Brand Management: Building and Managing Brand Equity

This report discusses the concept of brand, importance of branding as a marketing tool, Aaker's Brand Equity model, key components of a successful brand strategy, portfolio management, brand hierarchy, and brand equity management. It also covers how brands are built over time and their importance. Examples of different organisations are included throughout the report.

Brand Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Concept of brand .........................................................................................................................3
Importance of branding as marketing tool...................................................................................4
Brand equity using Aaker’s Brand Equity model .......................................................................4
Key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand equity..........6
Portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity management ....................................7
Importance of branding and how brands are built over time.......................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Brand management refers to the marketing function which utilises the distinct techniques and
approached for enhancing the perceived values of specific product line over the time (Zwerenz,
2019). Efficient brand management allows the businesses to increase their prices over the
product and develop loyal customer base through the better brand association and strong brand
awareness. It outlines the management of tangible and intangible aspects of brand, thus brand
helps the businesses in fostering the similarities among their target segment to target consumers.
Following report will highlight the overview about the brand and include the range of examples
of different organisations. It all discuss the importance of branding as marketing tool, further
discuss the maker's brand equity model and also discuss the key aspects of the successful brand
strategy. It will also cover the different terms about portfolio management, brand hierarchy and
brand equity along with the strategies.
MAIN BODY
Concept of brand
A brand is the product, services which is generally publicly differentiated from other goods and
concepts, main purpose behind its development is to easily communicate with the customers
within the market. Branding is the concepts of developing and propagate the brand name. Its
development encompasses the business vision, objectives, target market information, competitive
analysis, organisational USP it helps in differentiating the organisational image from other
businesses. Brand development involves the specific stages which are as follows:
Determining the target audience:
It is foremost to identify the target people for which the organisation requires to convey
the message (Chernev, 2020). For that it is important to create the content which helps in
attracting the consumer towards it. for an example McDonald company, they have good brand
image therefore they have large customer base, they are consistent and have standard menu,
other restaurant also sells burgers and stuff like McDonald but they prefer to go McDonald
because they know what they expect they will easily get.
Differentiate the product:
Brand are so successful if they are able to develop the gap among themselves and their
rivalries in the mind of target audience. In differentiating the product, it is important to work
against other brands in same market field. For an instance Levi’s and Calvin Klien are in same

field and both have different brand image which separates their products and services as well as
target audience.
Be creative:
Innovative approach always increases the brand status just like Apple company who
believes in creativity that makes them to stand out and compete their intense market. As for the
Apple computer they come up with approach like to ran the ads which are linked to the computer
system this helped the company to increase their sales.
Importance of branding as marketing tool
Branding enables to develop the relationship with the target audience that can eventually guides
in turning them into the potential loyal customer. It is the method which the organisation
proceeds with to make the people to care about it. branding has proved as one of the essential
marketing aspect of the businesses (Raki and Shakur, 2018). Organisation who concentrates on
their branding are more likely to distinguish themselves from their competition and proceed with
the effective marketing. If the brand is right positioned, then it makes the firm to build loyal
consumers and able to acquire the large market share within a short time period. It emerged as
the business practices not only because it makes the remarkable impression over the consumers
but also enables the clients and consumer to know what they need to expect from the firm. Thus
branding communicates the main three critical aspects which are ownership, inspiration and
quality that makes the firm to stand out from the larger audiences. In this modern era, it is
prominent for the businesses to enter the market with good brand that helps in narrating the story
which ultimately grab the audience attention and makes them to engage with organisation
(Miliopoulou, 2021).
Brand equity using Aaker’s Brand Equity model
Brand loyalty
There exists a number of advantages that are the outcome of the loyalty of the customer. At first,
the loyalty improves the complete financial performance of the organisation because of the
enhanced purchases and the capability to increase the potential of every customer. It is much
lesser in cost to offer the prevailing loyal customers rather than to take the new customer. Other
advantages involves as the sustainable competitive benefit and enhances the positive word of
mouth and the business which runs through the referrals (Greco and Polli, 2020).

The Apple company has created a branding strategy which permits them to take the
advantage from all these factors. Their financial performance from the last few years is
unmatched because they prove out to be the most useful company across the world. As the
Samsung came out to be the strong competitor, the loyalty of the customer was clearly seen that
prove out to be a valuable competitive benefit. The premium pricing strategy was also being was
also being maintained while on the other hand the Samsung company went ahead of them by
imitating their products.
Brand awareness
Brand awareness is very crucial element of the brand power. The effective branding creates an
effect in being identified and making it stand out from the other competitors' brand. This means
that the logo of the product and the marketing efforts should give the knowledge and a specific
enthusiasm level which leads to the people getting more excited to try the products of the
company. The brand awareness of the Apple company tops all the tech company across the
world. It helps in keeping the brand simplifies and also pleasing. Along with that the marketing
provides information in a very huge way that contributes the part to the success of the brand
(Mills and Robson, 2019).
Perceived quality
The perceived quality of the Apple products includes the control of the hardware and the
software that offers them a huge benefit over its competitors. It also represents the future of the
technology as the products that the company has developed became a motivation which lead the
world to the advancement in technology (Paul, 2019).
Safe and secure
The Mac product of the Apple company is generally very safe and secure alternative as they keep
the hackers and the malware at the bay with the help of the high performing anti virus software
which uses multiple practices like the end to end encryption.
Brand associations
The brand associations are specified as what happens when the traits of the company are
embedded in the minds of the customer. The brand association of the company is quite strong as
when rather than searching for the information, only the product of the brand is only considered.
Other proprietary assets

The other proprietary assets of the Apple company includes the patent applications, trademarks,
patents, service marks, trade names, domain names, copyright registrations, licenses, applications
, trademarks applications and other rights that are related to the databases and inventions.
Key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand equity
Brand purpose
The purpose of the brand will assist in drawing the cut like following, develop increased amount
of the sales, faster growth and get the better rate of interest or ROI. So finding the purpose of the
brand is the most crucial components of the creation of the effective brand strategy.
Brand vision
The company needs to create an impact on the long term business decision for making sure that
the brand is heading towards the right direction which will also assist in the determination of the
objectives for the purpose of growth and will influence the decisions of the business. The vision
of the brand helps in the inspiring the people, dreaming big, creating the meaningful decisions
related to the business and being on the track and on brand (Melewar and Skinner, 2020).
Brand values
The brand value assists in determining the main values of the brand and also develops a culture.
By specifying the core values, it can also be determined the way in which the brand will be
perceived in the market. This permits to guide in the decision making and also the
communication in order to make the brand consistent. The brand values will tell the customers,
suppliers and the general public about the business and also help in the decision making along
with guiding the brand on the internal basis.
Target audience
The most crucial element used is defining the target audience and collecting the details about
their lifestyle which can be done by creating a profile of the average target consumers and also
by including the emotional inclinations, problems that they face and the demographics along
with their behavioral patterns.
Market Analysis
It is generally looking for the gaps for finding that what separates the company and the way in
which it can stand out in the market (Lin and Siu, 2020).
Awareness goals

It is about making the awareness goals and the initiatives a priority which will assist the market
in a more effective manner.
Brand personality
It will help the company's brand by specifying its personality by creating the relationship with
the customer.
Brand voice
It is mainly about defining the tone of the voice for the purpose of setting the guidelines for the
way in which the company want to be sound by the specific target market. Once the personality
of the brand is being discovered then the next step is about adding it with the suitable tone of
voice.
Brand Tagline
It is important for selecting a particular tagline that communicates the message of the brand of
the company in the reflection of the positioning of the brand (Baumgarth, 2018).
Portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity management
Portfolio management
The brand portfolio management is increasingly existing in practice and theory. This topic is
quite attractive for the large multinational companies that have numerous brands to be managed.
The reason behind this are so many but one of the main and the most important one is the brand
proliferation. Most of the companies can not tackle with the deeply and increased segmented
markets with only few large brands. The main target must be to acquire a balanced portfolio that
has the brands implementing numerous tasks. The portfolio of the brand has all kinds of the
brands that a particular company has and which are in direct connection to the other brands. The
active portfolio management strategy includes the top-down approach, bottom up while the
passive portfolio management strategy includes the efficient market theory, indexing, patient
portfolio, aggressive portfolio and the conservative portfolio (Ind and Schmidt, 2020).
Brand Hierarchy
A brand hierarchy is the systematic branching structure of the different components in a
systematic manner for its sub products or goods. For the purpose of creating the brand hierarchy,
it is important to follow some steps that is identifying the product groups, determining the levels
that further includes the principle of simplicity and principle of clarity, developing the brand for
every level that further includes the elements of the brand, principle of commonality and at last

the strategies of the marketing. The importance of the brand hierarchy is that it helps in avoiding
the customer confusion, assist in the business planning for the future, attracts the focused
attention and gives a clear overview. The examples of the brand hierarchy includes the Flat
Chrysler automobiles.
Brand equity management
After the brand equity is being developed then it requires to be managed for the purpose
of maintaining and increasing its value. The stability of the brand recognition is required to be
balanced along with the modifying market, the attitude of the consumer, regulations and rules of
the government and other major factors. In some of the circumstances, the efforts are required to
rebrand the particular product. After the development of a particular product, it is required the
management of the brand equity for the expansion of the recognition of brand to the latest ones.
The components of the brand equity includes the brand perception, the positive and the negative
influences and the value. The ways in which the brand equity of a particular product can be made
is by following a series of steps which includes the creation of increased awareness,
communicating the meaning of the brand and what does the brand stands for, by increasing the
positive feelings and judgement in the customer and by building a strong bond of loyalty with the
customer. The brand equity can be measured with the help of the financial metrics, strength
metrics and the consumer metrics (Manoli, 2022).
Importance of branding and how brands are built over time
Branding tells the story in an instant
The branding helps in the identification of the development of the keywords which define the
brands by using the terms for creating the voice, tone and the aesthetic of the company.
Branding develops an emotional connection
By creating a particular brand, the company can connect with the customers, employees and the
general public on a deep level. This kind of the connection is a gradual procedure that takes place
over time but it begins by creating a better reputation that also lets the audience get to know
about the company and find the ways for communicating.
Branding builds the confidence
The great branding takes into account the intelligence, strategy and also the risk which comes
with it.
It provides the direction and purpose

Whatever the brand may be the objectives and the goals behind setting of the brand must be
meaningful as the influential branding includes more than just the colours, font and the logo.
Connects the values with the like minded audience
Most of the successful businesses have the missions, visions and the values are developed well.
Leads to new directions
Sometimes even the larger brands can also be greater so the rebranding occurs in numerous
manner and a similar approach or method is a logo refresh.
Great branding offer the results
The portion of the importance of the branding is that a sound and strong brand is important for
offering the outcomes which are needed.
Branding helps in generating the growth and it also creates a positive employee morale along
with uniting the audiences (Keller and Swaminathan, 2020).
Ways in which the brands are built over time
The process of the branding can be divided into three phases that are also high in level. These
includes the
 Brand strategy
 Brand identity
 Brand Marketing
The brand strategy includes the main elements which are the part of the process of the branding
that includes the brand purpose development, audience development, competitor research, brand
voice and personality and the brand message along with the story.
The brand identity includes the elements such as the logo, colours and fonts, patterns and icons,
collateral, website design, content and messaging, advertising and the print or the packaging.
The brand marketing includes the activities such as the user experience which is the website, the
SEO and the content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing and the paid
advertising.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been discussed about the overview about the brand and
include the range of examples of different organisations. It all discuss the importance of branding
as marketing tool, further discuss the maker's brand equity model and also discuss the key
aspects of the successful brand strategy. It will also cover the different terms about portfolio
management, brand hierarchy and brand equity along with the strategies. It also discussed the
importance of branding and the ways in which the brands are being built over a period of time.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baumgarth, C., 2018. Brand management and the world of the arts: Collaboration, co-operation,
co-creation, and inspiration. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
Chernev, A., 2020. Strategic brand management. cerebellum press.
Greco, F. and Polli, A., 2020. Emotional Text Mining: Customer profiling in brand management.
International Journal of Information Management.51. p.101934.
Ind, N. and Schmidt, H.J., 2020. Co-creating brands: Brand management from a co-creative
perspective. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Keller, K.L. and Swaminathan, V., 2020. Strategic brand management: Building, measuring,
and managing brand equity. Harlow: Pearson.
Lin, F. and Siu, W.S., 2020. Exploring brand management strategies in Chinese manufacturing
industry. Journal of Brand Management.27(1). pp.48-76.
Manoli, A.E., 2022. Strategic brand management in and through sport. Journal of Strategic
Marketing, pp.1-8.
Melewar, T.C. and Skinner, H., 2020. Territorial brand management: Beer, authenticity, and
sense of place. Journal of Business Research.116. pp.680-689.
Miliopoulou, G.Z., 2021. Brand communities, fans or publics? How social media interests and
brand management practices define the rules of engagement. European Journal of Marketing.
Mills, A.J. and Robson, K., 2019. Brand management in the era of fake news: narrative response
as a strategy to insulate brand value. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
Paul, J., 2019. Masstige model and measure for brand management. European Management
Journal.37(3). pp.299-312.
Raki, S. and Shakur, M.M.A., 2018. Brand management in small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) from stakeholder theory perspective. International Journal of Academic
Research in Business and Social Sciences. 8(7). pp.392-409.
Zwerenz, D., 2019. Brand Management: Organizational Changes in Project Management.