Strategic Brand Management

This document discusses the concept of strategic brand management and its importance in business. It includes a case study of Marks and Spencer, analyzing its current brand positioning. The document also provides insights on how to develop a new brand positioning.

Strategic brand management

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
. An introduction which explains the reasons behind the choice of your brand. (About 500
words)..........................................................................................................................................3
II. An analysis of the current positioning of the brand. (About 1000 words)..............................4
• INSERT THE POSITIONING MAP OF THE BRAND COMPARED WITH
COMPETITORS..........................................................................................................................6
IV. Development of managerial recommendations about how to bring the new brand
positioning to life. For instance, what communication leverages should be used to implement
the new brand positioning with the target market?......................................................................7
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

. An introduction which explains the reasons behind the choice of your brand. (About 500
words)
Marks and Spencer is chosen for completing this project as it is one of the leading retail
company within business environment. This is an organisation that is involved in developing
new strategies ad plans for completing the goals. There are several marketing techniques used by
the company to grab opportunities within business environment. These help in managing the
work effectively and reaching organisational goals.
Most firms concentrate their branding strategies on selling agencies, such as packaging
and advertisement. But if your company struggles to motivate its staff to be brand ambassadors,
one of your most valuable tools is losing out on you the employees (Blanchard, 2017). Building a
good brand requires workers to feel linked to and a part of it no matter what product or service
you provide, as well as to realise the role they play in bringing the vision of your brand into
reality. A highly Diversified international retailer with offices in London, England, Marks and
Spencer Group plc (usually referred as M&S or common parlance Marks and Sparks) deals in
the distribution of clothes, home goods and food products, often of its own name. It is a member
of the FTSE 250 Index and is listed on the London Stock Exchange, having previously been in
the FTSE 100 Index from its inception until 2019. M&S was founded in Leeds in 1884 by
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. At present, M&S has 847 outlets in the U.K. Like 615,
which only sells types of food and claims the unique quality and luxury of its food and drinks
both through tv advertising; it also has an online food distribution service. The firm was the first
Retail business to make a pre-tax profit of more than 1 billion usd in 1998, but it eventually went
through a sudden recession that shocked the employee and the company. These are some of the
UK's oldest the most well brands has been Marks & Spencer. Initially developed in 1884, with
an instructors on pricing, cost, and consumer service, it has been transforming the way we act
and think about shopping for far more than centuries. Although Marks & Spencer has faced a
few challenges on the path to growth, like any light as possible enterprise, it has also been able to
show us the strength of an organisation that understands how to embrace its values and adapt to
meet its clients' needs (Dohnalová, 2019). The M&S brand has faced many struggles, dry spells,
and PR concerns, and remains a colossal force in the middle of British culture, selling in more
than 300 stores around the country. M&S wants to take advantage of the influence of logo design

to prove that whilst the central definition of quality remains important to the company, steps
have also been made to m actually what "value means to its clients. "The new logo is clear,
simple, representing a Marks & Spencer that is more focused, while the "Est. "1884" proves its
place in history. Even the latest ad push, along with the current "Spend it Well" slogan, aims to
illustrate how the brand has changed over the years, replacing the Only M&S" banner to
demonstrate that M&S is actually focused directly on the community's needs.
Article 1- It’s not just branding, it’s Marks & Spencer branding, Stewart Hodgson
(https://medium.com/@Stewart_Fabrik/its-not-just-branding-it-s-marks-spencer-branding-
bcd3df9988cc)
Customers are vocal regarding giving their opinion regarding the British brand, marks
and Spencer. This is an oldest brand and people are having loyal and faith trust on this brand.
There are new hurdles within this brand when it comes to the success. This brand has survived a
lot of hurdles and it is managing approximately 300 stores across the country. M&S is involved
in identifying and providing services which have drastically changed. This British brand has
proved it's efficiency in different ways.
Article 2 M&S Clothing is trying to strike a balance between brand and product
marketing, By Imogen Watson-11 February 2020
M&S Clothing is trying to strike a balance between brand and product marketing
When customers are asked about brand reputation in market then it is concluded that this
company has been given fourth rank. This sells 15 pairs of product in context of women denim.
There is analysis that this company is able to manage the success within market.
II. An analysis of the current positioning of the brand. (About 1000 words)
Marks and Spencer's (M&S) has been categorised into three groups of Ideal and Classic clothing
lines, the Autograph range, and the Per Una range. Each collection has been created for a
particular customer in the women's clothing industry target group. To satisfy their consumer
standards and optimise the goods, Marks and Spencer must recognise what their client wants.
According to their decision, consumers will appear to assess the goods and services to compare
the price, cost, incentives, values, and pre-and post services along with rivals to decide which
brand they want. Using population segmentation to determine what their client wants, Marks and
Spencer. In terms of age, ethnicity, salary, social status, and others, Mark and Spencer target
their clients (Hale-White, 2019). This is because, at any moment, consumers will change their

desires and wishes. So, Marks and Spencer should be conscious that this problem is happening.
The Best and Iconic ranges strive to represent Marks and Spencer's core clients. Main customers
of Marks and Spencer are targeted by men and women between 35 and 55 years old. The apparel
is built in a basic and simplistic manner and includes plain white tops, black roll-neck sweaters
and pants. The complete set. For busy lifestyle clients, clothes must be machine-washable, non-
iron, and tumble-dry comfortable. Customers who are looking for these ranges enjoy realistic
high quality and value at fair prices. In addition, the design must be timeless, which suggests that
the design will not be obsolete from time to time. The Classic Collection is targeted at more
mature consumers and tends to serve their customers in various formats, such as smart, elegant
and optimistic styles. For these ranges, the styles are minimal to ensure that buyers can find their
right garments.
In the spring and summer of 2000, the Autograph collection was introduced and it is a new
seasonal range (Lemonnier, and Spencer, 2019). This variation is that M&S focuses upon income
of customers.
A variety of garments, male and female accessories has been created for this design. It offers the
core demand for Marks and Spencer with a more up-to-market range of garments. The
Autograph series offers the best designer collection inside a designer shop atmosphere to Market
and Spencer buyers at high street prices. In the autograph range, though the spring and summer
range is limited to only 60 paint types per season. A little like formal wear or fashionable
clothes, the Autograph collection styles. Elegant clothes, for example, may be used for work or
shopping. The Per Una range was launched. The fashion-conscious women aged between 25 and
35 years, sizes 8-18, were the target customers per Una selection. The high-quality fabrics are
produced by this collection and the designs are the current trends. In addition, the products of the
Per Una line are offered in a limited version, which makes them exclusive on the market. In
comparison, the costs were 10 percent more costly than other ranges from Marks and Spencer.
For age and gender in Per Una, their main consumers are under the age of 25 to 35 fashion-
conscious young lady Marks and Spencer (Olubodun, 2019). The old ladies like to buy the
fashionable or fashion clothes around this, particularly the limited edition, since it is very
exclusive and tiny on the market. So to design the limited edition garments for the buyers, the
Marks and Spencer designer must define their age group. In Marks and Spencer, both their order
winners and their order qualifiers are very simple. The order winners and order qualifiers for

each range was listed by Marks and Spencer as the top retailer in the UK. This will help
consumers perceive that the apparel manufactured by Marks and Spencer is of high quality and
that their consumer needs are fulfilled by competitive pricing. Each range of clothing at Marks
and Spencer has various order winners and order qualifiers to attract different customers in the
UK. Order winners are those strategic attributes that allow clients of a business to prefer the
products and services of that company over those of its rivals. It can be seen as a strategic
advantage for the organisation (PARIZOT, 2020). Normally, it seldom relies on more than two
of the above strategic strategies. Price or expense, speed of distribution, efficiency of delivery,
consistency, product style, versatility, brand name, and after-market support were
included.Strategic management is defined as the way for managing reputation and image of
brand within market. It needs a consistent and thorough view of three aspects to build a strategic
brand management system to handle your brand equity (Beiginia, and et.al, 2019). the brand
itself its target demographic, and the general mission and priorities of the business. For brand
marketing, a strong relationship with the target market is a must. That would be seen in weak
revenue, poor retaining of consumers, and slow growth if you have bad branding. Brand
management must take complete care of the brand to be successful, employing marketing tactics
in a manner that guarantees that the whole brand is highlighted, taken care of and marketed.
Ultimately, it should be about making a decision and actually providing on the obligation to the
clients.
• INSERT THE POSITIONING MAP OF THE BRAND COMPARED WITH
COMPETITORS

Competitors of Marks and Spencer
Marks & Spencer's top competitors include Debenhams, Macy's, John Lewis Partnership, Aldi
UK, Asda, Tesco, Next and Waitrose & Partners.
III. Development of a new brand positioning. (About 1000 words)
Brand positioning is defined as the way of managing business activities and tasks in such a way
that all objectives and goals of company are achieved in specified time frame (Taylor, and et.al,
2020). Brand positioning is characterised in the mind of the target customer as the conceptual
location you want to own the advantages you want them to think of as they think of your brand.
In optimising brand appeal, an efficient brand positioning approach can optimise client
significance and strategic distinctiveness. Relevance, distinction and credibility/attainability are
core goals of brand positioning, as defined here:

Priority #1 is Strategic Positoning Importance. Customers ought to find the brand enticing. If not,
regardless of how differentiated or trustworthy it is the brand won't make it into the consideration
package.
Differentiation is crucial and the primary predictor of performance in positioning. The brand
must be exclusive in contrast to competitive deals. The final calculation is creditable and
attainable. If you do not credibly deliver the bid, an empty guarantee is left to the client.
It is increasingly important to achieve all three positioning targets at the same time while
designing a brand positioning strategy. This is because the possibility of being commoditized is
run by products that are extremely important, but not distinguished. Similarly, widely distinct,
though not especially important, brands are becoming specialty suppliers.
 The decline of Marks & Spencer since the 1990s is attributed largely to external forces in
the business climate and the failure of M&S to respond to them (K. Mellahi, 2002):
· Established UK distributors such as Next have been turned into good price and quality
 M&S rivals, new outlets such as Zara and H&M have captured a growing number of
 Market share, supermarket players such as Matalan and Primark grew, and older
department stores re-invented themselves, like Debenhams, as brand-led boutique lines.
· The increased processing capacity in Asia resulted in a flood into western supermarkets
of increasingly high-quality but substantially cheaper products. M&S was originally
hesitant to change its 'purchase British' strategy, but it became a public relations (PR)
failure when it was forced to do so to compete in the industry.
 M&S' comparative edge on the supply chain front was obviated by technical transition.
There are many types of techniques for placement. Positioning by A few examples are:
 Attributes and advantages of the product: associating the brand/product with some
qualities or with any advantageous meaning
 Product price: Associating favourable prices with the brand/product
 Value of the product: Associating good quality with the brand/product
 Usage and use of products: Associating the brand/product with a particular use
 Competitors: Make buyers believe your product/brand is better than your competitors'
Brand management is essential to the organization's growth, and wise businesses recognise
that successful brands are not created by ads alone, but need a position for every employee.

Although each approach for brand management is different in terms of capital and
implementation, the aim is the same: to create a distinct and successful brand. Consistent
advertising through every marketing medium can mean that their understanding of your
brand is right in line with how you expect it to be viewed as consumers think about it.
Customers now expect businesses to deal with their demands via social media. A good
customer service investment will create positive partnerships between your business and your
clients. Even with social media, the customer service problem remains as challenging as it
was before. Social networking facilitates direct contact and input from customers. Businesses
should also respond right away to their customers. With almost half of US customers using
social media to ask questions about products or services, it is extremely important to have a
customer service strategy for social media.
Step 1: You need to evaluate the following in order to establish a special and effective
placement for your brand:
 Comprehend what the clients want
 Understand what the strengths of your company and brand are
 Understand how each rival places the brand
Step 2: You may need to pick a positioning comment after you've done that:
Resonate with the clients
Your organisation will provide (capabilities)
That's different from your rivals.
Summarizing it in three terms is a simple way to describe a brand branding statement.
"Vegan, traditional & feminine, for instance." Since this is the target of any brand, try not to
use generic terms like "quality-products, unique, successful".
Move 3: This brand positioning is then mirrored in everything you do (brand personality,
packaging design, product, service, graphic identity design, communications, etc.) as the
remaining challenge.
Product: The wine produced by Marks and Spencer is smooth and sweet in taste and as
accessible as beer and ready-to-drink cocktails. It resulted in an easy-drinking wine to grow
an affection for it that did not need years of experience.
Name: A fun and adventurous name which reflects the tail of an animal.

The visual identity: Without abstract oenological terminology, creating a friendly, colourful
and unintimidating packaging style.
The marketing strategy: Concentrating their communication with the brand ambassador on
in-store events that tended to perceive the product as open and funny/down-to-earth
advertising.
The amount: Promising a price of less than $10 to be viewed as "approachable" and used on
any festive occasion.
Point of difference is a phrase used to describe the areas in which brands distinguish
themselves from others. In terms of consumer preference, many strategists believe that this is the
way to achieve the best results. We also have points of parity, is from the other hand. In order to
be called in the mind of the consumer, points of parity are factors that a company needed. .This
is where a brand may be similar to others, leading customers to think that the brand is "good
enough". M&S is into each and every sector like retail, garment, grocery, etc. This is a point of
parity for this brand. Moreover, this brand focuses upon garment collection of women which
makes it unique and this is a point of difference.
IV. Development of managerial recommendations about how to bring the new brand
positioning to life. For instance, what communication leverages should be used to
implement the new brand positioning with the target market?
Marks and spencer is a big organisation and this is basically focusing upon females. There are
several campaigns followed by this company in order to attract females of different ages. It helps
in managing the promotion of new products and services to potential females in specified time
frame. There is need to use social media for attracting various people towards Marks and
Spencer products. Christmas advertisements are made very attractive for attracting people and
making them to convince potential people to come and buy new products. It continues its ways
to encourage with consumers, presently running a promotion for its famous Percy Pig range of
sweets to name classic features. In the 13 weeks to 28 December, M&S had a mixed Christmas,
with like-for-like sales in its food company up 1.6%, but general goods, including clothes,
dropped 2.1%. Nonetheless, M&S said it is making some headway, with Kantar figures showing
"small market share growth" in womenswear for the first time in three years for the 12 weeks to
24 November and a positive reception for its Spring/Summer line from the fashion press. In "key
strategy areas," the store said it saw revenue increases, with dress sales up 110 percent and coats

growing by a third. The spokesman said that in places such as lingerie, consumers have "traded"
on quality and design, sponsored by the Rosie for Autograph range, which featured in its
Christmas ads. Several campaigns are started by M&S for making different individuals to visit
the shop and buy new products. There is need to manage the effectiveness of products so that
goals and targets can be achieved in less time. There is need to manage the advertisement on
social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, etc. for attracting more number of people in less
time. Social networking itself is a catch-all word for applications and platforms that can have
social acts that are fundamentally different. Twitter, for example, is a social network designed to
encourage users to communicate with others brief messages and media connections. Meanwhile,
Facebook is a full-blown social networking platform that allows alerts, images, meetings,
communities and a number of other activities to be shared. These websites help in posting
videos, photos and experience of customers easily. Most of the people are using social media
nowdays and it is convenient to attract new customers by using social media.
There are following ways by which M&S can attract new youngsters towards clothing products -
 Identify Your Ideal Client. It's easier to look for customers if you know the type of
consumers you seek.
 Discover Where Your Customer Lives
 Know Your Business Inside and Out
 Position Yourself as the Answer
 Try Direct Response Marketing
 Build Partnerships.
 Follow Up.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beiginia, A.R., and et.al, 2019. THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF BRANDS,
REPUTATION, AND CORPORATE IDENTITY.
Blanchard, K., 2017. Creating the ideal marketing team. Marketing in the Boardroom: Winning
the Hearts and Minds of the Board, p.34.
Dohnalová, K., The Candy Store position on the Czech market.
Hale-White, W., Fundamental Principles of Bay Therapy. By William.
Lemonnier, N. and Spencer, T., Chapitre 6 Altération des avis en ligne: quels moyens pour
protéger le consommateur?.
Olubodun, I.E., 2019. Influence of Political Environment on Firms’ Corporate Performance:
Evidence from Selected Manufacturing Firms in Oyo State, Nigeria. International Journal
of Management and Marketing Research, 12(1), pp.37-50.
PARIZOT, A., Marques de confiance et confiance en la marque.
Taylor, S.J., Carnes, D., Homer, K., Pincus, T., Kahan, B.C., Hounsome, N., Eldridge, S.,
Spencer, A., Diaz-Ordaz, K., Rahman, A. and Mars, T.S., 2016. Qualitative study.
In Improving the self-management of chronic pain: COping with persistent Pain,
Effectiveness Research in Self-management (COPERS). NIHR Journals Library.
Vandenbroele, J., Van Kerckhove, A. and Zlatevska, N., 2019. Portion size effects vary: The size
of food units is a bigger problem than the number. Appetite, 140, pp.27-40.
Xu, T., Ifrach, B., De Mars, S. and Charkov, M., Airbnb Inc, 2020. Unique accommodation
search improvement founded in listing booking conversion. U.S. Patent 10,607,160.
Zhao, K., Hua, J., Yan, L., Zhang, Q., Xu, H. and Yang, C., 2019, July. A Unified Framework
for Marketing Budget Allocation. In Proceedings of the 25th ACM SIGKDD International
Conference on Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining (pp. 1820-1830).