development of Brand

 Brands are used as a strategy to attract and retain customers by promoting product value, company image and prestige, or lifestyle. 

1. By applying a particular brand, a consumer develops a positive image of the brand (Ginden, 1993). Brands can also bring down the risk a consumer encounters when buying something that he does not know adequate about (Montgomery and Wernerfelt, 1992). 
2. Consumers once accustomed to a certain brand, they are not likely to  accept substitutes (Ginden,1993). 
3. Organizations search for ways to take full advantage of this human characteristis, thus the popularity of branding. Goodyear (1996) and de Chernatony (2001) have advocated that as consumerism increases the focus changes from primitive selling to an advanced concept of brand taken as a product differentiator. 
4. As the competition intensifies, branding emerges as a totally developed area and becomes the focal point of Marketing Management. 

Peter Doyle categorized this development of brand management in the following six phases:

1.    Unbranded Goods

In the first phase, goods are considered as commodities and are not branded. This stage usually is characterized by a market condition where demand is more than supply. This most likely occurs in developing countries, and is a rare phenomenon in developed economies.

2.    Brand as Reference or Awareness

As competitive pressures increase the producers are stimulated to differentiate their goods from those of other manufacturers or close competitors. Changes in physical product attributes primarily achieve differentiation. Once a brand satisfies the consumer he begins to use the same brand and develops some ideas or thoughts and perceptions about that brand.

3.      Brand as a Bundle of Ideas, Thoughts and Images or Personality

By this stage, differentiation among brands on the basis of rational/functional attributes becomes exceedingly difficult as many producers make the same claim. Therefore, marketers begin to give their brands "personality".  The previous two stages differentiated between the consumer and the brand. The brand was an object of distance but here incorporation of personal characteristics into the brand makes it more appealing to consumers who were likely to affiliate with brands possessing desirable personality characteristics and the personalities of the consumer and the brand begin to merge and the value of the brand becomes self-expression.

4.   Brand as an icon or an Identity

This stage features the ownership of the brand by the consumers who have wide knowledge about the brand and use it to create their self identity.

5. Brand as a Position This stage marks the change to modern marketing. Now, the brand acquires a complex identity and an interaction with the consumer. In this stage, consumers become more actively involved in the brand creation process and willing to interact with the product or service in order to create additional value

6. Brand as policy

Some countable companies to date have entered this stage, distinguished by an alignment of the company with Ethical, Social and Political Causes. Consumers commit to the firms that support the causes the company favours purchasing from the firm. Through their commitment, consumers own the brand.

From products to Brands

A product becomes a brand through a process of formalization  (Levitt) which starts with the level of core where Lewis discussed fundamental utility. But a brand is more than that having a logo, a name and foremost a formal utility. This formalization of a product to brand generates an emotional inter phase between the product and customer.

Products can be copied but brands have no time limits. They hold strategic value built over a period of time. The process of transforming a product into a brand is not only about naming the product or designing the logo, but rather it is a conscious effort a company makes to categorically detail the rational and emotional features of a brand.

A brand is a dream of a brand manager who conjures up to create a strong brand measured by the equity it has. Brand Equity is the value generated by the brand generates to a product. This effort put in to create the value is the output of the entire branding effort. Inter brand is a world renowned and widely acclaimed brand equity measuring industry which publishes a list of top brands on the basis of brand equity. The ranking indicates that a brand like Coca Cola for which is product is nothing but carbonated coloured water commands the topmost equity measuring around 55 billion dollars leaving behind the most core technical brands. In the top ten category 2013 Apple tops the list, Google, Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft  (5),  General Electric, MacDonald, Samsung (8) , Intel (9) and Toyota (10) . Among the top 20 brands  added to previous 10 include Mercdes Benz, BMW, CISCO, Disney, HP, Gillette, Louis Vuitton, Oracle, Amazon, Honda, which belong to auto, computer, publication and animation industries.

Among the first 50 top global brands the list further goes to add H&M, Pepsi, American Express, Nike, Sap, IDEA, UPS, ebay, Pampers, Kellogs, Budweiser, HSBC, J.P.Morgan, Volkswagen, Canon, Zara, Nescafe, Gucci, L’Oreal, Philips, Accenture, Ford, Hyundai, Goldman Sachs, Siemens,  Sony, Thomson Reuters, Citi, Danone. These brands also belong to a variety of industries.

If we talk of top 100 global brands, they include Colgate, Audi, Face book, Heinz, Hermes, Addidas, Nestle, Nokia, AXON, Cartier, Dell, Xerox, Alliance, Porsch3, Nissan, KFC, Nintendo, Panasonic, Sprite, Discovery, Morgan Stanley, Prada, Shell, Visa, Tiffany & Co, 3M, Burberry, MTV, Adobe, John Deere, Johnson –Johnson, Johnnie Walker, KIA, Santander, Duracell, Jack Daniels, Avon, Ralph Wariren, Chevrolet, Kleeney, Starbucks, Heineken, Corona, Pizza Hutt, Smirnoff, Harley Davidson, Mastercard, Ferari, Moet  Chandon, Gap

New product development denotes developing or launching products for the first time in a geographical boundary. A new product development and its launch require a great effort involving risk. Idea generation is the most critical part of any new product development effort. If the idea is good it brings down the risk of product failure to a considerable extent. The next consideration is to target the right customers and project the brand in a way that the brand is appropriately positioned in the minds of the target customers'. Suppose you intend to develop a product for an economic segment, then advertising it in magazines affluent class reads would prove a waste of resources. Similarly, the purpose and utility of the product or service should be appropriately established in the consumer's mind for right positioning of the new product. The company should not attempt to project a new product in an exaggerated manner as it will result in a bad image. The company should be honest and aim at increasing brand recall. The idea is then deliberated with consumers in focused group discussions where the company tries to know whether the idea would fit customer needs and what other customer requirements need must be fulfilled.

The consumer segment consists of innovators and early adopters who look for new product launches in the market. These are the right customers for companies in such focused group discussions. From the discussions a prototype is developed which is then put to test marketing and trials. Based on trials the feedback are collated and if positive the product is fully launched in the market. It requires an innovative idea to develop a new product.

COMPONENTS OF BRAND MANAGEMENT

The well reputed brands constitute a highly valuable asset for a company.  The companies gradually became aware of the real economic value of strong brand. Studies provide different approaches to building strong brands. The authors and brand practitioners with seven components that can explain the subject well.

 These seven components of Brand Management are:
1.    Brand Identity
2.    Brand Personality,
3.    Brand Communication,
4.    Brand Awareness,
5.    Brand Positioning, and
6.    Brand Equity

1.Brand Identity

The logos, symbols, slogans, mascots, signs, icons etc. reflect the brand identity of a company. We can see a brand as a person, product, and organization and a symbol.

2.Brand Image

Brand image is defined as the set of beliefs held about a particular brand (Kotler,  1988), or a set of associations, often organized in some meaningful way (Aaker, 1992). The brand Identity, the brand personality, communication, feedback on the product or service creates images or perceptions of the brand in the consumer’s mind. The consumer perceives some images for the brand. A successful marketing and branding effort requires that the brand image and brand identity should be the same in order to avoid band gap. The brand identity and brand personality are company-centric, the brand image is customer-centric.

3.Brand Personality,

It is believed that brands also have personalities, and consumers are likely to choose brands whose personalities match their own. Brand personality is defined as the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a particular brand (Jennifer Aaker, 1997). Aaker identified brand personalities and their five characteristics. Some brand may attempt to be honest, others exciting, daring, intelligent, charming, down to earth, successful, reliable, spirited, imaginative, sophisticated, charming, tough and outdoorsy. Some brands tended to be strong on one specific trait. Dos Equis, The Arror Collar Man, The Marlboro Man, Mr. Clean, Old Spice, The Scheweppes,  Levi’s  are the brands with ‘ruggedness’ Levi’s in India suggests a youthful, fashion conscious personality. MTV, Fix5 New, The Star Ledger, About.com with excitement, Forbes, for competence, customer loyalty and warmth, CNN with competence, and Campbell’s with sincerity. The company employs product features, services, and image making to transmit the product/service’s personality. Consumers usually select and use brands having a brand personality consistent with their own actual self-concept

4. Brand Awareness

Brand awareness refers to the chance that consumers comprehend the life and accessibility of the product. It is the extent to which customer exactly associate the brand with the particular product measured as amount of niche market having former knowledge of brand. Recognition and Recall of a brand constitutes brand awareness. 

Brand recognition is the power of customer to acknowledge previous knowledge once they are asked about that brand or shown that particular brand, i.e., the consumers can clearly distinguish the brand as having been earlier noticed or detected. While brand recall is the ability of customer to recall a brand from his memory once given the product, feels satisfied by that product. Brand awareness is considered an essential aspect for the branding process to occur as it precedes all other steps in the process. All communication effect to occur requires the brand awareness to occur before. Before the consumers buy a brand, they must be made aware of the brand. Brand awareness forms the Brand Attitude and causes the intention to buy a brand to occur (Rossiter and Percy, 1987,, Rossiter 1991). In different words, it refers that customers ought to properly recover brand from the memory once given a clue or he will recall the particular brand when the product class is narrated. It is typically simple to acknowledge a brand rather than bring it to mind from the memory.

Thus, in the process of brand management the determines the brand identity and brand personality which through communication makes brand awareness and brand positioning in the customer's mind that at the time of purchase leads to brand equity. A brand management framework makes it more clear.