Brand Management Report: Brand Equity and Development Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of brand management, using Apple and Microsoft as case studies. It begins by defining a brand and its significance as a marketing tool, exploring concepts such as brand equity and the distinctions between a brand and its product. The report identifies key elements of a strong brand, including vision, uniqueness, target market, consistency, customer relationships, and brand perception. It then examines brand management and development over time, discussing strategies like business strategy consideration, client identification, client research, marketing strategy development, and implementation tracking. Furthermore, the report addresses challenges in brand development, such as treating a brand as an asset and the need for a compelling vision. The analysis encompasses brand portfolio strategy, management hierarchy, brand equity management using the CBBE model, extension approaches, brand reinforcement, collaboration, and brand measurement techniques. Finally, the report explores brand equity audit and tracking techniques, and approaches to valuing brands. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and providing a comprehensive understanding of effective brand management principles and practices.

Brand Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Section 1...........................................................................................................................................1
LO1.............................................................................................................................................1
Define Brand...............................................................................................................................1
Branding as a marketing tool......................................................................................................2
Brand equity................................................................................................................................2
Difference between a brand and the product...............................................................................3
Key elements of Strong brand.....................................................................................................3
Brand management and development over time.........................................................................4
Challenges in brand development...............................................................................................5
Section 2...........................................................................................................................................6
LO2.............................................................................................................................................6
Brand Portfolio strategy..............................................................................................................6
Management hierarchy of two brands.........................................................................................7
Brand Equity management using CBBE model..........................................................................9
LO3...........................................................................................................................................11
Extension approach and strategies............................................................................................11
Brand reinforcement and revitalisation.....................................................................................11
Collaboration and partnership...................................................................................................12
LO4...........................................................................................................................................12
Brand measurement techniques.................................................................................................12
Brand equity audit and tracking techniques..............................................................................13
Approaches of valuing brands...................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Management structure of Apple................................................................................8
Illustration 2: CBBE model...........................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
A brand is the unique identity that is been hold by a product of the company and helps it
to gain a better recognition and customer base. Thus, management of the brand is very necessary
for a business organisation (Klopper, Lubbe and Prins, 2016). For this report, Apple and
Microsoft have been taken for the context. This report will focus on the brand as a marketing
tool, brand equity and its key elements. Besides this, various challenges faced in the brand
development are also taken into the brand consideration. Various strategies and models have
been discussed and the importance of collaboration for a better brand has been discussed. Apart
from this, different sort of brand equity audit techniques have been discussed to support brand
value (Kristal, Baumgarth and Henseler, 2017).
Section 1
LO1
Define Brand
A brand is the unique identity or recognition that has been taken into consideration to
develop a brand, company or its products and services. It is the specific identification like name,
image, design, symbol or its effective combination that helps the company to gain a better share
of the market and help them to meet the requirements of the consumers. It helps the company to
promote, sell and generate better revenue by gaining a brand loyalty of the customers for its
products and services. It benefits the customers in the market to identify the goods produced by a
particular brand as compared to their rivals or the competitors (Schmidt and et.al., 2015).
Many times, the brand name is equivalent to the epitome of high quality, trust and better
services, making the customers to purchase a brand of a particular brand in the market. Besides
this, it helps a lot to the company to attract the large number of customer, giving a competitive
advantage to the organisation in the market. It helps the business organisation to build better trust
or faith level with the consumers and aids the firm to gain a better revenue in the market. It also
leads to the generation of high demand for a product or the service of a peculiar brand that helps
the business firm to generate high amount of revenue and effectively carry out the operations of
the company (Dennis, Melewar and Mauri, 2016).
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Branding as a marketing tool
The effective branding of the products or the services is important for the better
management of various operations of the company. This also helps the company to promote the
new or existing product or services of the organisation to its customers. The effective branding
not only supports the company to attract large number of customers but also assists the firm to
get an idea about the needs and requirements of the customers and develop a product accordingly
to meet them. Apart from this, the better branding strategy helps the business firm to sustain in
the market and meet the competition constraints (Choo and James, 2016).
Apart from this, it aids in gaining a better customer support or loyalty and develop a level
of trust with them. Other than this, it helps the company to develop better business strategies that
support the company to meet the requirements of the customers, organisation and the market to
ensure better sustainability in the market. The branding will create an awareness among the
customers for the product or the services and aids them to know more about the services in a
better way. This will lead to company gaining better productivity and helps it to meet the
requirements of the customer's in a better way that leads to the high profit margin. Other than
this, the effective branding supports the company to increase its brand and market value and
motivate the customers to purchase the suitable and appropriate good to meet its requirements
(Morgan and Pritchard, 2014).
Brand equity
The brand equity is gaining of a better productivity and a positive valuation of various
products or services that helps the company to build a better brand perception in the minds of
customers. The companies or brands with more brand equity are developed as the better and
stronger brand in company. The better brand equity helps the company to make its product more
memorable and superior in quality to meet the needs and requirements of the customers. It has
been developed by adopting a better brand equity or business strategy which leads to its
sustainable development (Kapferer, 2017).
The brand equity is largely based on brand perception of the company's customers and
their mind-sets. Moreover, positive perception will lead to rise in the brand equity of the
company, providing it a better market share and better sustainability. On the other hand, negative
perception will lead to drop down of the brand equity and may cause failure of the brand in the
market. It consists of tangible and intangible values, making the best of various operations in the
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company. The brand equity is the most important factor for the company or a brand to consider
in order to have a better share of operations and meet customer's requirements (Du Preez and
Bendixen, 2015).
Difference between a brand and the product.
Brand Product
 A brand is the unique identity that helps
the company to promote its products
and services.
 It is the finished good that is ready to
sell in the market.
 Brand is distinguished and unique,
hence it can't be copied.
 It can be copied and replicated easily.
 It can't be replaced from the market
very easily (Lane and Andersen, 2015).
 It can be easily replaced by any other
product or good.
 It is intangible in nature.  It can be tangible or intangible in
nature.
 It just get mature or expire.  It gets expired or outdated.
 They offer the brand value.  They perform a specific task of the
customers (Roper, Lim and Iglesias,
2018).
Key elements of Strong brand
A strong brand is the identity or the value that is been generated by the company or
organisation, that helps it to promote its products or services and gain a better sustainability in
the market. The most sustainable product is the one that emerges as the strong brand in the
market. A strong brand has many attributes or key elements such as:
 Clear vision: A strong brand has the clear vision about its operations and the strategies it
takes and need to undertake in order to develop as a stronger brand. It knows its purposes
and helps the company to meet the requirements in a better way. It helps the brand to
identify its full potential (Renton, Daellenbach and Davenport, 2016).
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 Using its uniqueness: A strong brand will be aware of its uniqueness and will take in
consideration various measures to leverage it for developing and sustaining a better
market position.
 Precise market target: A strong brand has a better target in the market and will work
accordingly to meet the requirements of the company in order to gain a better
sustainability. This will help the brand or the company to develop a better market plan or
business strategy to meet its targeted goals (Kelley, Sheehan and Jugenheimer, 2015).
 Consistency: A strong brand will maintain a better consistency of the quality of its
services or products and help the company or the brand firm to meet the customer
satisfaction level in a much better level. This will help the brand to build a better trust
level and gain customer loyalty.
 Better relationships with the customers : The strong brand will always look after the
better maintenance of the good relations with its customers. This will help the company
to develop a better interaction between the brand and the customers, gaining a suitable
idea of their needs or requirements and fulfilling them in a better way (Brunk, 2016).
 Brand perception: A stronger brand will always look after that the customers have a
positive and better perception about its services which will help the company to meet the
requirements of the company in a better way.
Brand management and development over time
The effective management of the brand and its sustainable development helps the
company to meet the requirements of the company in a very better way. The following measures
are been taken by the company for the effective management of the various operations and
measures that are been taken into the consideration by the company to maintain the brand value
(Ertimur and Coskuner-Balli, 2015). Some major steps that are been taken into the consideration
are:
 Consider the business strategy: The brand must look after the effective management of
the various business strategy to keep into the consideration in order to improve the
market position of the brand or the company. This strategy will help the company to
improve its operations (Lee, O’Cass and Sok, 2017).
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 Identify your target Client: The brand must be able to identify its clients in order to
develop a better product or services for its clients, as per their needs or requirements.
This will help the company to narrow down their focus and meet the requirements of the
consumers. Besides this, it will help the company to take better marketing plans to
promote its products or services (Renton and et.al., 2017).
 Research of clients: This will help the company to meet the requirements of the
company to get a proper idea of the needs and requirements of the customer to gain an
insight or idea to develop a better product or service, that will not only meet the
requirements of the clients but also helps the company to improve and increase its brand
value.
 Development of the marketing strategy: The company must look after the effective
management of its marketing strategies in order to have a fair idea of the various
operations that are been taken to promote the product or the services that are been taken
into the consideration by the company or brand (Vigneron and Johnson, 2017).
 Implementation and tracking of the measures: The various marketing and the brand
development measures that are been taken into the consideration by the company should
be tracked well in order to identify the changes or the improvements that are been
required by the brand to develop and sustain in the market.
Challenges in brand development
Various challenges are been faced by the brand in its development process that are
needed to be managed by the company or the brand (Okonkwo-Pézard, 2017). Some major
challenges that are been faced by the brands are as follows:
 Treating the brand as the assets: Many times the famous brands or the companies treat
their brand as the asset and keep it as a measurable account, which is wrong. The brand is
the unique identity which must be maintained and developed by the company with sheer
knowledge and care.
 Possessing a compelling vision: The vision or the target of the company or the brand
should be feasible and adaptable to the various aspects of the company (Rosenbaum-
Elliott, Percy and Pervan, 2015). The vision that is been set by the brand or the company
must meet its organisational value and higher functional benefits.
5

 Developing the subcategories: Many times, the company can opt for the development of
the subcategories in the brands or its operation. It may prove risky in many cases as this
may affect operations and management of the company by creating the barriers that can
affect the growth of the brand.
 Integrated marketing communication (IMC): The integrated market strategy will help
the company to meet the requirements of the brand or the company in the brand. It
includes the various factors such as advertising, sponsorship and other media factors that
lead to the market competition and increase the complexity (Okonkwo-Pézard, 2017).
 Internal building of brand: The company or the brand must look after the various
operations and measures that leads to the effective management of the brand in the
market. The company must look after the suitable ways to make the employee's aware of
the brand value of the company.
 Creation of the brand portfolio: The brand portfolio helps the company to gain a
suitable and detailed idea of its various assets and the operations that undergoes one,
single brand name. But, it is very difficult to create a suitable brand portfolio as the
constituent units may act as the independent working part (Kelley, Sheehan and
Jugenheimer, 2015).
Section 2
LO2
Brand Portfolio strategy
A brand portfolio strategy is the management of the various components, products,
services or the operations of the brand under one brand name, in order to treat it as the single unit
in order to gain a better understanding of the brand roles and manage the various operation that
are been taken into the consideration (Vigneron and Johnson, 2017). The brand portfolio may
contain the various operations that helps the company to carry out the development process in a
better way. For example the Apple Inc has various products like iPad, iPhone, iPod, Macbooks
etc. and services like iTunes, iClouds etc. which helps the company to provide various services
and cater a wide variety of the customers. But all this product or the services are placed under
one brand name, Apple Inc. Like wise, Microsoft provides various services like MS Office,
6

browser like Edge and gaming consoles like Xbox etc. but all are been put under the brand name
Microsoft.
The strategy of the brand portfolio helps the company to get an easy idea about their
various operations and help them to meet the requirements of the company as well as the
customers in a better way. It not only helps the organisation or the company to develop as a
stronger brand but also helps the brand to gain a better sustainability in the market. Apart from
this, it gives the company an insight to develop the better product or services and imply
innovations (Lee, O’Cass and Sok, 2017).
Management hierarchy of two brands
The management hierarchy of the Apple is as follows:
7

The management of the Apple Inc. is been managed in a corporate or top tier
management structure to carry out its operations in a better way. It has the following
components:
8
Illustration 1: Management structure of Apple
Source: (Apple Management Hierarchy, 2017)

 Board of Directors: It consists of the executives in the company that possess the highest
authority and work for the suitable success of the company. They will take the important
decisions for the company and will look after the various operations.
 Top executives: It consists of the executives or the officers like CEO, CTO, CFO etc.
that will look after the various operations of the brand or the company and are answerable
to the BOD.
 Presidents and the vice presidents: They are required to report to the top executives
about the progress of the various operations that are been carried out by the company
(Renton and et.al., 2017).
 Executives and the other employee's: The executives and the other employee's falls
under the third tier of the structure of the company. They will perform the development
task and will look after the various operations at the workplace.
Besides this, it uses the umbrella structure to gain a proper idea of the management of the
various products or the services developed and provided by Apple.
The management hierarchy of Microsoft:
The Microsoft follows a proper hierarchy that helps the company to met the requirements
of its customers and the suppliers etc. Various operations that are been taken into the
consideration by the management of the company aids to better growth of the company and carry
out the operations. The Microsoft has various senior positions like in corporate level like CTO,
project head and various software engineers and managers at the middle level with the
developers and the trainee's at the entry level of the company (Roper, Lim and Iglesias, 2018).
Besides this, the umbrella strategy will help the company to manage its operations and various
products or services in a much better and significant manner. This will help the company to meet
the requirements of the customers as well as its operations in a better way.
Brand Equity management using CBBE model
The management of the brand equity is very necessary for the company or the brand to
effectively sustain in the market as the stronger brand. The effective management of the brand
equity of a brand or the product can be measured and analysed by the Keller's brand equity
model, also known as the Customer based brand equity (CBBE) model. It helps the company to
gain a better idea of the various sort of the operations and the factors that helps the company to
gain a better productivity. It involves the following factors:
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 Salience: It is the factor that helps the company to withstand the various sort of the
requirements that are been taken into the consideration by the company to meet the
requirements of the company and the customers to gain a better brand equity.
 Performance: It includes the development of the customer's mindset to think of the
particular brand in a tangible or intangible brand association.
 Imagery: It includes the intangible attributes of the product or the services and helps the
company to develop better service or the customer satisfaction level (Roper, Lim and
Iglesias, 2018).
 Judgement: This step helps the company and the customer to judge and develop a
perception on the personal level about the product or the brand as a whole. This will help
them to decide whether they require the product and the services, or not.
 Feeling: This will help the company or the brand to build a better emotional attachment
and meet the requirements of the company by providing the customer satisfaction level in
a better way.
 Resonance: It leads to the development of the better and loyal relationship between a
customer and the brand, that helps the company to meet the requirements of the company
in a better way by increasing brand loyalty.
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Illustration 2: CBBE model
Source: What is CBBE model, 2017

LO3
Extension approach and strategies
Various brand extension strategies are been taken into the consideration by the Apple and
the Microsoft that helps the company to meet the requirements of the company as well as the
customers. The effective brand extension process involves the various components like sub
brand, parent brand and family brand (Vigneron and Johnson, 2017). The various types of the
extension policies that are been taken into the consideration are:
 Line extension: It involves the development of the new product to cater the needs and
the requirements of the new market segment along with the currently provided by the
parent brand. This helps the company to add a variety or the difference to the newly
developed product that helps in the effective management of the various brand providing
it a different application. For example, Apple Inc. developed the hand held computational
devices like iPhone and iPad to increase its product line and cater larger number of the
customer's.
 Category Extension: It is an approach where the parent brand or the company will enter
a different product category, other than the product category served by the parent brand
or the company. It involves the approach of entering a different market sector. For
example, Apple Inc. was formerly working in the computer hardware and software but to
increase its product category, it developed iPod and iTunes in the music or audio sector
that give rise in its productivity and profit margin (Renton and et.al., 2017).
Brand reinforcement and revitalisation
The brand reinforcement is the approach or the process to maintain the better brand
equity and maintain it in the market for the existing as well as the new employee's of the brand or
the company. This can be done by effectively carrying out the various operations that will lead
to the effective maintaining of the brand equity of the company in the market. This can be done
by either increasing the brand awareness in the market or building a better brand image in the
mindset of the customer's. For example, Apple Inc. launches the regular updates of its product or
services to maintain the brand image and brand equity among the customers.
Brand revitalisation is the approach or the process that helps the company to reassess the
product growth and relaunch it after the product or the services completes its maturity period
(Klopper, Lubbe and Prins, 2016). It involves the process of performing the proper changes or
11

the modifications that helps the company to regain the market position and meet the competition.
Besides this, it also helps the company to tackle the consumer's requirement, competitors
strategies and changes in the market conditions that can affect the overall operations of the
company. For example, When MS Windows 8 failed to attract the customer's on large basis,
Microsoft launched its newer version named MS Windows 8.1 to regain the customer and the
market positions.
Collaboration and partnership
The collaboration is the process where two or more organisation come together to
develop a better service or the product. It is an open and inclusive process that helps the
companies to engage the better entities and come together to get a better management or the
solution of the problem or the issue that is been identified by the companies. It helps in the better
decision making process in the organisation, that helps the company top meet the requirements
of the customer in a better way. For example Microsoft and Apple collaborating to develop a
better IT product or technology (Dennis, Melewar and Mauri, 2016).
A Partnership is a form of legal contract that is been held between the two or more
companies or brands that helps the company to meet the requirements of the customers in a
better way by using the innovative approaches to develop a better product or the services. The
contract is an agreement where the concerning parties agrees the various points and negotiate to
share the resources or technology in common. In a partnership, the profit margin that is been
gained, is shared among the partners.
LO4
Brand measurement techniques
Brand measurement is very necessary for the effective management of the operations of
the companies or brands like Apple and Microsoft. It helps the firm to identify the growth in the
market as well as the brand equity. Its various approaches are:
 Clear brand equity perspective: This will help the company to develop a better share
of the market strategies and meet the requirements of the firms like Apple and Microsoft
by keeping a check on their requirements.
 Understanding customer attitude: This will help the cited firms to identify the needs
of the customers and develop the appropriate product or the services to fulfil them in a
very effective manner (Vigneron and Johnson, 2017).
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 Gathering suitable data: Both the firms will look after the effective collection of the
various data that will help the companies to carry the management of the brand equity in
the market.
 Setting of the goals: Once the data is been collected, it is been analysed to set the goals
and various measures are been taken by both firms to meet the requirements of the
customers in a better way (Dennis, Melewar and Mauri, 2016).
Brand equity audit and tracking techniques
The brand audit is the detailed analysis of the performance of the brands or companies in
the market to generate a better brand equity for Apple and Microsoft. It involves the various
techniques of measurement and tracking such as:
 Creating framework: This will help the cited firm to develop a strategy in order to gain
a better share of brand equity for both firms in the market.
 Customer feedbacks: The customer will help the firm to gain a better idea about the
changes it should make in order to have a better brand equity. It can be gained thorough
the website or the social media platforms used by both the firms.
 Review of sales data: This will help the cited brands to have a better idea of their market
position and customer's attitude and perception (Solomon and et.al., 2014).
 Keeping a check on the competition: This helps the firm to meet the requirement of the
company in a better way and take suitable measures to improve their position in market.
Approaches of valuing brands
Effective valuing of the brand is very necessary. It helps the brand to develop a better
image. Various measures are been taken into consideration to value the brand such as:
 Income based valuation: It is deeply based on the income of the customer and the
purchasing capacity of the customer's. High purchasing capacity leads to high profit and
valuation of brand.
 Market based valuation: It is based on the market conditions and determine the sales of
the product or services of company or brand (Renton and et.al., 2017).
 Cost based valuation: It is dependent on the cost of the product or the service offered by
the company. High cast is the indicative of high value of the brand.
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CONCLUSION
Thus, from the report it can be concluded that the management of the brand is very
necessary. This report focused on the brand as a marketing tool, brand equity and its key
elements. Besides this, various challenges faced in the brand development are been taken into the
consideration. Various strategies and models are been discussed and the importance of
collaboration for a better brand is been discussed. Apart from this, different sort of brand equity
audit techniques have been discussed to support better brand value.
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