Strategies for Brand Management

This document discusses various strategies for brand management, including portfolio management, brand equity management, and brand hierarchy. It explores the advantages of branding as a marketing tool and how it emerges as a business practice. The document also evaluates the key components for an appropriate brand strategy and discusses different techniques to manage and measure brand value. The subject of the document is brand management, and it is relevant for students studying marketing or business management.

BRAND
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Mention the advantages of branding as a tool of marketing and how and why it emerges as
a business practice.......................................................................................................................1
P2 Evaluate the key components for an appropriate brand strategy to build and manage brand
equity in an organisation.............................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Discuss different strategies linked with portfolio management, brand equity management
and brand hierarchy.....................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Analyse the ways in which brands are managed in partnership and collaboration at national
and international level.................................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Mention about different kind of techniques to manage and measure brand value including
organisational examples............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Brand management is referred as a marketing function in which different tools and
techniques are used to enhance the value of a brand or product. Increased value of a brand
benefits a business firm in attaining high sales due to which maximised profits can be earned.
Brand-management benefits a company in building their loyal customers due to positive brand
associations (Balmer, 2012). To prepare this assignment report, M&S is selected as firm which
is planning to strengthen its brand for increased market shares. M&S is a renowned MNC which
offers wide product line in clothing, home decors and food products. This company is operating
in global manner and its main office is registered in Westminster, London. This assignment will
cover about branding as a marketing tool and elements of an appropriate brand strategy to
manage and build brand equity. Also, distinct strategies of brand hierarchy, brand equity and
portfolio management are discussed. Management of brands at both global and domestic level is
carried out. At last, various techniques to manage and measure brand value is mentioned.
TASK 1
P1 Mention the advantages of branding as a tool of marketing and how and why it emerges as a
business practice
Branding is stated as a marketing practice where a business firm develops their design,
name or logo so that customers can easily distinct their services and products from offerings of
rival organisations. In context with M&S, company can use this tool to sustain a strong image
then their rival companies. For example, Without performing branding and associated activities,
concerned company can not carry out merchandise advertisement, promotion of logo, customer
service, reputation etc. Due to this, services or products of company will not gain wide attention
from customers and markets. To perform branding, a company needs below mentioned aspects:
 An attractive brand name and logo
 Effective slogan and message that can distinct the brands of M&S with other brands.
 Right brand positioning to popularise brand in marketplace.
Branding has numerous benefits due to which it will be easy for an organisation to
acquire their goals and targets in a proper manner. Branding helps in generating positive impact
about a brand in the mind of customers and this is the reason branding has emerged as a
marketing tool. In context with M&S, benefits of branding are stated below:
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 Enhanced recognition of company: Identifying and remembering the generic name of
services or products is very difficult for people due to wide range of products available
in market. One of the important element of branding is a Logo which benefits in creating
a unique identify of a brand or entire organization. Logo of M&S is its name itself due to
which people are able to differentiate the products of company in an easier manner.
Without this recognition of M&S, demand of company products will not be increased
and company will never be able to generate a space in the minds of customers.
 Builds trust within marketplace: Due to presence of multiple choices for a single
product, customers feel confused while shopping. According to the people, quality of a
product depends upon the firm which is producing it. This is the reason customers buys
services and products of those company which are renowned and popular. Non-Branding
will restrict M&S in becoming a popular and trustworthy brand due to which maximum
people will not buy their products without any second thoughts (Brexendorf, Bayus and
Keller, 2015).
 Improves sales and revenue: Branding has an important role in increasing the sales,
profits and revenues of an organization. Due to branding, visibility of brand will increase
and potential customers of company will also purchase their products. This will helps the
concerned company in earning expected sales due to which revenue earning will
improve and overall profits of company will rise considerably. Without Branding, M&S
will have limited sales due to which earning high revenues is not possible.
 Transforming potential customers into permanent customers: Branding benefits in
popularizing the products and services of a firm in front of existing and potential
customers. Due to this, their trust on a specific service or product increases and they
purchase it without any second thinking. This will benefits M&S in increasing their
customer base by conversion of potential customers into loyal customers (Burmann,
Halaszovich, Schade and Hemmann, 2017). If branding of company is inappropriate
then, it is not possible for M&S to target right people. This will act as a barrier in
converting potential customers into loyal ones. Hence, branding is very important.
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These aspects shows the reason why branding is considered as an important marketing
tool in context with a business organization. Branding tool can emerged as a business practice for
Marks & Spencer in following manner:
 Foremost, manager of M&S is needed to appropriately identify the group of people they
want to target. This will help them in acknowledging which people can maximum buy
their products. Other than this, manager in M&S is required to identify their brand
mission so that their objective and vision can be identified properly.
 M&S is needed to acknowledge information about their competitors so that they can
perform measures to differentiate themselves and their offerings from other firms
(Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre, 2015).
 After this analysis, concerned company can develop their value propositions so that
unique and innovative features in their product or service can be highlighted properly.
Here, Manager of company can adopt different strategies to popularize their brand.
 At last, M&S is needed to advertise and market their brands. Marketing plays a vital role
in branding. With the help of marketing, requirements and demands of customers can be
identified and according to which a brand promotion strategy is generated. This strategy
helps in branding the products of company in front of customers and marketplace.
P2 Evaluate the key components for an appropriate brand strategy to build and manage brand
equity in an organisation
Brand Strategy: It is concerned with the development of plans so that respective
organisation can achieve long term goals in an effective manner. It is the responsibility of the
manager at Marks and Spencer to develop effective brand strategy to promote their brands to
gain competitive advantage over rival companies and to enhance its profitability level.
Brand Equity: It is the commercial value for the product or brand which is derived from
the customer perception of the brand towards a particular product or a service. Brand gain
positive results when it meets the requirement and satisfaction level of customers, but if the
brand provide products which are not of high quality it will reduce market share and creates a
negative image in the market. This way brand's value is being ascertained from customers point
of view. Strong brand equity has following benefits for Marks and Spencer such as:
 Company can charge higher for their products as customers are highly satisfied with the
product and are willing to purchase to meet their requirements. This will assist the
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customers to increase their profitability level and leads to enhancement in the market
share. If brand equity of M&S is weak then company will have to be price sensitive
which can impact their revenues in considerable manner.
 It allows the respective company a scope of line extension by adding products to their
portfolio, this will lead to increase in product lines and higher revenues for the company.
Negative brand equity makes the company loose its potential customers as well as
possess a negative image in the minds of customer.
Therefore respective organisation should maintain effective brand equity to sustain in the
market for longer time period and attracts the attention of larger customer. Hence M&S should
make positive brand equity and attracts the attention of larger number of customer and gain
advantage over rival companies (Iglesias, Singh and Batista-Foguet, 2011).
Key elements to develop successful brand strategy
Some of the key elements for the process of developing the successful brand strategy are
explained below and even that need to be understood by the manager of M&S.
 Customer Advocacy: There are number of people who are satisfied about the product
only if they listen the positive review from colleagues and friends. In context of M&S, if
they will not be able to build reputation in the market, people will not appraise the
company and their product through which earning more profit will be impossible.
 Transparent Narratives: At present, technologies are changing day by day because
everything is being replaced by artificial intelligence. But, it is necessary for M&S to
communicate with their customers at personal level because that can help organisation to
take additional advantage from the market through which brand equity will also enhance
(John and Torelli, 2017).
 Developing a clear identity: If M&S wants to grab the attention of any of the customer
without facing any kind of issues and trouble it is necessary for them to build and develop
clear identity. If this thing will not be done it will be hard for M&S to build a strong
brand equity in the market.
Aaker brand equity model
This model is given by David Aaker in which model of brand equity is explained as the
combination of brand association, brand awareness and brand loyalty. This model involves four
aspects which are stated below in context with M&S:
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 Brand as a product: It mainly focus on the quality or value of the product and where it
has been manufactured. Also, it tells that how product should be used. If product quality
will be low, customers will not buy them even in less price. This can leads to business
failure for M&S. Brand as organization: It tries to identify about all the attributes which is connected
with M&S. Even it does focus on all those activities which are performed at local level
and international level. Brand as a person: It focuses that how M&S can maintain peaceful relationship of
customer by including brand and brand personality within the marketplace. If brand will
not have appropriate relation with their customers, people may not prefer to purchase
their products. This will reduce effectiveness of organization in terms of profits.
 Brand as a symbol: For the purpose of enhancing brand heritage M&S will also include
audio and visual and even metamorphic symbols. Without these symbols, people will
face difficulty in remembering products of M&S due to which sales of firm will
compromise.
Keller brand equity model
This model is also known as Customer based brand equity model. This model states that
in order to create a strong brand, it is essential for a firm to identify the feeling of customers
about their products and services. To gain wide advantages, a company require to formulate
right type of experience about brand so that people can have positive feeling about it. Aspects of
this model are defined below:
 Brand identity: It is linked with the identity of a brand which differentiate it from other
brands. With the help of brand identity, customers will be able to differentiate the
products of different brands from one another. Positive identity of brand will allow M&S
to earn high revenues. At this stage, M&S will target that section of people which will
willingly buy their products. If brand identity of company is weak, people will not prefer
top purchase their products on priority basis.
 Brand meaning: This involves communication and interaction with consumers about the
products and services which are offered by a firm. This stage has two elements which are
performance and imaginary. Good performance will allow M&S to satisfy the needs of
customers and imaginary includes satisfying requirements of customers at both
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psychological and social level (King, 2017). If customers will not be satisfied at social
and psychological level, they will feel reluctant in buying the products of company.
 Brand response: At this stage, main emphasis of a company is to acknowledge the
opinions, feeling and judgment of consumers for a specific service or product. Products
and services of M&S will be judged by people on the basis of their quality, price,
superiority and credibility. If response of customers is not good, this means products of
company are not able to satisfy the urge of customers. This will impacts the sales of
company in negative way.
 Brand resonance: This is the last and complex stage of Keller equity model which is
achieved when consumers sustains a positive and strong psychological relation with the
companies and products which are offered by them. Inappropriate Psychological relation
with customers will restrict M&S in earning high sales due to which earning profits will
be difficult.
TASK 2
P3 Discuss different strategies linked with portfolio management, brand equity management and
brand hierarchy
Portfolio management
Brand portfolio refers to the process of considering different aspects of brand in branding
strategic decisions such as whether to launch new products, harvest products etc. Brand portfolio
is used when multiple brands are operated under one company. This is used for encompassing all
the entities or brand under one particular company or brand. However, if M&S will not has their
own trademarks and operate their business as individual business entity, this will reduce the
potential of company to gain attention of maximum customers. Through the brand portfolio,
businesses can compete with each other in an effective manner in different markets.
This is generally used because the brand has their own definite edge beyond which they
could not accomplish all the necessity of different market portions or segments (Muchina and
Okello, 2016). Without brand portfolio, management of a firms can not check their different
brands for developing the strategies accordingly. This portfolio is also useful in allotting the
various resources to the brands based on their needs and requirements. Brand portfolio strategy is
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essential component for the brand equity of organisations which is also influenced by brand
identity. There are two strategies of portfolio management which are stated below:
 Active portfolio management: This strategy is based on those factors which states that a
particular style of management benefits a company in generating outcomes by which
gaining competitive advantage is easier. For instance, M&S believes in doing high cost
investment and prefers to spend their money on those products which will be appreciated
by customers. This involves both top down and bottom up approaches.
 Passive portfolio management: This states that attracting market for a long time is a
best way to gain advantage over competitors. A company is needed to invest less cost at a
time so that entire investment of company can be proceed for a longer time period. These
companies survives in market but do not attain strong presence. For example, Rowlinson
Knitwear which do not believe in investing high at a single time.
Source: (What is brand portfolio strategy, 2018)
Brand hierarchy
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Illustration 1: What is brand portfolio strategy

Brand hierarchy refers to the mixture of brand strategy by representing the number and nature of
brand elements of the organisation. Different strategies which are linked with brand hierarchy
are stated below: Corporate branding: It is process of marketing and promoting the products with the same
name as of company. The main motive of using this strategy is to enhance the profit and
sales of the firm by using the brand image developed in the past time. Through this, they
can provide the products to more customers as people are aware of brand. For example:
M&S offers various products to customers within a single branch like men wear, women
wear, kinds wear, casual wear etc. Brand name of M&S is very high due to which all the
products of company are sold without any problem (Punjaisri and Wilson, 2017). Family brand: It is stated as a way to use the name, image and other aspects of a brand
on products of a company rather than using distinctive identity for a product. This aspect
helps in marketing and advertising of different product under a single identity. For
example, In case of M&S, company provide jeans, shirts, t-shirts, trousers, women wears
under the brand name of M&S. Brand of house: This strategy states that a single brand should be used across the
different products and services provided by the firm. It enhances the profit and sales of
company. For example: M&S is providing different types of products from different
stores under same brand which is M&S. Due to this, the brand image of M&S will
improve along with the sales.
 House of brands: This strategy states that the branding should be focused on subset of
the brands. The main brand get less attention in this strategy as well as this strategy needs
financial resources as the different brands act as independent company in terms of brand
elements and messaging. For example: M&S is also operating M&S Kitchen or Hot Food
To Go under the compass group by using the franchise agreement.
Strategies to manage brand equity Continuous differentiation: This strategy states that the M&S or its brands needs to
develop new products on a regular basis having unique features so that they can sustain in
the competitive business market.
 Maintaining the brand image: This strategy states that the organisations needs to
manage their brand equity in order to manage their brand image in the market. For this,
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the companies need to maintain the promises which are made to the customers and
provide the products accordingly (Schott and et. al., 2017). For example, Premium
customers look for brand name rather than the prices due to which organisations was able
to sell their products at high prices.
TASK 3
P4 Analyse the ways in which brands are managed in partnership and collaboration at national
and international level
In present time, it is being identified that branding has been one of the crucial and
effective process, which helps organisations in differentiating themselves from other firms that
are dealing in same industry. Basically, there are partnership agreements and collaborative
approaches that can be considered as actions that specifically takes the actions and decisions
taken by the organisation to share resources to accomplish a mutual goal. Including this,
collaborative partnerships are the agreements that companies makes in order to attain specific
goals and objectives in a rightful manner whee they may share different elements like resources,
capital and so on.
If it is talked about Marks and Spencer, then this firm has collaborated with Fisheries
Innovation Scotland (FIS) so that they could effectively manage their image and to help
improvising sustainability of Scottish fisheries. Fisheries Innovation Scotland (FIS), which
started going through different range of issues where income of fishermen started going down.
Here, Marks and Spencer supported to Fisheries Innovation Scotland, in order to improve their
sales by supporting them with capital and other resources as well. This has built strong
relationship among both the organisations, where M&S started selling fish products of Fisheries
Innovation Scotland. With the help of this, way both the companies can earn high level of profit
and revenues. This has helped firms in brand leveraging, in much effective and efficient manner
among customers (Hosaini, Rooshani and Fathi, 2012).
Along with this, if it is talked about strategic partnership then Marks & Spencer has made
partnership with Microsoft, aimed at transforming the retail experience using the power of
Artificial Intelligence. Brands are overseen cooperatively and in association both at international
and national level as when they comes as a whole unit with different organizations it prompts
sharing of assets and information so as to draw in more clients and high benefits as when it
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worked together with Microsoft it prompts higher incomes for the organization and capacities
viably and when the brand comes in association at the worldwide level it prompts extension of its
activities in a superior and capacities its tasks all the more effectively as well.
Concept of Brand Collaboration: This term can effectively be defined as strategic
alliance that helps two different brands to integrate with each other for developing a unique and
specific product. This would help firms like Microsoft to gain competitive advantages. This
could be understood with an example of Nike and Apple, where they specifically shared some of
the common goals within similar set of target audience, and the objective to offer something
innovative and novel to the customers.
Brand leveraging : This is said to be one of the crucial strategy, which is one of the
effective element where, power of an existing brand name is utilised to support a company's
entry. Marks and Spencer has also supported many start-ups like Founders Factory to support
them in order to gain both competitive advantages in a short span. If it is critically analysed, then
brand leveraging would lead Microsoft to go through both positive and negative aspects.
Brand Extension : Brand extension is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a
product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category.
Marks and Spencer has done partnership with Microsoft to support the retail stores with the help
of Artificial intelligence and so on. If it is critically analysed, then brand extension would lead
Microsoft to develop number of benefits for Marks and Spencer as well as for Microsoft where,
they may directly gain competitive advantages in specified time frame.
Brand Vulnerability- Basically, a brand like Marks and Spencer can effectively be
superior towards today's market through offering customers with quality products with
reasonable prices.
TASK 4
P5 Mention about different kind of techniques to manage and measure brand value including
organisational examples
In today's time, competitive rivalry among different businesses have increased. Due to
this, it is very important for a company to measure and manage their brand value on regular
basis. Measuring and management of brand value will benefits M&S in modifying those aspects
that are reducing the effectiveness of company. In order to launch a successful brand, manager in
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M&S is required to adopt those activities which will help in increasing brand image and brand
equity. For example, regular promotion of brand, seasonal discounts, offers etc. Other than this,
M&S can formulate a successful brand by measuring and managing their brand value on
continuous basis. If brand value will be less then this means people are not satisfied with the
products and manager will be able to carry out required changes in a proper manner. Various
techniques to manage and measure the value of a brand are stated below:
Different techniques to measure brand value
These exist different techniques which benefits in measuring the brand value of a
company. These techniques are very reliable and they will benefits M&S in getting accurate
results. Some of these techniques are stated below:
 Cost-based method: It is defined as a method where management of a firm total their all
costs which takes place while establishing of brand. This includes different costs
associated with marketing, advertisement, development etc. This method is based upon
pricing method and according to which a company charge for their products. Manager in
M&S use this method so that their brand value can be measured in appropriate manner.
 Income approach method: It is also an effective method to measure the brand value of a
company. This method is also known as in-use approach where value of net earning is
acknowledged which assists in identification of brand value. M&S can also use this
measuring method to acknowledge their worth at market place. It involves current value
of cost savings, cash flow and income statement. To analyse this method properly, it is
important for manager in M&S to use right values of income so that brand value can be
identified properly.
Techniques to manage brand value
Different techniques of managing brand benefits a company in modifying those aspects
which can reduce the value of a brand. These techniques in context with M&S are given beneath:
 Brand awareness: This is a method in which customers are acknowledged about the
brand of a company including its product range and services. In this context, manager of
a company carry out advertisements and campaigns so that awareness about their
products can be increased. If people of a region will not be familiar with the products of
M&S, this is the best way by which brand value of company can be managed in their
respect (Bhushan, 2012).
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 Innovation: It is another way by which a business firm can manage their brand value of
services and products in market. In context with M&S, innovating new product can leads
to increased prices due to which overall cost of M&S products will be increased. Due to
this, people can feel reluctant in purchasing the products of company. Hence, to manage
brand value of M&S, manager is needed to provide innovative products in genuine price.
By using techniques like income based method and cost based method, brand value of a
company can be measured in a proper manner. Cost based method is a simple method in which
manager of M&S will assure that all the overhead and production costs will be identified before
calculating their profits (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob, 2011). Income based method
involves current value of cost savings, cash flow and income statement. To manage their brand,
innovation and brand awareness can be used. These aspects will help M&S in measuring
performance of brand in proper manner. Without these techniques, it is not possible for company
to get attention of customers in proper way.
CONCLUSION
As per this given report, it can be summarised that brand management benefits a business
firm in increasing their revenues and profits due to increased value of services and products.
Branding is considered as an efficient marketing tool due to which a company is able to achieve
maximised sales and large number of loyal customers. Strong brand equity benefits a company in
earning desired outcomes. There are different strategies of brand equity, brand hierarchy and
portfolio management which helps in popularising brand. To manage brand at both international
and domestic level, a company is needed to adopt different strategies for brand and product
extension. To measure and manage their brand value, a company can use techniques like brand
awareness, brand recall, surveys, CBBE approach, income method etc.
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REFERENCES
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Brexendorf, T. O., Bayus, B. and Keller, K. L., 2015. Understanding the interplay between brand
and innovation management: findings and future research directions. Journal of the
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Heding, T., Knudtzen, C. F. and Bjerre, M., 2015. Brand management: Research, theory and
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Hosaini, S. A., Rooshani, F. and Fathi, F., 2012. The Effects of Consumer Confusion on
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Punjaisri, K. and Wilson, A., 2017. The role of internal branding in the delivery of employee
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Schott, P. and et. al., 2017. Making IoT Run: Opportunities and Challenges for Manufacturing
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Online
Brand management-equity model. 2019. [Online]. Available
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y_models.htm>
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