Brand Management Strategies for M&S: A Comprehensive Analysis

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

BRAND MANAGEMENT
1

2

INTRODUCTION
The brand can be well-defined as the use of symbol, name, logo, sign or design used to
differentiate the product of one company from the other company. Brand management can be
said as the technique used by the management to increase the perceived value of the brand in
the minds of the customers. The concept of brand management involves different aspects such
as customer satisfaction, charge, rivalry as well as in-store demonstration. With the help of
brand management, the company can achieve higher sales and revenue not only for the one
product but with all the products associated with that brand (Heding et al., 2015). The company
is also capable to increase its loyal customer base by developing a positive brand association.
Marks and Spencer which is also known as M&S provides superior quality of different products
such as fashion, stylish, and food. It is one of the dominating retailer of the UK having stores in
more than 57 countries (Marks and Spencer, 2019).
TASK 1: BUILDING AND MANAGING BRAND OVERTIME
LO1: DEMONSTRATE AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW A BRAND IS BUILT AND
MANAGED OVERTIME
P1:
Importance of branding and how it has emerged in business practices
Importance of branding
Branding is an important aspect of the business because it completely affects the operations of
the company. The importance of branding in the M&S is as follows:
 It increases recognition
Branding supports the M&S to get recognition and becomes identified by the customers.
The company takes the help of the professional logo to make them easily memorable as
well as it makes the first impression when customers contact with any element of the
company.
 Branding enhances value
3

Branding also helps in developing future business because a strong brand assistances in
increasing the value when the corporation gets more attention in the industry.
Therefore, branding helps in getting more business opportunities when it is more
established and well-reputed in the fashion industry (Jukić, 2017).
 Branding enhances new customers
The positive brand image of the company means that there is a good impression of the
company in the concentrations of the customers. In other words, the customers want to
acquisition the products because of familiarity and trust. In the fashion industry, positive
word-of-mouth is an effective and best advertising tool that helps in bringing new
customers.
The branding can be emerged in business practices by following these steps:
1. The company should design the new product or can use the existing product and then
they must decide the theme, logo, and the message they want to convey to the target
audience.
2. In the next step, the M&S should give the name to the product or categories of product.
This name will help the company to stand against its competitors. This should be simple
and easy to remember by the people of different countries.
3. The brand name must convey the purpose, product, price, promotion, and place to all
its stakeholders. It is a necessary step during revitalize a brand and its identity.
4. In the last step, the brand can only emerge in business practices when the presentation
of the brand is clear, pleasing and credible. The M&S can adopt integrated branding to
align the core values of the business with the messages and promises of brand.
P2:
The elements of a successful branding strategy for managing and building brand equity of M&S
are as follows:
1. Loyalty of brand
Brand loyalty means the connection of the customers with the M&S as compared to its
competitors. The reason why the customers attach to the company is due to its high-
4

quality products, stylish and trendy clothes. These customers did not want to switch to
the competitors even the offerings of the competitor is better than M&S. This
component plays a substantial role in building and managing brand equity (Pappu and
Quester, 2016).
2. Brand awareness
Generating awareness of the product can be difficult for the M&S but this is a very
essential element for structure and managing brand equity. The tools used by the M&S
to create awareness are search engine optimization, social media marketing, email and
print media. This is because the company thinks that as long as potential customers are
aware of the company, they can recall and recognize the presence of the company's
brand.
3. Brand association
With the aid of the brand association, the business can able to share the specific brand
information they want to share with their target customers. The brand association
ensures to develop a optimistic attitude of the clients towards the brand and further it
also helps in establishing the reasons to purchase from the M&S (Keller and Brexendorf,
2017).
M1:
Managing brands successfully over time using application of appropriate theories, models
and concepts
Keller’s Brand Equity Model
This model is also recognized as Customer-Based Brand Equity Model. This model is divided into
four levels that help in building brand equity with the support of understanding the behavior of
customers and then implement strategies according to their behavior. Four levels of Keller's
brand equity model are as follows:
Level 1: Brand identity
In this level, the M&S needs to communicate what is the brand, in what product the brand
deals with and what are its differentiation strategies. The main aim of communicating with the
5

customers is to make a correct brand identity in the minds of the target customers (Ekinci,
2018).
Level 2: Brand meaning
Brand meaning helps in developing brand characteristics and image. The brand image shows
how the brand of M&S meets the psychological and societal wants of the customers. The two
important parts that define the brand meaning for the customers are as follows;
Brand performance: The characteristics of the brand performance can be analyzed through
features, reliability, price, customer service, style and design of the product.
Brand imagery: Brand imagery is the insight of the consumers towards the brand. M&S focus
on target marketing and positive word-of-mouth to develop a tough brand image of the brand.
Level 3: Brand response
After purchasing the product from the M&S the customers have some expectations from the
brand. If the customer gets satisfied with the products, it will create positive word-of-mouth
and they can also become the brand advocates of the M&S.
Level 4: Brand resonance
A brand advocate is a person who grasps the last level of this pyramid. In this level, the brand
connects socially and psychologically with the customers. For instance, the customers of M&S
can reach the brand resonance stage when the customers love their product and not only
purchase the product because of their high quality but with the attachment with the brand
(Farjam and Hongyi, 2015).
M2:
Appropriate and validated examples within an organization context
The example of developing and building brand equity is M&S. The product of the M&S is very
similar to other competitors in terms of customer demand, price of the products, customer
loyalty, etc. Therefore it becomes very difficult for the company to make a different position in
6

the market. The company follows Keller's brand equity model to develop and build brand
equity. In the first step, the company makes use of all the elements of the brand such as logo,
name, and design of the store to recall and recognize the customers about the brand. In the
second stage, the meaning of the brand is understood with the help of performance and
imagery (Ritch, 2019). The performance includes the reliability and durability of the product.
The customers have the perception that the product is able to meet their expectation and they
are stylish and trendy. In the third stage, the customers make a decision about the brand in
terms of credibility, quality, superiority and consideration. The fourth step is very difficult to
achieve because in this step the M&S develops a relationship with the customers so they that
are ready to do repeat purchase, become a brand advocate and are ready to attend the event
of the company such as fashion shows, exhibitions, etc.
7

TASK 2: BRAND PORTFOLIO AND HIERARCHY MANAGEMENT
LO2: ANALYSE HOW BRANDS ARE ORGANISED IN A PORTFOLIOS; HOW BRAND
HIERARCHIES ARE BUILT AND MANAGED
P3:
Brand portfolio strategies
 House of brands
House of brands means the company uses different brand names for different product
categories. These brands have a different identity than the parent company. But there
are some companies who use the name of the parent company to promote the brand
and they use the company’s logo or address. On the other hand, some companies do
not want to show the relationship with the parent company because it might affect the
perceived quality or price of the brand (Douglas and Craig, 2015).
 Branded house
Branded house is also identified as a mono-brand portfolio. Under this approach, the
firm uses its own strategy to all its products. This strategy helps in generating brand
awareness, brand knowledge, less advertising, and marketing expenses. This risk
associated with this strategy is reputation risk, the reputation of the whole company will
be destroyed if any one of the product under-performed. M&S follows the branded
house and sells its entire brand under the name of the company.
8

Figure 1: Brand portfolio strategies
[Source: Miltenburg, 2017]
 Hybrid
Hybrid is the combination of both these strategies. In order to expand their existing
portfolios, the companies decide to introduce the product under distinct brand but in
their own name.
Brand Hierarchy
 Corporate branding
Corporate branding is the most essential and it is at the highest level in the brand
hierarchy. The name of the corporate branding is always available on the packaging of
the product because of some legal issues.
 Umbrella or family branding
Family or umbrella branding can be used in more than one product but it does not use
the name of corporate branding or company. But there are so many corporate brands
that help the family brand then these both levels are combined into a single for those
products (Wijaya, 2015).
 Individual product branding
9

Single product branding can be said when the brand is used for only one product
category. But it can be used for various products based on the flavor, product size or
model and so on in the same category.
M3:
Aaker’s Brand Equity Model
David Aaker divides this model into a set of assets and obligations that is related to a brand that
either adds or subtracts the value of the product under the brand. It is also known as Five Asset
Model which is divided into five components:
 Brand loyalty
This model also says brand loyalty as brand currency because if the customer loyalty is
high it will reduce the advertising and marketing cost. Even the risk of losing the
customers is low because it is something that cannot be copied by the competitors of
M&S.
 Awareness of brand
This is the first stage of building brand equity. The brand will go to the consideration set
if the customers have some knowledge about the brand and then he can plan to
purchase the product of M&S.
 Perceived quality
Perception means the expectations of the customers from the quality of the product.
The M&S is known for its high quality and also the expectations of the customers are
high from the company. Customers prefer to take reliable product rather than available
product (Tanveer and Lodhi, 2016).
 Brand association
Brand association means the extent to which the product is recognized from the
product category by its customers. The brand association helps in taking buying
decisions, developing a positive attitude with the customers as well as brand extensions.
 Other proprietary assets
This includes trademarks, copyrights, intellectual property rights, channel relationships
as well as trade secrets.
10

11

TASK 3: BRAND EXTENSION AND LEVERAGE
LO3: EVALUATE HOW BRANDS ARE LEVERAGED/EXTENDED OVER TIME
DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY
P4:
Brand leveraging means the approach used by the well-known brand to support the new brand
but it must be related to the product group. Brand leveraging facilitates to transfer important
information about the product to the consumers (Brexendorf and Keller, 2017).
Brand collaboration is said when there is a strategic alliance between more than two brands
with the motive of creating a new and unique product for sustaining the needs of a niche
market and also to gain a competitive advantage in the industry.
A brand partnership occurs when two or more companies combine to advertise or market the
products for the benefits of both companies. This increases brand exposure, as well as they, get
a chance to enter a new market which again adds value to products.
It becomes difficult to manage brands of M&S in the complex and interconnected business
environment. A global brand also brings challenges in terms of competition, supply chain,
distribution issues, regulations as well as manufacturing costs. The brand of M&S must have the
following characteristics to manage collaboratively and partnership both at the global and
domestic level:
1. Adaptive and flexible structure
A brand can be successfully managed if it allows adopting according to local needs. In order to
ensure the adaptable and flexible, the brand can use any of the strategies such as brand
extension, diversification or variation but the core value must not be diluted with these
strategies.
2. Alignment of organization structure
12