Brand Management - Marks and Spencer Assignment

BRAND MANAGEMENT
TESCO PLC.
1 | P a g e

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
COMPANY OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................4
BUILDING OF BRAND AND MANAGING.......................................................................................................5
KEY COMPONENTS OF SUCCESSFUL BRAND STRATEGY..............................................................................6
THEORIES, MODELS AND CONCEPTS- BRAND MANAGEMENT....................................................................7
EXAMPLES WITHIN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT...................................................................................8
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT, BRAND HIERARCHY, BRAND EQUITY MANAGEMENT....................................9
BRAND MANAGEMENT COLLABORATIVELY AND IN PARTNERSHIP- DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL LEVEL........12
TECHNIQUES FOR LEVERAGE AND EXTEND BRANDS.................................................................................14
TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS FOR EVALUATING THE BRAND.........................................................................15
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF BRAND MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES TOWARDS AN ENDURING BRAND........15
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
For a company it is very important to have its name in the market and among the other
companies to have a competitive advantage in the market and it is important to have
good brand name and value in the market.
This report will study about what is branding and what is the importance of branding as
marketing tool; it will also study about the components of a successful brand strategy for
building and managing brand equity. The second part of the report will study about the
different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy and brand equity
management. The third part of the report will cover about how brands are managed
collaboratively and partnership both at domestic and global level. And the last part of
the report will study about the evaluation of different types of techniques for measuring
and managing the brand value.

COMPANY OVERVIEW
Marks and Spencer Group plc commonly known as M&S, is a British multinational
company which was founded by Michael Marks Thomas Spencer with its headquarters
in London, England, UK with at store number measured in 2019 of 1463 stores. M&S is
a company specialized in selling clothing, home products and food products. The
company earned revenue of £ 10,181.9 million and net income of £ 254.8 million in
2020 which showed decrease in the value. The company holds manpower of 78,000
(2021). M&S Group Plc made revenue of about 10.2 billion British pounds (M&S, 2021).
Fig1. Share in Grocery market (Statista, 2020).
According to the figure above the market share of M&S Group Plc in grocery market
decreased by .1% from 2019 to 2020 and the company has been seen continuous
decrease in the market share which is affected due to high competition in due to brand
value and this is why M&S Group Plc need to do brand management and manage the
brand in a systematic way (Statista, 2020).

BUILDING OF BRAND AND MANAGING
Branding by the definition means the company’s name, image, symbol or a design that
makes the market and the people in the market identify the company easily. For
example McDonalds has a symbol M by which it is easily identical that the company is
McDonalds. Branding is important not to build a brand name for the company but it is
important to create impression on the customers and make them understand that what
they have to expect from the company. When a customer experiences a brand then it
builds the brand equity (Davis, 2017).
Aaker Brand Equity Model: This model measures the brand value and the policies and
strategies which have been used for brand awareness towards the customers and the
client. It is important to give what is promised by the company to the customers
(Tanveer et al., 2016).
There are various elements of the brands which makes the brand unique compared to
the other features of the products.
The Loyalty of Brand: Brand keeps their loyalty by giving what has been promised to
the customer and by fulfilling it the company builds good relationship with the customers
(Francisco-Maffezzolli et al., 2014).
Brand Awareness: Brand awareness can be done to customers and clients by using
promotional strategy. This will help in making the people know about the company and
the brand (Huang et al., 2014).
Quality Perception: When the customer goes to purchase the products and services
from the company they have perception of the product that it will be good in quality and
quantity (Huang et al., 2014).
Brand Association: Association means making the other companies work with the
main company. Brand has the ability to attract other businesses to combine and work

with them. For examples Optimum Impression is the well known company in advertising
which combines different organizations in the same brand (Huang et al., 2014).
KEY COMPONENTS OF SUCCESSFUL BRAND STRATEGY
The value of the brand in the marketing term is known as Brand Equity. The perception
which is set by the customers for the brand and the experience which they had with the
brand builds the brand equity. If the customers have a higher thinking for the brand then
the brand will have positive brand equity and on other hand if the people had bad
experience and got disappointed by the brand then the brand equity will be negative.
With the perceptions of the customers when the brand actually fulfills it the brand equity
increase and when the brand equity increases it also helps in attracting other customers
from the market and also shows the loyalty towards the customers and the market and
the brand equity exists for long and throughout the years (Nam et al., 2011).
The sales of the brand also depend on the brand equity. Brand management is mainly
handled by the Brand Equity and there are three steps which help in building a strong
identity of the brand (Keller et al., 2019).
First – brining out and introducing an innovative and advance product with special
features in the market place and launch various products which enhance the brand
name and the products needs to be introduced according to the customers’ needs and
wants and even when their needs and wants changes (Nam et al., 2011).
Second – Making the customers know about the product and make them understand
about the specifications about the products. Even though the products will be different
but the loyalty and the quality should be same from the initial steps (Nam et al., 2011).
Third – Third the company need to make good relationship with customers and solve all
the queries and issues of the customers related to the brand (Nam et al., 2011).
M&S Group Plc. Need to follow all these steps and need to use various theories,
models and concepts to manage the brand successfully.

THEORIES, MODELS AND CONCEPTS- BRAND MANAGEMENT
One of the best models used for brand management is Customer Based Equity Model
which is also known as Keller’s Brand Equity Model. The main motive behind this model
is to build a strong equity brand which can help customers to make up the mind about
the brand and make perceptions, thoughts and various opinions towards the brand
(Vasileva et al., 2017).
Brand Identity: The first goal of the M&S Group Plc. should be to create awareness
about the brand of the company and make sure that it should explain how it stands out
of the crowd. Awareness should be in such a way that the people have right and
positive perception about the brand.
Brand Meaning: This defines the performance and the specifications of the brand which
includes the features like price, serviceability, efficiency, durability, etc. It also defines
the Imagery which is the social and psychological aspects.
Brand Response: It includes quality, credibility, and consideration that help the
customers to make the perception for the brand and these features are only judged by
the customers. It helps in analyzing what need to be changed to improve the area for
the perception of the customers.

Brand Resonance: This deal with the emotional attachment, loyalty behavior of the
customer for the brand and the attachment of the customers and engagement of the
customers to become regular. This helps M&S Group Plc. in bringing the best offers for
their regular client (Vasileva et al., 2017).
EXAMPLES WITHIN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
There are a large number of competitors in the market who are willing to do brand
management and increase their relationship with the clients and the customers. The
brand management can be measured that M&S Group Plc. faces many challenges and
it becomes difficult to understand the nature and desire of client’s with their brand.
There has been many changes in technology in the market and it has become more
advance so that the client demand more of their needs. M&S Group Plc. can use many
approaches to build the brand image and according to the research building brand
image consumes so much time of the company. This helps in organizational growth as
well as development of the industry.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT, BRAND HIERARCHY, BRAND EQUITY
MANAGEMENT
As the survey and the reports shows that M&S Group Plc. has maintained its brand
equity and has maintained it for long enough but have been faced many challenging
situations and now M&S Group Plc. Needs to evaluate branding system and maintain it
to get good and better reputation of the brand (M&S, 2021).
Brand portfolio is one of the important aspects which need to be maintained by the
company. Brand Portfolio helps in maintaining the brand relation with the other aspects
which are price and quality of the products, customers and their needs and wants from
the company, etc. The brand of the company should be unique and the quality and the
quantity of the brand should be equally maintained from the first step. The better the
name of the brand in the market the better will be the working of the company and helps
in maintaining customer base. Brand Portfolio helps in proper business structure
maintenance and discipline which is needed by the company to provide support and
proper and successful implementation of the plans and organization objectives. Brand
portfolio is done when an organization is working in the market and has more than one
brand (Junior, 2018).
There are various strategies and theories for Brand Hierarchy which basically manages
the brand equity.
Product Need: Need and wants of the customers arises due to the interval of time. The
demand and needs of the customers arises according to the current market trend and
the company needs to imply the variations to fulfill the needs and wants of the
customers. M&S Group Plc. Takes care of the interest and desire of the customers and
satisfy by which the brand equity will be increased and help in expansion of the
business in very different way (Keller et al., 2019).
Product Family: M&S Group Plc. satisfies the needs and wants of the customers and
satisfy the needs and as a food and fashion company they are aware of the changing
needs and wants of the customers according to the change in the market and what

people tend to expect from the brand. It is very important for the company to build family
of various products which are different from other brands in the market (Keller et al.,
2019).
Product Class: Product class is the part of the Product family in which the organization
needs to maintain and learn all the concepts of the products which need to be
presented in front of the customers and the people in the market. People mostly judge
the brand based on the skills and imagery of the product (Keller et al., 2019).
Product Line: Product line is a set of various products which makes a brand within the
organization and the product line need to be created at the initial stage of the brand
management where the thinking power is created and the last comes if the
advertisement of it (Keller et al., 2019).
Product Type: Product type is influenced by the product line and there are various
methods of M&S which they imply to fit in the product and the product should standout
of the other products in the market and in the other organizations (Keller et al., 2019).
Brand Equity plays a very important in the success of the organization and the various
strategies which M&S Group Plc. Can use are as follows:
 Forecast the needs and wants of the market which will help the brand to understand
the trend of the market and it can help in noticing the trend and move accordingly to
fulfill the needs and wants of the customers.
 Preparation of market strategy which will be very helpful for the organization in
building the brand name of the company. It helps the organization in understanding
the needs and wants of the customers and also the interest of the customer in the
product of the organization. A perfect marketing strategy need be used by the
company to process the furcating of the demands.
 Proper product management is very necessary for the organization to remove all the
uncertainty and obstacles while doing marketing of the products and the brand of the
organization. Every products and actions should be traced and recorded in a correct
way so that each step is taken carefully and the raw material is used properly.

 The organization should mainly focus on fulfilling the orders and demand on time.
This will help in building the trust and relationship of the customer with the
organization.
 The product and service which is provided to the customer should be in a good
quality and quantity and it should be maintained from the initial stage of the
performance.
 The brand should use up to date technology and change accordingly to the change
in the market trend.
 The brand need to keep bring innovative and creative ideas and products to reach
the customer satisfaction and to retain existing customers and attract new customers
(Nam et al., 2011).

BRAND MANAGEMENT COLLABORATIVELY AND IN PARTNERSHIP-
DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL LEVEL
M&S Group Plc. has a wide Brand extension and leverage strategies. The company
faces large competition level and it is necessary for M&S Group Plc. needs to build
brand extension and leverage strategies to stay competitive in the market.
Brand Strength
The brand extension and expansion involves very minimal risk and is way cheaper than
other strategies and in this case the company can leverage the brand strengths which is
necessary for the brand to hold its existence and presence in the market.
Customer- Knowledge
By having a good and a brief knowledge about the taste and preference of the customer
and the needs and wants of the customers helps the business to strengthen the brand
of the company and this helps is customer acceptance of the brand and a new product
and this shows the positive sign for the brand extension (M&S, 2021).
Least Costs
The strategy building and using of the strategies involves low cost which helps the
organization to involve strategies like expansion of the existing brand of the company
and rather than launching new product. This will cost less to the organization and give
high success rate to the company (M&S, 2021).
Customer- Trust
By providing the customer with what they want and expect from the organization helps
in building trust of the customer on the organization. Quality and Quantity of the
products matters and the usefulness of the product plays a great role in building the
customer trust and once the trust is build it helps in organization to establish new
brands (M&S, 2021).

BRAND WEAKNESS
There are various weaknesses of the company that needs to be taken care and the
following are the weaknesses of M&S Group Plc:
Decrease in customers
The productivity of M&S has been decreased drastically from previous years and this is
all due to decrease in the number of customer. M&S Group Plc. should introduce new
products in order to attract new customers and on other hand it will increase the
productivity of the organization (M&S, 2021).
Expensive Products
M&S Group Plc. has many products which are very expensive which becomes the
company’s weakness. For overcoming this weakness it is very necessary for the
management of the organization to arrange the best source of raw material and have
better import and export in the management. As per the survey the cost of the products
have been lowered by the company and the people are showing less interest in
purchasing the products as the main and key product’s prices are not lowered yet
(M&S, 2021).
Collaboration and partnership agreements
Collaboration is a process when two different companies comes together to fulfill a
single task and this is done in order to achieve a common goal. With this M&S Group
Plc. can build the brand in an excellent way and have new artistic collaboration. M&S
Group Plc recently collaborated with Next Plc. and had been in partnership with them
for over a year. Collaboration and partnership agreement with some of the international
brands would help M&S Group Plc to have a good brand management and build brand
internationally (King, 2017).

TECHNIQUES FOR LEVERAGE AND EXTEND BRANDS
After a brief and a proper study about brand management it has been found that there
are various techniques for leverage and techniques which can be used for brand
expansion. Brand leverage helps the organization to expand the products and services
and with proper brand leverage the brand can easily cover the existing market and grow
in the existing market. The brand value can be improved and increased by using various
techniques and the techniques which can be used by M&S Group plc are as follows:
 M&S Group Plc should focus on making good brand awareness in the market. This
means that the customers should be aware of the brand name and the products and
services which are offered by them. The more the customer is aware the more will
be the brand value and the more will be the brand expansion. For M&S Group Plc
the company can use social media platform for making the customers know about
the product and services with the specification of them in an easy and clear way.
 The company should focus on the market share as well and the company should
focus on the areas where their market share is high and improve the area where
there market share is low.
 The products and services of the company should be managed in a systematic way
and with good management and the price of the products and services should be set
in such a way that the customers can afford it and on the same hand the company
also faces profit.
 The way the company sell the product and the service which the company provide
while sale matters the most so it is necessary to have good quality of sale service.
 The price of the products and services should be in such a way that it helps to retain
the existing customers and even attract new customers.
 Technology plays a very important role in how the product is produced and how the
service is delivered. With the change in the technology it is necessary for the
company to change the technology as the old technology will obsolete the company
and the new technology will bring the best out of the product and will help in

expansion of the brand on a large scale (Le et al., 2012).
TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS FOR EVALUATING THE BRAND
Brand value is the sale or replacement value of the brand that would be used to
evaluate the value that a company or brand possess. There are various techniques that
can be used for the evaluation and the brands. It will help in better presentation of the
brand and the products that are to be sold to the customers (Ahmad, 2017).
Brand loyalty: to analyze the progress of the business it is important to analyze how
many brands built their standards in the business environment. Therefore the product
should be added with the required value so that the product can be used by the
customer and will fulfill the needs that are associated with the product. Brand loyalty is
the preference of customer’s preference over other brands as their prime choice.
Availably of good and superior quality products helps in retaining the customers the
business.
Customer attitude: customer attitude can be understood as the behavior of the customer
while purchasing the product of a particular company. This pattern can be helpful in
better policy formulation for the brand management so that Marks and Spenser can
focus on influencing target market. Surveys show that these brands attracts most of it
audience that are in the age barrier of 20-28. In United Kingdom, this ratio is certainly
decreasing as the demographics are changing. The brand has to manage such a way
that may get benefitted by the changing demographics.
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF BRAND MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES
TOWARDS AN ENDURING BRAND
Being a marketing consultant, it is the responsibility of the company to measure the
value of brand by using different techniques and tools. This would be helpful in
enhancing the business decision making and the financial performance the company.

The will also help in balance growth of the company as the products would be sold to
the customers (Elliott et al., 2015).
The current brand management strategy of Marks and Spenser would the helpful in
better customer interaction with the customer. The company is taking help of famous
social media influencer and celebrities, and other fashion shows to support the sales of
the product. The customers of the company are also loyal as they prefer Marks and
Spenser over any other clothing brand this also helps in better brand publicity of the
company as they can help in mouth publicity of the brand. As the branding is used to
promote the product and services of the company, the techniques of the brand
management would help in better reach of the brand to the customers so that
customers can be aware of that (Elliott et al., 2015).
Performing a SWOT analysis on the brand management of Marks and Spenser it can
be understood that the strength of the organization is the loyalty of customers that is
complemented by the global reach of the brand. The purchasing behavior of the
customers are also helping in better branding can be done as per their purchasing
pattern. Weakness of the company is the financial performances that are not very
promising to the customers. Also a frequent recalls of the product decreases the
popularity of the company among the customers (Gürel and Tat, 2017).
Opportunities with the companies are related to the effective understanding of the
changes in taste and preferences of the consumer, market trends, change in
demographics and many others. These changes if studied properly can benefit the
company in taking these opportunities and make them successful. Threat to the Marks
and Spenser is from the increase in the market share of the competitors as they are
trying to influence the customers for their product. Therefore Marks and Spenser has to
bring some of the changes in the organizational policies so that it can better perform
and also able to maintain the effectiveness in the organization (Gürel and Tat, 2017).

CONCLUSION
Branding is a very important part for the company and it is very necessary for the
organization to have a good brand value and brand equity to have good spot in the
market and competitive advantage in the market. This report is a valid proof for the M&S
Group Plc that brand management is very important for the company. The report shows
various factors which explain the positive and negative impact of brand name on the
customer and the market. This report covers the importance of branding as a marketing
tool and how it has emerged in business practice; key components of a successful
brand strategy; various theories, models and concepts; Brand portfolios, Brand
hierarchy and Brand equity. The second last parts of the report cover how brands are
managed collaboratively and in partnership in domestic and global level and leverage
and extend brand techniques. At last techniques for measuring brand value have been
studied.

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