Brand Management Report: Building and Managing Brand Equity

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

BRAND MANAGEMENT

Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................2
Task 1-Building and managing brand over time (LO1).................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................................2
Body...........................................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................7
Task 2 – Brand portfolio and hierarchy management (LO2).........................................................................7
Brand portfolio strategy.............................................................................................................................7
Illustration of the hierarchy management of brands within Unilever's portfolio.......................................9
Management of brand equity of Unilever................................................................................................10
Task 3 – Brand extension and leverage (LO3)............................................................................................12
Strengths of the Lifebuoy brand that can be leveraged............................................................................12
Weaknesses of the Lifebuoy brand and suggestion.................................................................................13
Collaborative and partnership agreement................................................................................................14
Task 4 – Measuring and managing brand value (LO4)...............................................................................15
Brand value..............................................................................................................................................15
Brand awareness......................................................................................................................................15
Market share.............................................................................................................................................15
Consumer attitude....................................................................................................................................16
Purchasing intent......................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................17
References....................................................................................................................................................17
1

Introduction
Branding is the process of creating brand value and brand position in the market. Brand
management is necessary for all the businesses who aim at generating higher profit and sales.
Efficient management of the brand also helps in growing in the market (Bartsch et al., 2016). in
this assignment report, the discussion will be done on the concept of branding with its strategies
and brand equity using the different models and the strategies of a brand leveraging will be
defined in that report. Further, this report will include the measurement and management
techniques of brand awareness, brand value, market share, and consumer attitude as well as
purchasing intent. Hence this report will make clear understanding of brand management in the
context of different organizations
2

Task 1-Building and managing brand over time (LO1)
Introduction
A brand generally includes a name, symbol, logo, design, color and other features that
differentiate products from its competitors and creates a unique identity. Brands are used by
companies in their marketing and advertising of the business. A brand is a very useful element of
every organization to grow in the market and achieve competitive advantages (Burmann et al.,
2017).
Brand equity is considered as a marketing term that includes the value of the brand and that
value is determined by the perception of the customers and their experience with the brand
purchasing. When brand equity is positive it provides value and the company can charge more
when it has a high value of the brand (Keller, 2016).
Stages of building a successful brand
Brand building is the process of creating brand value among the customers so that they can
remember the brand at the time of their purchasing of the products. Successful building of brand
requires to go through various stages which are described as follows
Determine the target audience
First of all, identify the target audience to whom the brand is to be communicated and identify
their need as well to satisfy it with your brand and also decide how to communicate the brand
information. Divide the market into different segments (Govers and Go, 2016)
Define the brand mission
Define the mission and vision statement for the existence of the brand that will define the
purpose of the business (Govers and Go, 2016).
Research competition
3

Make an analysis of the offerings of the competitors that will help in differentiating the brand
from the competitors and will help in determining suitable communication strategy (Govers and
Go, 2016)
Create a value proposition
Always focus should be given on the uniqueness of the brand that will create a value proposition
and that will set the business different from the competitors (Govers and Go, 2016)
Determine brand guidelines
This includes some specific rules that will determine how the interaction should take place
between the business and audience and it also helps in making consistency in the business
(Govers and Go, 2016)
Market the brand
In the last stage an effective marketing strategy is used for marketing and promoting the brand
this includes marketing through websites, distribution of information through different
advertising media, etc (Govers and Go, 2016)
Role of the marketing department in creating brand equity
Marketing department plays an important role in the management of the brand in the market and
uses different promotional and advertising techniques to promote the brand and creating brand
value (Heding, et al., 2015).
 This department creates awareness among the audience about the brand of the business
and its products or services and creates an opportunity for the business by involving a
large number of audience
 It monitors the activities of the competitors and makes an analysis of the needs of the
customers to create a unique brand image.
 Marketing department promotes the products and services to build the brand value among
the customers
 It is responsible for creating customer loyalty and retention by successfully
communicating the brand
4

 It defines and manages the brand in the market to achieve competitive advantages
Body
Successful strategies for brand management
Different strategies are used by different organizations to create brand equity, brand extension,
revitalizing and reinforcing the brands. Some of the brand strategies can be understood through
the following models (Zhang et al., 2015)
Aaker’s Brand Equity model
This model was determined by David Aaker and he viewed the brand equity as the model that
includes a combination of brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand association, perceived
quality and other proprietary assets which help in offering the value of the products and services
provided by the business (Zhang et al., 2015.).
Figure 1 Aaker's brand equity model
SOURCE :(Zhang et al., 2015)
Brand loyalty
5

It includes the extent to which customers are loyal with the brand and that helps in reducing
marketing costs and threats of competitors can be reduced through customers loyalty towards the
brand
Brand awareness
It helps a brand to get into consideration set and the customer can remind the brand at the time of
purchasing. Brand knowledge is necessary to build brand equity
Perceived quality
It includes the extent to which brand is perceived as good quality. Quality and level of
differentiation increases the perception of the quality
Brand association
It includes the extent to which the brand name can be retrieved from the consumer's brain and
also the extension of the association which play a role in purchasing decisions, brand
differentiation and positive attitude
Other proprietary assets
Trademarks, patents, and relationship with the channels also help in creating brand equity
Example
Tesco organization can use this model to improve the perception regarding the performance of its
products and increases customer loyalty. Introduction of new products by the Tesco organization
will help in getting leverage by applying this model and the product can be differentiated by
using this model
Keller’s Brand equity Model – CBBE Model by Keller
This model is based upon the development of brand strategy according to the needs of the
customers. There is a relation between brand equity and customers. This model is divided into 4
parts which are described as follows (Keller, 2016)
6

Figure 2 Keller's brand equity model
SOURCE: (Keller, 2016)
Brand identity
This relates to how a customer defines a brand and differentiates the brand from others. Brand
identity is created when customers are not aware of the brand (Wheeler, 2017)
Sainsbury's uses different advertising technique to create the brand identity
Brand meaning
This includes the relevant information about the brand a customer wants to know such as brand
performance, brand features, customer service, and brand imagery. Sainsbury's is creating useful
meaning of its brand by providing quality services (Keller, 2016)
Brand responses
This represents the feelings and attitude of the customers towards the brand. Positive feelings
and judgment enhance the brand image of the Sainsbury's (Keller, 2016)
7

Brand resonance
The behavior, values and attitudes, feelings of the consumers connect them with the brand and
they can easily recognize the brand at the time of purchasing. Sainsbury's brand products are
building a strong relationship with customers (Keller, 2016).
Conclusion
Importance of branding as a marketing tool
● Branding helps in identifying products and services and differentiates the products from
the competitors
● Branding helps in understanding the needs and desires of the customers from the products
and services
● The credibility of the products can be established through branding
● Increases the customer loyalty base through effective branding of the business and its
products
● Branding creates the identity of the products in that way that it encompasses customer
expectation and experience (Anselmsson et al., 2017)
● It creates emotional bonding with the target market to fulfill their needs
● Branding motivates to the buyer to make a purchase of the product
● Inform and promote company’s product among the customers
8

Task 2 – Brand portfolio and hierarchy management (LO2)
Brand portfolio strategy
This includes a family of different brands and their relationship with each other to achieve
clarity, leverage, and energy. Unilever Company has a huge portfolio of brands that fall under
the organization and are under its control. Unilever is leading with 400 brands spanning more
than 13 categories of personal care, home and food products. Some brands of Unilever are Knorr,
Lipton, dove, and om, etc. it is satisfying the needs of all segmented group with its brands. a
brand portfolio consists of the following models that are described as follows (Henfrey et al.,
2018):
House of brands
This model includes all those brands which come under the same company and creates a unique
identity in the market. This type of brand portfolio is used by the Unilever organization which
consists of the number of brands and has a separate business identity in the market (Shah, 2015).
Figure 3 Brand portfolio of Unilever
SOURCE: (Unilever, 2019)
9

Unilever is having a huge brand portfolio that falls under three categories
Household items
That includes a brand like comfort, signal and Rexona comes under this category of products
Food items
That includes a brand like Knorr, Brooke Bond, Lipton are an example of food products
Personal care products
Clear, dove and lifebuoy falls under this category
Branded House
This model includes a single brand name for all the products offered by the organization, for
example, apple and Dell uses this type of brand portfolio and that is different from the Unilever
brand portfolio (Shah, 2015)
Combination Brand portfolio
This model of the brand portfolio represents characteristic of both houses of brands and branded
house, for example, Microsoft is using this model to penetrate into a new market without
affecting its home country (Huertas et al., 2017)
Illustration of the hierarchy management of brands within Unilever's portfolio
Brand hierarchy summarizes elements of the brand that represents their nature and
distinctiveness and arranges them in a sequence or order. In short, it includes arrangement and
grouping of different brands within the portfolio of the Unilever organization (Herrero et al.,
2017)
10

Figure 4 Unilever brands
SOURCE: (Unilever, 2019)
Unilever has grouped its brands into different categories to differentiate the products and it also
uses the strategy that clarifies its offerings to the customers. Unilever is offering a range of
products with different brands like beauty care products, home care products, cleaning agents,
food and beverages and personal care products(Herrero et al., 2017). The portfolio of Unilever
consists of 400 brands that are providing its products among the large segment of the market.
Each brand falls under a different category that differentiates the brand from each other. Unilever
organization has its own separate brand portfolio which is achieving a great market position
among the different segment groups
Personal care brand products targeting those people who want to buy personal care products that
satisfy their personal care needs. Food and beverages brand satisfies their hunger needs and
home products satisfy their household needs.
11