Brand Management: Importance, Strategies, and Success

This document provides an in-depth understanding of brand management, including the importance of branding as a marketing tool, key components of a successful brand strategy, and how brands are managed over time. It also explores different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy, and brand equity management. The case study focuses on Cadbury, a multinational organization, and its brand management practices.

BRAND
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Explain the importance of branding as a marketing tool and why and how it has emerged in
business practice. ..................................................................................................................................4
P2 Analyse the key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand
equity.....................................................................................................................................................5
M1 Evaluate how brands are managed successfully over time using application of appropriate
theories, models and concepts. .............................................................................................................6
M2 Apply appropriate and validated examples within an organizational context................................6
D1 Provide a critical evaluation that is supported by justified evidence demonstrating a
comprehensive understanding of branding within an organizational context.......................................6
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Analyse different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity
management ..........................................................................................................................................7
M3 Critically analyze portfolio management, brand hierarchies and brand equity using appropriate
theories, models and frameworks........................................................................................................12
TASK 3.....................................................................................................................................................12
P4 Evaluate how brands are managed collaboratively and in partnership both at a domestic and
global level..........................................................................................................................................12
M4 Critically evaluate the use of different techniques used to leverage and extend brands...............14
TASK 4.....................................................................................................................................................14
P5 Evaluate different types of techniques for measuring and managing brand value using specific
organizational examples......................................................................................................................14
M5 Critically evaluate application of techniques for measuring and managing brand value in relation
to developing a strong and enduring brand. .......................................................................................16
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Brand management is the function of the marketing which uses different techniques in order to
increase the perceived value of the product or the brand which it is offering in the market. An effective
management of brand also enables the product price to go up and build the loyal customers through its
positive brand association and the images. Branding is mainly the practice of marketing through which
the company indulges in symbol, name or design which is easily identifiable in the whole market. It is
important as on one hand it makes the memorable impression in the minds of the consumers and on
other side it helps the customers to know what to expect from the organization (Greco and Polli, 2020).
It distinguishing the company from its competitors and clarifies what makes the firm a better choice.
The organization chosen for this report is Cadbury, a multinational organization established in 1824
and headquartered in Birmingham, England. This report shall deal with how brands are built and
managed, how brands are organized in the portfolio and how brands are extended domestically and
internationally over the time. Further it will cover different techniques for managing and measuring the
brand value.

TASK 1
P1 Explain the importance of branding as a marketing tool and why and how it has emerged in business
practice.
Brand is a name, term, design, symbol or other attribute which helps in identifying the
particular brand of a company. This practice is now adopted by many companies all around the world
in a regular basis which is mainly used by the companies in marketing and advertisements so that a
unique identity is created of the product. Brand equity is another thing which means an appropriate
value that is generated by the company from the particular offering which have a recognizable name in
the market place as compared with the other companies and brands. The organizations use many
strategies to create the brand equity for their offering by indulging in the marketing campaigns or
enhancing their reliability and quality (King, 2017). This such tool of marketing which helps the
companies to stand out uniquely from its competitors in a market. Brands also helps in taking a
competitive advantage in the same industry which contribute to long term sustainability. In order to
successfully establish and create a brand, the companies can take certain steps like for instance the
company must initially identify its target market where it has to offer its products and then determine
the potential competitors who exist in the market. This will help the organization to assess the activity
which a firm must undertake in order to differentiate its offering. Next stage involves development of
the value propositions which will help in identifying the benefit, value and the uniqueness which is
associated with its offering.
The marketing department of every companies plays an important role in taking the companies
forward where it contribute to creating the brand equity. They are entrusted with the role of assessing
the entire market in order to know the needs and wants of the customers and the aspects which they all
consider as unique in the brands. Moreover, the marketing unit of a company identify the gaps in the
demands ans assist the organizations in providing the products which are required in the market
together with the value propositions which will help the companies gain an edge over their
competitors. The companies use the branding as a marketing tool in order to make it distinguishable
from that of the other companies so that it can stand otherwise (Abid, Abid‐Dupont and Moulins,
2020). In this digital era, branding has emerged as an important tool where the preference of the people
have shifted to brands rather than local offerings. Further nowadays people might be more price
conscious rather than brand conscious but they are more socially conscious. The millennial especially
are willing to pay more for the brands as they have been more socially conscious. Further more due to
competition being made stiffer and rise in the quality standards. The brands have become an essential

business practice in today's era as it helps the companies to deliver their message clearly, emotionally
connect with the target market and motivate the people to make the purchase. It also helps in creating
the user loyalty so that brand's credibility can be confirmed in the market (Borges‐Tiago and et. al.,
2020).
P2 Analyse the key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand equity.
In order to manage and build the brand, it is necessary to have an effective strategy for
branding. The companies can adopt different methods such as Aaker's brand Equity Model in order to
strengthen the brand equity. Under this model, the organization should build the brand identity so that
effective brand management can be done. The elements of this model is discussed below- Brand as the offer- It includes scope, value, attributes, quality and the users of the offering
which is provided by the organization Brand as individual- It includes the overall personality of a brand together with the customer
brand relationship in the market. Brand as the symbol- Under this element, a audio imagery and the visual imagery or the brand
heritage together with the metaphorical symbol which is associated with the product is taken
into the account.
 Brand as the company- It includes many several necessary attributes which are associated with
the organization such as functions, operations of the company both that international and
domestic level and many other (Wang, He and Barnes, 2017).
In context to Cadbury, the company can strength its brand equity by implementing this model
and work on its brand extension and the reinforcement by the following components which are
discussed below- Brand awareness- For increasing the awareness of the brand, Cadbury cam work to increase
the familiarity within the market by adopting many methods like social media, search engine
optimization and many other. Brand loyalty- In context to Cadbury, the organization must work to increase the loyalty of the
customers in respect of the brand. This can be achieved by the company by retaining and
attracting the consumers through effective advertisements which could compel them and induce
the commitment of the people towards a brand. Brand association- This can be enhanced by indulging the customer with a brand through
communicating the benefits of the offering which could be given to them when the purchase is
made by them (Mills, and Robson, 2019).

 Quality perceived- The perception of the consumers is very crucial in brand reinforcements and
extension and in order to develop the positive perception in the minds of the customers, the
company Cadbury must focus to differentiate its offerings with that of the other competitors
like Nestle by using different methods like distribution channel, pricing and many other.
 Other proprietary- Under this component, Cadbury should undertake the competitive
advantage with the help of its brand with different methods such as competitive pricing, a better
accessibility by flexible and enhanced channel (Keller and Brexendorf, 2019).
M1 Evaluate how brands are managed successfully over time using application of appropriate theories,
models and concepts.
In today's world, managing brand is to strengthen the brand equity by making such marketing
plans which can express the brand knowledge consistently and does not confuse a consumer.
Innovation is one such key for managing the brand and ensures that the brand remains ahead of its
competitors. Moreover, brand awareness also helps in managing the brand as helps in highlighting the
points of the difference from that of the competitors.
M2 Apply appropriate and validated examples within an organizational context.
It is very important for the companies to adopt different strategies appropriately so that it can
overcome the brand crisis. Like for instance, Cadbury can adopt effective measures such as
implementation of the focused approach. An example of this is that in the past the company got
engaged in some consumer safety which affected its brand image as the customers found the insect in
the chocolates of the Cadbury. This resulted in loss of trust of the customers and its brand image was
impacted. In order to overcome it, the company initiated multi prolonged strategy to bounce back with
its original brand image and overcome this brand crisis.
D1 Provide a critical evaluation that is supported by justified evidence demonstrating a comprehensive
understanding of branding within an organizational context.
Branding is considered as the essential marketing tool nowadays as companies use it to promote
their offering. In context to Cadbury, it uses its brand to promote and communicate its offering so that
large customers can be attracted. Cadbury can use its brand image to capture the larger market share as
it has an established brand. But sometimes branding cannot make the work of the company easy while
introducing anything new as people tend to trust the brand more than its offerings as they purcahse
goods by looking at the brand. People have become more brand conscious and are willing to pay more
for the brand. So their expectations are usually high when it comes to established brands like Cadbury.

TASK 2
P3 Analyse different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity
management
It is an important task for the companies to adopt such strategies which are associated with the
portfolio management, brand equity management and brand hierarchy. Cadbury has established itself
well in the market. It is currently been adopting several strategies relating to portfolio management,
brand equity management and brand hierarchy.
Portfolio management
Cadbury is well known for its portfolio management strategy which helps the company in
taking the competitive position into the market. Mainly, there are two types of portfolio management
strategies which Cadbury can use which will help the organization in managing its product in an
appropriate manner. These strategies are discussed below-
Active management:
It is such strategy which must be used by the company who have indulged in the detailed
assessment of its portfolio and when the companies indulge in battling the market in order to gain the
competitive edge (Baumgarth, 2018). Cadbury can use it in several ways which are discussed below-
 Diversification- The organization must diverse its portfolio in order to enhance its scope of
success in the marketplace. Usage of quantitative analysis- The company should engage in numerical analysis and
comparison in order to measure its success of the brand portfolio management.
Passive management:
Under this strategy, the companies focus on meeting the market rather than the competition or
competing within the same. Cadbury could use this strategy by using it in the ways which are discussed
below-