Strategic Brand Management and its Implications on Corporate Success

Strategic brand management is pivotal for corporate success, as it involves aligning marketing strategies with organizational objectives to build strong brands. This analysis explores various dimensions of brand management, including internal brand management practices that foster employee engagement and brand commitment. A significant focus is placed on Keller's Brand Equity Model, which provides a framework for understanding how brand equity is developed through consumer perceptions and interactions. By examining the impact of strategic brand management on corporate performance, this essay highlights its importance in maintaining competitive advantage and achieving long-term business goals.

Brand Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................1
Brand...........................................................................................................................................1
Branding as a marketing tool......................................................................................................1
Brand Equity...............................................................................................................................2
Difference between a brand and the product...............................................................................2
Key elements of the stronger brand............................................................................................3
Brand management and development.........................................................................................4
Main challenges in brand development.......................................................................................5
Section 2...........................................................................................................................................6
Article..........................................................................................................................................6
Brand portfolio strategy..............................................................................................................6
The management hierarchy.........................................................................................................6
Brand equity management using CBBE model..........................................................................7
Extensions approaches and Strategies of brand..........................................................................9
Ways of Brand reinforcement and revitalisation........................................................................9
Collaboration and partnership in brands...................................................................................10
Brand measurement techniques.................................................................................................10
Brand equity audit and tracking techniques..............................................................................10
Various approaches of brand valuing........................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Corporate management hierarchy.............................................................................7
Illustration 2: Keller's brand equity model......................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
A brand is special identity or recognition that is given to a business organisation or a
business that helps the company to have a better market share and customer base. An effective
and strong brand helps business to improve profitability (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy and Pervan,
2015). For the report, Coca Cola and Pepsi are been taken as organisation or brand of context.
This report will cover the details of a brand, its importance as a marketing tool, brand equity and
difference between a product and a brand. The challenges of brand development are taken into
consideration and brand portfolio strategy are discussed and various extension approaches are
taken into consideration as well. The report also covers various collaboration and partnership
approaches as well as various brand equity auditing and tracking measures (Okonkwo-Pézard,
2017).
SECTION 1
Brand
A brand is the unique identity in form of a design, logo, slogan or symbol, which
provides a business or a company a unique identity and better recognition in the market. It helps
customers of the company to easily identify product or service of cited firm in a market place.
Other than this, a strong brand will help in the better promotion of the sales and help the
company to have a good productivity and profitability. It helps the business firm to provide their
customers with better satisfaction level and achieve their trust level in a very significant manner.
For a company, the brand keeps a very essential; and important part as it helps the
business firm to have a better competitive advantage over its rivals and gain a good profit margin
that helps the company to meet their operational requirements in a very effective manner. Other
than this, to maintain the brand image and value, company or organisation will undertake certain
innovative measures that will help brand to sustain its market position and retain customer's trust
level (Vigneron and Johnson, 2017).
Branding as a marketing tool
The effective branding helps business organisation to have a better promotion of various
products or services that are developed by company. The effective branding helps business firm
to easily convey business message to its customers. Besides this, the strong brand image will
help company to promote and sell its products and services more easily to customer's, creating a

market demand for them and having a competitive advantage against the rivals. This also helps
in better development of emotional connection and a better trust level of customers with brand
and increase their loyalty (Renton and et.al., 2017).
The effective branding will help business organisation to make a strategic marketing plan
in order to maintain a strong brand image that is present in minds of customers and help them in
development of better perception about the brand. Other than this, the approach of branding also
helps company to have group of loyal employees who will look after the requirements of
customers and will work with better dedication and efficiency to fulfil it in a better way.
Brand Equity
A brand equity is commercial value that is been derived by a business organisation by
customer perception about products and services of company in order to get a better market
position. It differentiates product or services that are offered by the brand from that by its rivals,
giving the brand a better competitive advantage in market. In general, the brand equity is share of
perception or idea by customer that helps a business to grow and develop. A positive perception
will lead to the development of a better brand equity (Lee, O’Cass and Sok, 2017).
Other than this, the better building of brand equity promotes a good development of the
brand image and increase sales of company with helping in the deep market penetration. While,
on the other hand, a negative brand equity will affect customer's perception towards brand,
causing a decrease in its sales and goodwill. The brand equity helps business to make more profit
and fulfil its operational requirements. Besides this, it also helps in better development of the
company's stock price and get more investments from stakeholders. Also, it increases the brand
awareness of the customers and increases their preference towards brand.
Difference between a brand and the product
Brand Product
 It is a unique identity that is provided to
a service or a product developed by
company.
 It is the finished good or service that is
been consumed by customers.
 It is a commodity, wanted or desired by
the customers.
 It is the item which is needed by
customers in order to fulfil a certain

task.
 It is created by the perception of
consumers.
 It is developed or manufactured by
company or the business organisation.
 It can't be replaced in the market.  It can be easily replaced by an
alternative product or services.
 It provides the value to user (Ertimur
and Coskuner-Balli, 2015).
 It performs the specific task for which
it is made.
 It is intangible in nature.  It can be tangible as well as intangible.
 It just gets mature with the passage of
time.
 It can get outdated or expired with the
passage of time.
Key elements of the stronger brand
A stronger or the sustainable brand has certain key elements which aids in its effective
development and sustainability in the market. These elements help the brand to adopt the
effective management of the various operations and strategic measures that helps the company to
meet the requirements of the company or the business organisation as well as the customers.
Some key elements of the stronger brands is as follows:
 Target audience: The effective identification of the specific audience or the customer
base by the company or the brand will help them to take into the consideration effective
steps and operations that will promote the better growth of the company or the brand. The
brand will keep in mind the requirements of the customers, as they are the major decision
making factor in the development process of the stronger brand (Piehler, Grace and
Burmann, 2018).
 Brand promise: It contains the commitment that the brand makes with its customers in
order to provide them with the effective services and the brand value. The effective trust
level and the management of the various factors to provide the high quality services to
the customers, helps the business organisation to develop as a stronger brand.
 Brand perception: It is the idea or the assumption, that is been possessed by the
customer towards a brand or the company. A good and the positive perception of the
brand will help it to develop as a strong brand in the market, while the weak or negative

perception will lead to the decrease in the sales and goodwill of the company. It helps the
company to make the specific strategic plan to develop as a stronger brand in the market
(Zenker and Braun, 2017).
 Brand Values: the brand value is the core requirements of certain valuation that is been
possessed by the company or the brand and helps the customers to build a better trust
level by attaining a significant satisfaction level to develop as a stronger brand.
 Brand Voice: It involves the advertising or the marketing of the brand. A good brand
voice will help the organisation to promote its products or the services to the customers in
a better way to become a stronger brand.
 Brand positioning: It is the market position that is been owned by the brand or the
business firm. A good market position is the indicative of the stronger brand and helps
the company to have a competitive advantage over its rivals (Kelley, Sheehan and
Jugenheimer, 2015).
A stronger brand is quite different from its weaker counterparts. The core difference
between a stronger and the weak brand is as follows:
Stronger Brand Weak brand
A stronger brand has more loyal customers. The customer loyalty of a weaker brand is very
less.
A stronger brand provides a great value to the
customers and the stakeholders.
A weaker brand fails to provide good value to
its customers and stakeholders.
It takes innovative approaches to meet the
change in requirements of its customers.
They hardly implement any sort of innovative
approach to attract the customers.
Brand management and development
A brand is needed to be effectively developed and managed in order to increase the
productivity and profitability to gain a better share of the operations that will help the customer
to get the good value. The brand is effectively managed by the approach of the effective brand
management that involves the various operations which will lead to the development of the
organisation or company as a stronger brand. Besides this, various approaches like extensive
marketing, brand reinforcement and revitalisation is been taken into the consideration that helps

the company to meet then requirement criteria of the development processes (Roper, Lim and
Iglesias 2018).
Besides this, to develop the brand effectively, various internal and the external factors
such as brand efficiency, productivity, customer perception or demands and market conditions
are to be taken into the consideration. This will aid the company to develop as a stronger brand
and meet the requirements of the company in a very effective way. This will help the business
organisation to develop a strategic development plan and work on it to get a better sustainability
and brand equity.
Main challenges in brand development
The major challenges that are been faced for the brand development are as follows:
 Treating the brand as the assets: Many times the organisation tries to consider the
brand as their asset which is the major drawback and challenge. The ongoing market
pressure will lead the business to focus on the meeting of the targeted goals, thus the
company diverts from the better brand development (Roper, Lim and Iglesias 2018).
 Creation of new sub categories: The company or the brand may be offering various
products and services. But it is required to be placed under one, effective brand name.
Creation of the sub categories will restrict the company to meet the requirements of the
company to meet the targeted goals and develop as a stronger brand.
 Building the brand internally: Before going out in the market the company or the brand
is required to get developed internally in order to meet and cater the requirements of the
external customers on a wider scale. The employees and the suppliers of the brand are
required to be get convinced for the better development of the brand in the business
organisation.
 Creating a good brand portfolio: The creation of the effective brand portfolio will help
the company to meet the requirements of the company in a significant and detailed
manner. But the development of an effective brand portfolio is a major challenge that is
been faced by the business firm (Kelley, Sheehan and Jugenheimer, 2015).

Section 2
Article
Brand portfolio strategy
A brand portfolio is a strategy or the practice in which the brand, consisting of the
various products or services, is been placed under one brand name to carry out the various
operations as one unit. It helps to reduce the confusion of the customer and make the operations
of the company or the brand more productive. For example, Coca cola, Coca cola zero and diet
coke are all products of the Coca cola. And helps the firm to consider its various operations or
products under one brand name. The development of an effective brand portfolio is a major task
that is been required to undertake under the brand name (Bravo and et.al., 2017).
The approach of implementing the brand portfolio will help the brand to generate more
value for its customers and focus more efficiently on the core operations that will help the
company to carry out the various operations of the company to meet the requirements in a better
way aiding in reduction of the unnecessary operations to save valuable resources and time.
Besides this, it helps to build a better relationship of the various constituent brands and make the
operational ability of the major brand, more effective. It helps in the better growth and
development of the brand and helps it to gain a better success in the market. Also, it helps the
brand to make the priorities to gain a better market share and meet the customer satisfaction level
(Dinnie, 2015).
The management hierarchy
The effective management hierarchy will, help the company to meet the requirements of
the customers in a better way. It helps the company to meet the demands of the consumers and
the stakeholders of the company or the brand in a very effective way. The major brand
management hierarchies are the umbrella or family hierarchy and the corporate hierarchy.
 Umbrella hierarchy: This hierarchical structure will use the effective brand names and
products and includes the various brands and products under one name. It helps the
company to meet the requirements of the various production line. It helps in the creation
of the better brand equity for the brand or the company. It is been used by the company
which serves the very similar type of product or services. For instance, both Coca cola
and Pepsi consists of various products but all the operations and products are been named

under one big brand name or the company. It facilitates the better development and
launching of the new product (Flint, Signori and Golicic, 2016).
 Corporate hierarchy: The corporate hierarchy consist of the various operations and the
decision making is been held in a very structural way.
It consists of the three levels:
 Lower level management: It consists of the employee's like team leader, assistant
manager or branch manager who will look after the various operations of the company on
the basic or the primary level. For instance, it will consist of the workers from the
manufacturing and production department of Pepsi and Coca Cola.
 Middle level management: This level consist of the regional or the plant manager who
will act as the intermediate between the higher authority and the lower level. They will
get the instructions from the higher level of the management and will provide the
guidance to the lower level to carry out the various operations in the effective manner.
 Higher level management: This lies on the topmost of the management hierarchy of the
company and comprises the officers like CEO, CTO etc. who will look after the various
operations of the organisation (Steenkamp, 2017).
Brand equity management using CBBE model
The Consumer based brand equity model or the Keller model consist of the following
components:
Illustration 1: Corporate management hierarchy
Source: (Types of management,2017)

 Salience: It involves the various approaches that will lead to the rise in the brand
awareness of the company or the business. Both, Coca Cola and Pepsi will work for the
better rise in the brand awareness.
 Performance: It involves the various approaches like increase in service capacity,
production or effectiveness, that will help both the brands to perform well in the
marketplace.
 Imagery: It involves the use of the various situations, personality or values that will help
the company to work in a very effective manner and develop a better mindset about the
brand. It includes the advertising or marketing strategy by Coca Cola and Pepsi.
 Response: It involves the various reactions by the customer towards the brand that helps
the company to gain a better idea of the customer's mindset and perception towards Coca
Cola and Pepsi.
 Feelings: This approach involves the use of the emotional factors such as warmth,
happiness, fun etc. Both the Brands, Coca Cola and Pepsi are associated with the
emotional connection with customers (Flint, Signori and Golicic, 2016).
 Resonance: It is the establishment of the strong bond between the customer and the
brand that leads to better loyalty and commitment of the customers with both the brands.
Illustration 2: Keller's brand equity model
Source: (What is CBBE model?, 2017)

Extensions approaches and Strategies of brand
The various extension approaches that are been taken into the consideration by both the
brands are:
 Line extension: This extension approach is used by the companies which enters into the
new market segment in the same line of product in which it in currently functional. For
example, Coca cola and Pepsi, both brand has launched various products of beverage line
such as Coca cola Zero, Diet Coke and Pepsi wild cherry, Caffeine free etc., respectively.
It helps the company to launch variants of similar product.
 Category extension: the category extension approach comprises the entry in then ewer
market segment than that of the parent brand. It involves the strategy to launch new
product, different from the existing products. For instance, Apart from beverages, Pepsi
also manufactures Potato chips, juices and cereals. This extends the brand category of the
company (Kapferer, 2017).
Ways of Brand reinforcement and revitalisation
The approach of the brand extension and the brand revitalisation is used to revive the
brand which has reached to the maturity or had faced the significant loss of brand equity and
customer loyalty. This approaches will help the brand to improve its productivity and
profitability and sustain back a better market position.
Brand Reinforcement: This approach is been used to maintain a better brand equity of the
customer and keep the brand viable among the customers. This approach will help the business
organisations to maintain the brand awareness among the consumers or the buyers and build up a
better brand image in market. It is been done by adopting various measures such advertising,
sponsoring an event, promoting the product or the services and handling an exhibition to attract
the customers towards the brand. For example, the Coca cola and Pepsi will regular advertise
their products or my sponsor an event to attract the customers (Borkovsky and et.al., 2017).
Brand Revitalisation: This approach is been used by the brand to revive a brand when it reaches
the maturity in the market and is generating low profits. This is done to regain the customer's
trust and retain the brand equity. For example, both Coca Cola and Pepsi had made the
significant changes in the production, packaging and the advertising to attract the customers and
maintain their relationship with brand. Various approaches like globalisation, using of innovative
technology and including the customer engagement to revitalise the brand.