Brand Management Strategies: A Unilever Case Study

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes Unilever's brand management strategies.

Brand Management

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 Building and managing brand over time....................................................................................4
Article for marketing brochure..........................................................................................................4
Task 2 Brand portfolios and hierarchy management..............................................................................8
1. Analyse the organisation’s brand portfolio strategy.......................................................................8
2. Provide an illustration of the hierarchy management of brands within organisations portfolio. . .10
3. Analyse strategies used for managing the equity of the brands within the organisations portfolio
.........................................................................................................................................................11
Task 3 Brand extension and leverage..................................................................................................13
1. Strengths of the brand that can be leveraged................................................................................13
2. Weaknesses that may need attention providing some possible suggestions.................................13
3. Collaborative and partnership agreements...................................................................................14
Task 4 Measuring and managing brand value......................................................................................15
Using specific organisational example, provide an evaluation of various techniques used for
measuring and managing.................................................................................................................15
I. Brand value..............................................................................................................................15
II. Brand awareness.....................................................................................................................15
III. Market share..........................................................................................................................16
IV. Consumer attitudes................................................................................................................16
V. Purchasing intent....................................................................................................................16
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................18
References...........................................................................................................................................19
P a g e | 2

Introduction
From the point of view of customers, the brand could be explained as an experience of the
customers after using a particular item of the company which is able to make the difference in
the mind of the customers other than the products offered by the competitors. As the
competition in the market has been increased, here the companies are putting the efforts in
the market so that a positive image of the products and services of the company could be
made. Here, the concept of brand management is used where it helps the company in
planning and designing the strategies and policies to provide the great experience to the
customers so that a positive image could be created in their mind. The current assignment
includes such strategies and policies of brand management that the companies have been
using through many years. In the current assignment, the brand power, importance of brand
to the company, the brand portfolio strategy, brand equity and awareness etc would be
discussed.
P a g e | 3

Task 1 Building and managing brand over time
Article for marketing brochure
“Brand is power”
The concepts of brand is very useful
for the company as this helps he company
in creating an image into the mind of the
customers. Here, it could be said that the
branding could be a strategy of the
company that enhances the experience of
the customers with the company if he or
she has already created a positive image of
the company in their mind (Petromilli,
Morrison and Million, 2017). Branding
concept directly affects the perception of
the customers towards the products and
company. As competition is increasing in
market so using the concepts of branding
is very important for the company
especially in gaining the competitive
advantage over the competitors. The
different terms like brand equity etc are
used in the brand which is basically
created to perceive the value of brand. In
branding the marketing department of the
company plays very important role such
as:
- In motivating the buyers to
purchase the product: It is he
marketing department of the
company that formulate the
strategies to introduce the products
and also indentify he needs and
wants of customers so that they
exactly could be targeted and the
customers could be motivated to
purchase the products to satisfy
their needs and wants.
- In creating user loyalty: Marketing
department also could help in
formulating the strategies for
creating the loyalty from the side of
customers (Laforet and Saunders,
2015).
- In increasing the value of the
business: There is no doubt that the
branding enhances the value of the
business in the mind of the
customers but the strategies of
marketing also could enhance the
branding working that helps the
company in enhancing the overall
image of the company in the mind
of the customers.
Using the concepts of brands are not new,
the companies have been using the
branding for many years. Initially, the
global distribution was seen only in wine,
sprites etc. Here the wine companies put
the different logo or designs of the bottle
P a g e | 4

so that this could be distinguishing from
the other companies of same industry.
Later, as the time grows the company
started to sell their products globally and
here they took the help of branding. The
products like Pears, Coca Cola etc
formulated the various strategies so that
their products could be highlighted in the
global market. After the invention of
televisions and radio, these companies
have started to promote their products in
these mediums to communicate the
message and to raise the brand awareness
among the customers (Aaker, 2018). Now
days, this sector has been evolved as many
organisations has entered to helps the
companies in the branding of their
products and services. The companies
which want to raise the awareness of their
brands are using the advertising agencies
like Optimum impression ltd so that they
could get the awareness and recognition in
the market. All these advertising agencies
and the companies it uses the following
stages to building the successful brand:
- Building company perception in
the market
- Organise the activities on how the
company wants to be perceived.
- Communicate with the customers
present in the market through
promotional strategies
- Include consistency in business
strategies
The brand equity explains the value of
the brand for the customers rather then
products itself. In the markets, the brand
equity depends on three factors. These are:
- Brand awareness,
- Brand recognition and
- Brand loyalty
Here, if the company is able to maintain all
these through its strategies and policies
then it could be said that the company has
become a brand for the customers and also
has gained a good position into the mind
of the customers. In order to enhance all
these three, the company has to formulate
the brand strategies so that all the
customers could come together and the
message of the company could be
communicated to them. Here, the
successful strategy is explained to enhance
the brand equity:
- Target audience: In order to
formulate the brand strategy for the
brand equity, it is very important to
select the audience first as this
would include the people who
needs could be fulfilled by the
company. Here, B2B and B2C
needs to identify so that he
company could be aware of
P a g e | 5

whether the products are for
customers or for other
organisations.
- Brand promise: For the brand
equity, the company needs to make
a promise for the customers.
Actually this is the way of gaining
the attention of the customers
towards the message of the
company about what needs and
wants of them are being fulfilled by
the company.
- Brand perception: To gain the
brand equity, the company also
needs to formulate the strategies on
the basis of the perception of the
company that it wants to create of
itself in the market.
- Brand positioning: This explains
the image that the company wants
to produce in the mind of
customers. The brand positioning
should be as per the target
audiences
Along with the brand equity strategy,
another concept is also used by the
companies in strengthening the brand
equity. This is Keller’s customers based
brand equity model. With the help of this,
the company is able to know how to build
the brand in the market through identifying
the attitudes and reactions of the customers
towards the brand. Keller’s customers
based brand equity model is explained
below:
Keller’s customers based brand equity
model could be explained through a
pyramid with four sections, where:
- First section explains “Salience”:
This explains the brand identity
and also what the company really
is. Here, the company informs the
customers about itself
(Chowudhury, 2014).
- Second level explains
“Performance and imaginary”:
This is to explain what the brands
really are here the customers wants
to know more and more from the
customers.
Figure 1
- Third level explains “Judgemental
and feeling”: This includes the
brand responds from the side of
customers like what are the
P a g e | 6

feelings of the customers towards
the brands.
- Fourth level explains
“Resonance”: This includes
maintaining a good and effective
relationship with the customers
(Congxin, 2014).
It is concluded that the branding is very
important for the company and there are
various processes of the marketing which
are executed in branding and vice versa.
Here the branding could be considered as
marketing tool that helps the company in
creating an image into the mind of the
customers. Along with this it also delivers
he message of the company to the
customers so that they could be aware of
what the company and what products it is
going to be launched and what needs of the
customers could be fulfilled. Along with
this as a marketing tool, branding also
helps the company in connecting and
maintaining a relationship between the
customers and company.
P a g e | 7

Task 2 Brand portfolios and hierarchy management
1. Analyse the organisation’s brand portfolio strategy
For the purpose of explaining the brand portfolio strategies, the company Unilever is taken.
Unilever is a known name in this industry. Basically it is a British Dutch multinational
consumer goods company. The products range of Unilever includes foods and beverages,
cleaners, beauty and personnel care products. It comes under most valuable companies of
Europe as it has been able to gain 5th rank here. Unilever owns almost 420 brands and the
company makes them available in approx 190 countries. The main brands of Unilever are
Dove, Knorr, Lipton, Magnum, Raxona, Axe, Hellmann’s, Walls, Dermalogica, Heart brand
Ice-cream etc.
Brand portfolio strategy plays a very crucial part in the brand equity which is also impacted
by the brand identity of the company (Dacin and Smith, 2014). In an organisation with the
help of the brand equity, the value of the brand in the mind of customers could be enhanced
that helps the company in strengthening the image in the market. The brand portfolio
strategies are introduced by Unilever so that the brand equity and identify could be enhanced
in the market. The main benefit of the brand portfolio strategy is that this communicates the
products of Unilever to the customers through enhancing their perception towards the
company. With the help of this, the company like Unilever is able to provide the discipline
and supports to its entire brand through designing the effective and successful strategy for the
company. The brand portfolio strategy of Unilever considers three Cs which are explained
below:
- Consumers’ price perception
- Competitions
- Customers perception towards the quality of the products.
After analysing these, Unilever takes the next step towards the brand management approach.
The main brand portfolio strategy which is used by Unilever is “House of brand” strategy
which is explained below:
House of brands:
P a g e | 8

In the house of brand, the individuals brands are promoted by the company from the different
products. Here some firm may disclose their parent company through designing a logo or the
address of the company on the packaging. In the order words it could be said that rather that
portioned by a single brand, different brands or sub brands are promoted by the company
which could be totally different from each other. Here, this becomes a home of various
brands.
Figure 2: Products of Unilever (Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2014)
This strategy is carried by Unilever very effectively as with the help of this strategy; Unilever
is able to target the large numbers of audiences through offering the huge numbers of
products which basically are widening the demographical reach of the company. Other than
this, with “house of brand” strategy Unilever can take more risks through introducing new
brands as the company know that the customers have consumed the products and a trust
factor has gained by the company (Chien, Cornwell and Pappu, 2017). This strategy also
helps Unilever in protecting the reputation as suppose if the product of a company under the
brand name of Unilever fails then the individuals brand has to face all the consequences
without affecting the reputation of the company Unilever. Sometimes this strategy brings the
lots of confusion for the company Unilever where it has to plan the different strategies for
different audiences of different market. However, Unilever is able to manage all the stress
and situation raised in the market.
P a g e | 9

2. Provide an illustration of the hierarchy management of brands within
organisations portfolio
The brand hierarchy could be explained as the graphical representation of the common and
different products and brand elements offered by the company. This is basically defines the
branding strategy being used by the company to gain the profit into the market. For the
customers the brad hierarchy could be based on the realisation that how many products could
be branded in the different ways after adding some new and different products elements to
them under a single brand. Because of some certain elements has been added to make the
brand hierarchy, it basically defines how each and every product are connected with each
other under a particular brand (Chao, 2015). Unilever is also the company that has many
brands under that and some of them are common and some are different from each other.
Here, the brand hierarchy of Unilever represent all the brands which are offered by the
company. In the hierarchy of Unilever, the more products would be added while moving from
top level to bottom level. There are different ways through which he brand hierarchy could be
defined. Such as corporate level, family brand, individual brand and modifier. Unilever could
be put under the individuals brand where a different brand name is given to each and every
product of the company and that also has a different brand strategy. Here, it could be said that
each product brand of the company is totally different form another product brand in nature,
marketing strategy etc. The main advantage of this is that each product brand has its own
identity in the market.
P a g e | 10

Figure 3: Brand hierarchy (Morgan and Rego, 2016)
3. Analyse strategies used for managing the equity of the brands within the
organisations portfolio
The brand equity defines the brand value of the company. The different models on
strengthening the brand equity of the company have been introduced by the scholars. Here,
two models are very popular one is Keller’s customer based brand equity and Aaker’s brand
equity model. Keller’s customers based brand equity model has been described in the
previous section (Karjalainen and Snelders, 2015). Here, Aakers brand equity model is
explained:
Aaker’s brand equity model:
The five brand equity model explained by Aakers is:
- Brand loyalty
- Brand awareness
- Perceived quality
- Brand association and
- Proprietary assets
P a g e | 11

Figure 3: Aaker’s Brand Equity Model (Mwangi, 2014)
According to Aakers, the brand assets and brand liability are always associated with the brad
name of the company. The brand assets include brand awareness, loyalty, value and identity
(Lisa, 2017). Here, it could be said that the brand equity of the company would rise if the
brand loyalty increase, the brand awareness of the company enhances, the perceived quality
become stronger, brand association also become stronger and assets of the company
enhances. The brand equity components described by Aakers are explained below:
- Brand loyalty: Loyalty of the customers could not be gained overnight. This could be
gained through competing and providing the good product to the customers. Here, if
the loyalty of customers enhances then the expenses of the company on the activities
like marketing etc reduces.
- Brand awareness: With the help of awareness, the company would be able to get a
position in the mind of the customers where the customers can take the decisions on
purchasing the products.
- Perceived quality: The perception on the quality of the products could provide the
extra benefit to the company.
- Brand association: This helps in brand differentiation and also plays a very important
role in buying process
- Proprietary assets: This includes patents, trademarks and channel relationship of the
company that the company has registered;
P a g e | 12