CHAPTER 1:

BRANDS & BRAND

MANAGEMENT
Top 10 ‘Trusted Brands’: India

Source: Economic Times Brand Equity 2009

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No.9
No.10
No.11-20
 What is a Brand?

 For 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”
 What is a Brand?

 These different components of a brand that

identify and differentiate it are brand
elements
 What is a Brand?
Kapferer: “A Brand is a name that influences
buyers”
 However, it is not a question of the choice
of the name itself
 The name should spontaneously evoke
desirable associations
 Are the benefits the name evokes (a) salient,
(b) exclusive and (c) trusted?
 Mental associations

 What is the brand territory (perceived

competence; typical products or services;
specific know-how)?
- Gillette
- Nokia
- Dettol
- Karim’s?
 Mental associations
 What is its level of quality (low; medium; premium;
luxury)?
 What are its properties/merits?
 What is its most discriminating quality or benefit (also
called perceived positioning)?
- Dove is 1/4 moisturizing cream
- Marlboro is about fierce independence
- Allen Solly is about “Friday Dressing”
 Mental associations
 What typical buyer does the brand evoke?
- Raymond’s
- Harley Davidson
- Louis Vuitton
 What is the brand personality and brand
imagery?
The Product and the brand
 Product
 Kotler: “A product is anything that can be
offered to a market to satisfy a want or
need”
 What is a Product?
All the augmentations and
 Kotler’s Potential Product
transformations that a product
might ultimately undergo in the

Five future

Additional product attributes,

levels to a Augmented Product benefits, or related services that
distinguish the product from

product: competitors

Attributes and Characteristics that

Expected Product buyers normally expect and agree
to when they purchase a product

Basic Version of the product

Generic Product containing only those elements

absolutely necessary to function.
No distinguishing features.

The Fundamental Need or Want

CORE BENEFIT that consumers satisfy by
consuming the product or service
 Product and brand
Product = Commodity
A product is a produced item always
possessing these characteristics:
• Tangibility
• Attributes and Features

Brand = “Mind Set”

The sum of all communications and experiences received
by the consumer and customer resulting in a distinctive
image in their “mind set” based on perceived emotional
and functional benefits
 Product and brand
 Products come to life, live and disappear,
but brands endure e.g. Zen, Honda City,
Bajaj
 A brand is the memory of the products
 A brand is less elastic than its product.
Once created, like fast-setting concrete it is
hard to change
 Can everything be branded?
 Ultimately a brand is something that resides
in the minds of consumers
 The key to branding is that consumers
perceive differences among brands in a
product category
 Even commodities can be branded: Wheat,
masalas, water, salt
 What is branded?
 Physical goods
 Services
 Retailers and distributors
 Online products and services
 People and organizations
 Sports, arts, and entertainment
 Geographic locations
 Ideas and causes
How do brands provide value?
Importance of Brands to Firms
 To firms, brands represent enormously
valuable pieces of legal property, capable of
influencing consumer behavior, being
bought and sold, and providing the security
of sustained future revenues
 Importance of Brands to Firms
 Identificationto simplify handling or tracing
 Legally protecting unique features
 Signal of quality level
 Endowing products with unique associations
 Source of competitive advantage
 Source of financial returns
 Importance of Brands to
Consumers
 Identificationof the source of the product
 Assignment of responsibility to product maker
 Risk reducer
 Search cost reducer
 Promise, bond, or pact with product maker
 Symbolic device
 Signal of quality
Reducing the Risks in Product
Decisions
 Functional risk—The product does not
perform up to expectations
 Physical risk—The product poses a threat
to the physical well-being or health of the
user or others
 Financial risk—The product is not worth
the price paid
Reducing the Risks in Product
Decisions
 Social risk—The product results in
embarrassment from others
 Psychological risk—The product affects the
mental well-being of the user
 Time risk—The failure of the product
results in an opportunity cost of finding
another satisfactory product
 Branding Challenges and
Opportunities
 Savvy customers
 Brand proliferation
 Media fragmentation
 Increased competition
 Increased costs
 Greater accountability
 Strategic Brand Management
 It involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and
activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity
 The Strategic Brand Management Process is defined as involving
four main steps:
1. Identifying and establishing brand positioning and values
2. Planning and implementing brand marketing programs
3. Measuring and interpreting brand performance
4. Growing and sustaining brand equity
 Reading
 Chapter: 1