Brand Management Report: Building, Managing, and Evaluating Brands

This report, prepared for Optimum Impression Ltd., a marketing consultant company, delves into the core aspects of brand management. It explores the process of building and managing brands over time, using Apple Inc. as a case study to illustrate successful strategies like innovation and premium pricing. The report then analyzes brand portfolio strategies, focusing on Samsung, and applies Aaker's Brand Equity Model to assess brand loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, and brand associations. The report also examines techniques for measuring and managing brand value, emphasizing the importance of branding in creating customer loyalty and achieving a competitive advantage. The report concludes by highlighting the crucial role of marketing in shaping brand image and driving business success.

BRAND
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Building and managing brand over time................................................................................4
Introduction............................................................................................................................4
Main Body..............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Analysis of Samsung's Portfolio Strategy..............................................................................7
Illustration of Hierarchical Management of brands................................................................9
Analysis of strategies for managing equity of brands..........................................................11
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................13
Evaluation of how brands are managed collaboratively and in partnership both at a domestic
and global level.....................................................................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
Evaluation of different types of techniques for measuring and managing brand value.......16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
Brand Management is an activity to plan and analyse how a brand is perceived in front of
its customers as well as in the market. It requires companies to develop effective relationships
with their target markets (Braun, Kavaratzis and Zenker, 2013). It undertakes all the aspects
about a firm's offerings like the offering itself, its appearance, price, packaging. The project
below is based on Optimum Impression Ltd., which is marketing consultant company. This is the
organisation which deals with big brand and suggest promotional strategies to these firms. The
report covers an understanding on how a brand is built and managed overtime and analysis of
organisation of brands in portfolios and building and management of brand hierarchies . It also
covers evaluation of how brands are leveraged overtime domestically and internationally and
techniques for measuring and managing brand value.

TASK 1
Building and managing brand over time
BRAND IS POWER
Introduction
A brand is referred to as a service, product or a concept that distinguish the offerings of
a company from other products and services so that it could easily be marketed and
communicated (Batey, 2015). Brand Equity is a term which is used to determine the perception
of customers towards product or service of the organisation i.e., a commercial value of products
and services of an organisation by their brand names (Su and Tong, 2015). In order to build a
strong brand name companies are required to follow certain steps effectively. Firstly, they must
effectively determine target audiences, i.e., customers actually interested in buying their
products. The next step requires them to determine their brand mission, which includes creation
of mission statement which clearly defines their ideology. Companies then must effectively
determine their competition, their activities as well as factors that differentiate them from other
companies. After their detailed analysis, firms must create value propositions which require
them to determine the uniqueness, value and benefits of their products and services. The next
step requires them to decide brand guidelines which undertake tone and strategy of their brand.
The last stage needs them to market their brands. Marketing Department plays a prominent role
in creation of brand equity. They analyse the marketplace to determine the exact needs of
customers and communicate the brand effectively to the customers. Most importantly, they
acquire their feedbacks through which firms get an opportunity for strengthen brand equity.
Main Body
Optimum Impression Ltd. is the organisation which works as marketing consultant to big
brands. This company provides knowledge about marketing and advertisement campaign which
helps to create good brand image in industry. In this article, there is discussion about Apple
Inc., which isa multinational brand that deals in technological products and having its
headquarters in California, US.
In this era of tough competition and dynamism, it is very crucial for companies to
effectively apply certain successful strategies to strengthen their brand equity. There are various
companies in electronic and telecommunication industry which have applied such strategies that

have effectively aided the purpose. One of the most prominent examples of companies that have
adopted strategies for brand equity is Apple, Inc. The firm has effectively manage to retain its
position as the most valuable brand quite recently with growth of brand value up to 16% at
$214.5bn (Apple retains crown as world's most valuable brand as Facebook value sinks, 2018).
The firm has used various strategies that enabled it to gain such status and enhance its brand
equity. However, according to (Christiaans, 2012), there are various uncertainties and risks
associated with these strategies. The most prominent strategy used by Apple recently is
innovation. The firm has been consistent in empowering customers who have a different ways
of thinking and thus, it produces products and services that satisfy these unique demands of the
customers. The most evident example of such product is AirPods, which are unique earphones
by Apple that don't involve wires and work via Bluetooth. However, the risk in such a strategy
is that if the firm fails to fulfil their innovative demands, they would shift their preference to
another company. Another strategy of the company to enhance their brand equity was its pricing
strategy. Brand equity is quite influenced by the price of a firm's products or services. The firm
is again consistent with its premium pricing policy for its new products in the market. This
creates a perception of receiving a high value with its offerings. The firm, however, has
experienced certain pitfalls from their pricing strategies. During mid-90's, the company's pricing
strategy wasn't quite beneficial at that time and faced backlash (Why Apple Is Still A Great
Marketer And What You Can Learn, 2019). This remarks that the strategies used by companies
must be effectively channelised to avoid any kind of risk that could serve the firm in a negative
manner.
There are certain benefits of branding on the business operation. As this would help the
business to be recognised and would also help them to make the business globally viable.. As it
is seen in the case of Apple they are able to make a brands image of most trusted device which
helps them to convince the customer and create positive image on the mind of customer.
Above example clearly shows how important branding is for a company. Organisations
can use various models to enhance their brand equity. One such model is Aaker's Brand Equity
Model and the company that could effectively apply this is Samsung. It is one of the biggest
companies in telecommunication and electronic industries.
Implementation of Brand equity model
The company has customers worldwide and this model could help it achieve utmost

brand equity in the market. This model was developed by David Aaker and suggests that brand
equity could be overviewed as an accumulation of brand loyalty, quality perceived and brand
awareness which are also components of a successful brand strategy as per the model. This
model describes how effectively brand management could begin with building up of brand
identity. There are four major elements of Brand Identity as per this model which are mentioned
below:
Brand as a Product: This effectively deals with the scope, attributes, value and quality of firm's
offerings.
Brand as an Organisation: As a company, this element deals with attributes of the
organisation, its local as well as global activities.
Brand as a Person: According to the model, this element consists of personality of the brand as
well as customer relationships.
Brand as a Symbol: This element requires the brand to create effective visual and audio
imagery as well as metaphorical symbols that appeal customer attention.
As for Samsung, there are some suggestions for brand extension as well as
reinforcements as per this model which are mentioned below:
Brand Loyalty: One of the prominent ways in which Samsung could enhance its brand equity
and extend as well as reinforce its brand is by enhancing the loyalty of customers towards the
brand (Dessart, Veloutsou and Morgan-Thomas, 2015). It can do so by reducing its marketing
cost by focusing its strategies to its existing and loyal customers. Brand loyalty could also be
enhanced by reducing competitive threats effectively.
Brand Awareness: This element could be used to reinforce the brand and maximise brand
equity despite of its popularity. The firm must make its products and innovations familiar with
the public to build strong perception about the quality of their offerings.
Quality Perceived: As one of the most prominent ways to enhance brand equity for Samsung,
this requires the firm to make customers familiar with the quality of its products. It could
effectively be done by running various aggressive product tests internally. It could also be done
by employing effective sales channels and differentiating the product from that of the market.
Brand Associations: There are various associations that could be triggered effectively by this
brand. To successfully achieve this, the firm could better the ways it presents its TV and online
advertisement so as to retrieve the brand effectively. Moreover, the firm must work towards

creating a positive attitude in the minds of customers about the brand.
Other Proprietary: This includes asses like intellectual property rights and patents. The more
such assets with the firm, the more competitive advantages will be there with the company. This
would allow the firm to extend itself as well as in reinforcements. It would also help the firm in
achieving effective brand equity in the market.
To overcome a brand crises, the firm could adopt various successful strategies. The first
would be communication. The firm must communicate with the customers as well as the
suppliers about the crises so that their support could be gained in the best manner possible.
Another strategy could be to apply a focused approach. For instance, when a smartphone series
of the firm was underperforming due to safety reason, the firm focused on enhancing its safety
to enhance its efficiency and overcome brand crises.
Branding is quite effective for a firm like Samsung and could effectively be used as a
marketing tool to ensure its maximum brand equity.
Conclusion
Marketing plays essential role in making brand image in industry. With social media
marketing, there is important sales and profits of Samsung. As a marketing tool, branding could
effectively manage to deliver the message that the firm is trying to give to its customers. It also
helps in creating customer loyalty and motivates customers to buy the firm's products. Thus,
branding is very crucial for a firm and could help it build a strong brand image in front of the
customers as well as enable the company to gain a competitive advantage.
TASK 2
Analysis of Samsung's Portfolio Strategy
According to Evans Keith (2017), Brand portfolio is defined as the collection of brands
that the company has to provide to its customers so that they are able to sell it across the market.
When large businesses operate under multiple different brands, services and companies, a brand
portfolio is used to encompass all these entities under one umbrella.
There are various decisions under brand portfolio that are quite strategic. There are
various models to govern these decisions. These models are mentioned below:

 House of Brands: Within this model, products are considered as a primary brand rather
than the firm. Various different names are utilised by firm to segregate offerings across
categories. Its biggest advantage is that each brand would be having a unique entity and
managers could apply focused strategies for each. However, there is quite a risk of
cannibalisation in case of house of brands. In addition, the promotional cost for each
brand too would be high in this model. Branded House: A single brand name is utilised for all the products of a firm. Samsung
uses this model for all its product categories. This makes the work of managers easier in
case of promotional activities. Its disadvantages include brand dilution due to various
product of a same brand.
 Hybrid Model: This is a mixed approach where companies use a blend of both the
strategies for their brands for different ways of brand extensions. It is favourable for
companies that plan to use mixed strategies for their products of different brands.
However, with such a
For Samsung, the most favourable approach would be Branded house seeing popularity
of its brand and various product lines. Another reason is that it saves the firm from
cannibalisation and brand dilution of their products.
A brand portfolio strategy is all about the family of different brands, its roles and their
relationship with each other. “Samsung” is the renowned brand with multiple and advanced
products in every category from home care to smartphones. Currently, Samsung is leading at the
top stage of success and achievement therefore it is difficult to analyse Samsung's brand portfolio
strategies to identify measures or steps they took to enhance their product image and raise
product & brand portfolio at the higher level. The Samsung's brand portfolio strategy is as
follows: Long-term Thinking: Today's many companies are facing the issues managing their
brand portfolio, it is because of challenging resource allocation. “Samsung” has taken
attempt to optimized their available resources to drive future profits and growth (Dinnie,
2015). Apart from this, Samsung has used brand valuation tools to get assist their
decision making process while making familiar with customer' their potential brands.
 Consideration of Consumers' Perspectives: Samsung has continuously focused on
taking their customer's thinking and idea's to building their brand along with developing

its products side by side. For creating effective relationship, Samsung is still taking
customer reviews and feedback's to develop their brand portfolio and products with
innovation and creativity.
According to Elliott and et. al., 2015, companies must place these strategies in place
effectively in order to mitigate any risk. However, there are critical issues with these strategies
that needs to be considered in case the firm wants to effectively apply portfolio management
strategies. These issues are as follows:
 While applying long-term thinking, Samsung might not effectively manage to forecast
future demand and dynamic business environment. This might be the case where its
products fulfil current demands but might fail to accomplish future preferences. With
such strong competitors like Apple and LG, the firm might be ineffective in judging their
future innovation capabilities.
 Consumers perspectives changes overtime and are influenced by a number of factors.
These factors might be risky for Samsung which would be focusing on their perspectives
to effectively manage their portfolio. Such perspectives might be beneficial for the
customers but might not be the same for the firm economically.
Illustration of Hierarchical Management of brands
Brand Hierarchy refers to a structure of various brands within a company. It is the
manner in which brands within a firm's portfolio are differentiated from and related to one
another (Gundala and Khawaja, 2014). It is however a complex activity where multiple product
lines are concerned. In Samsung, there are various product lines with vague relationships with
one another which require them to effectively develop certain brand hierarchy strategies. In
Samsung, an example of brand hierarchy is described below:

(Source: Samsung's Brand Hierarchy, 2018)
Samsung is a company with various brands serving customers across the world having
different needs with a range of different products. It is imperative that the firm manage these
brands effectively to enhance brand equity and better brand portfolio. To develop and manage
brand hierarchy, Samsung must focuses on certain key strategies, mainly: Brand Hierarchy Audit: It is imperative for the firm to determine its current state of its
brands. It depends on the size as well as complexity of the firm which decides the way
audit must be conducted. It focuses on two aspects:
▪ Business Performance: It includes assessment of performance of various brands
within Samsung's brand portfolio. However, the firm critically determines the
same by analysing their present and future contribution.
▪ Brand Structure: It involves various touchpoints and the way customers
experience the brands of the company. It usually involves logos, advertising,
websites, collateral material and so forth..
However, this component might fail in terms of determining future contributions of a
brand. In addition to this, perception of brand structure also be different for different customers
which might alter the decision-making accuracy of the company.
 Brand Hierarchy Principles: Consistency in Brand Hierarchy is achieved through
determination of certain principles (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre, 2015). These
Illustration 1: Samsung's Brand Hierarchy

principles would set up a base for decisions made by Samsung about its brand. Some of
the principles are as follows:
▪ The firm is currently focusing on fewest brands that it needs to invest money in to
achieve its goals. For instance, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Techwin and
Samsung Heavy Industry.
▪ It is planning to establish a new brand only if a certain business case (with insight
of target customers as a major element) is proven and certain essential support is
confirmed.
These principles could well serve Samsung but might lack in accuracy. This is because
the investment decision might be based on the current projections and not on future business
environment which would no different than gambling for the company. Furthermore, a new
brand could also be created to generate new demands rather then just those which satisfy the
current demands of customers.
Analysis of strategies for managing equity of brands
Samsung is a world renowned brand with effective market share. There are certain brand
equity models that would help to analyse and gain a better understanding of Samsung's brand
equity management in the market. One such model is Keller's Customer-Based Brand Equity
Model. It was developed by Kevin Lane Keller and would help to critically analyse ways through
which Samsung managed to perform such efficient brand equity management. The brand which
is being used in this model to determine this is Samsung Electronics. This model is analysed
below:

(Source: Keller's Brand Equity Model, 2018) Salience: This step is about Brand Identity. Its about making the brand known to
customers and delivering the right message in the market. Samsung has been quite
successful at this step and has established its brand effectively in the market by its
impressive product quality and pricing. Samsung Electronics is one of the most
successful brands in establishing its brand identity in the market by its affordable pricing
as well as effective quality. Samsung could satisfy this stage by implementing
promotional and advertising activities to enhance familiarity of its products in the market,
such as a new Smartphone or Television series. Meaning: This stage consists of two main aspects, Performance and Imagery. Samsung
Electronics has always been consistent when it comes to developing desire in customers
regarding their products. The presentation along with the quality their products provide to
customers enhance customer loyalty and better customer relationships. Compelling
videos and product specification showcased at various exhibitions and on social media
could allow Samsung Electronics to build an effective and positive image of its products. Response: Again this stage is divided into two aspects, Judgements and Feelings of
customers. Samsung Electronics, in time, managed to develop more effective response of
customers by producing products which are at par and even better than its competitors'
products like that of Apple. To achieve this, Samsung must acquire feedbacks from
Illustration 2: Keller's Brand Equity Model