Brand Management Strategies of Unilever: A Case Study

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BRAND MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
TASK 1 BUILDING & MANAGING BRAND OVER TIME.....................................................................4
TASK 2 BRAND PORTFOLIO & HIERARCHY MANAGEMENT............................................................8
STRATEGIES OF PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT..............................................................................8
BRAND HIERARCHY OF UNILEVER............................................................................................10
STRATEGIES OF UNILEVER FOR MANAGING EQUITY OF BRANDS............................................11
TASK 3 BRAND EXTENSION & LEVERAGES...................................................................................12
BRAND EXTENSION & LINE EXTENSION...................................................................................12
STRENGTHS OF UNILEVER’S BRAND THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED...............................................13
WEAKNESSES AND AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT FOR UNILEVER................................................14
COLLABORATIVE AND PARTNERSGIP AGREEMENTS................................................................15
TASK 4 MEASURING AND MANAGING BRAND VALUE.................................................................16
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 18
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................19

INTRODUCTION
The term BRANDING is used to creating an image and the identity for the product, it represent
the image of the product. Marketers are using various artistic and creative techniques to
connect with the customers (Keller et al., 2011). BRAND MANAGEMENT on the other side
refers to the process of identifying and analyzing the techniques and the ways to perceive
competitive advantage in the market (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2015).
The report helps the organization in providing deep understanding and knowledge about the
brand management. The report will highlight several branding techniques and the strategies to
maximize the brand value and image along with bringing effective brand management. Also,
the report will discuss the importance of brand management and offers the ways on how to
manage brand within a particular time frame. The study will be performed on a popular UK
organization Unilever which is a transactional consumer goods company and offers numerous
products including the personal care, beauty products or food and beverages. The company
was founded in 1929 by William Lever. The report will provide relevant strategies to Unilever
for managing its brand portfolio and hierarchy by applying the useful frameworks. At last, the
report will give appropriate advices to Unilever for extending its brand in the international
markets.

TASK 1 BUILDING & MANAGING BRAND OVER TIME
INTRODUCTION
“BRAND IS POWER”
A Brand is used to recognize a product through a specific symbol, image, mark or a logo. Brand
is used to create own identity of a product and stand ahead while differentiating it from the
other products (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2015). Brand refers to an effective concept for
marketing a product to the customer through communication and also brings uniqueness to be
stable in the competitive market. In order to secure the products or a brand, they are protected
through copyrights and the trademarks.
Brand Equity is used to determine the value of the brand. It is used by the marketers to define
brand value which is estimated through making the surveys and reviewing the perceptions and
the loyalty of the people. The positive reviews of the consumers help in valuing the
performance of the brand and counts as positive brand equity (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2015).
Brand Equity is very useful for Unilever as it helps in promoting the products in the market with
similar brand name and also helps in adding value to the company. The most effective and most
sold products of Unilever are the beauty products due to its positive brand value. It can be only
estimated through the past experience of the customers. If the reviews turn to be positive, then
Unilever may able to charge high rates of the products (Keller et al., 2011). Also, the biggest
achievement of Unilever is the increased demand for its personal care products those are highly
appreciated by the UK customers.
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
Branding is a strategical tool that helps Unilever in gaining competitive advantage while
maximizing the value of the products. Also, Branding helps Unilever by working as a
promotional tool which is used by the company in promoting and marketing its products.
Unilever uses concept of Branding in creating symbol of identification for its product and also
shape its brand effectively (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2015).
It is necessary for Unilever to recognize its brad by having customer loyalty so that it can
continue with the existing brand in the marketplace. Branding plays a major role for Unilever in
building a deeper relationship with the consumers (Keller et al., 2011). Another popular brands
such as coca cola, apple, Nike, Starbucks etc. having strong brand equity due to having positive
experiences of the customers (Heding et al., 2015). Also, positive branding helps Unilever in
offering the products in the premium rates.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRAND AND PRODUCT
A product is manufactured and produced with the purpose of selling where on other side;
brand is used for distinguishing a product from others. Simply a brand is used to identify the
uniqueness of the product. A basic need of a customer is to get a product but he wishes to get a
brand. A positive brand helps a customer in making effective choice. Also, a company cannot
copy a brand of another company as it has its unique identity (Urde, 2016).
CBBE MODEL
The CBBE Model helps Unilever in building a strong image of the company by making a
successful brand. It is launched by Kevin Lane Keller to define strategic brand management. In
order to bring excellent finish and high performance in its brand, Unilever applied CBBE Model.
There are large numbers of brands under Unilever and most of them have positive brand
equity. In order to identify the brand value of the brands, this equity model is really stands as a
benefit for Unilever.
Figure 1: CBBE MODEL
Source: (Keller, 2017)
The following components of the CBBE Model are helpful in building brand value and also
Unilever applies all of the elements very effectively. The model is also known as customer based
brand equity model.
Brand identity

All the brand of Unilever have their own and powerful identity. This is the initial step in the
CBBE Model where the goals of the business are to create brand awareness or brand salience. It
can be done by making sure that the brand is effective as the customers can focus on it and
recognize it very easily (Tasci, 2018). The Unilever effective brands include its personal care
products which are trying to create brand identity (Wheeler, 2017). Also, the brands such as
Cornetto, Wheel, Bru, Dove are considered as the most sold and popular products of Unilever.
Brand meaning
This is the second step after brand identity where a brand is responsible to communicate with
the customers with the mean of its performance and imagery. Brands such as Dove, Axe, Heart
brand and Lux are the known brands of Unilever which turns to be effective in meeting the
customer needs. Performance refers to the way the brand fulfill customer needs with its
features, reliability, durability and serviceability. Imagery defined how Unilever brands meet
social needs of customers (Wheeler, 2017). Unilever products are made up of the recycled
materials and the high quality equipment.
Brand response
The major and important stage of the model where Unilever has to put emphasizes. Brand
response defines the judgments and the feelings of the customers about the brand. it helps
Unilever to identify the customer reviews so that it can manage the brands as accordingly.
Customer judges the products on the basis of the quality, superiority, credibility and
considerations (Urde, 2016).
The main and most sold thirteen brands of Unilever includes Omo, Heart brand & Ice creams,
Knorr, Lipton, Hellmann’s, Dove, Rexona, Axe etc. are sold over one billion euros by 2017. The
sales of its brand can easily recognize its response from the customers which helps Unilever in
increasing its brand Equity and creditability (Tasci, 2018).
Brand relationship
Brand relationship defines that how customers are psychologically and emotionally attached
with the products. The brand relationship can be easily recognized through the positive
reviews, loyalty and through customer participation in product purchasing (Lee et al., 2017).
It stands on the top of the model as it is the most difficult and the complex stage where
Unilever has to achieve customer resonance by maintaining effective bond with the customers.
Unilever has seemed to be actively engaged with its customers by maintaining behavioral
loyalty through repeat purchases (Wheeler, 2017). Unilever indulge in conducting the loyalty
programs and offers rewards and gifts to the customers who are champion of Unilever brand.

By adopting the above stages of CBBE Model, Unilever results in strengthening each category
with the help of the events and the strategic plans in order to increase the customer
involvement and encourage them towards purchasing the products (Tasci, 2018).

BRAND EXTENSION
The effective strategy of brand extension is used in order to enter into the new category of the
products; the strategy is beneficial for Unilever as it helps in reducing the cost for introducing a
new product while enhancing the probability. It is related with the parent brand name of the
Unilever (Ande et al., 2017).
Unilever recently launched a new brand name of Comfort in the new product t category for
Laundry. Also, it has multiple brands in this category includes Dove, Lux, Sunsilk etc. The ratio
has been increased from 81% to 90% from the year 1990 to 2009 in using the strategy brand
extension to introduce new brands. National brand and the Co-brand products are the two
sponsors which were adopted by the parent brand (Lee et al., 2017).
BRAND REINFORCING AND REVITALISING
The strategy involves in bringing innovation in the designed products by ensuring relevance in
usage imagery. Brand reinforcement defined the beliefs and attitude of the customers towards
the brand and establishing uniqueness to enhance buyer’s recognition of the brands. Unilever
adopts Brand Revitalization when its product reaches at maturity stage (Lee et al., 2017). The
aim of adopting these marketing strategies is to improve strength and favorability of product by
bringing it back in the market.
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AS A MARKETING TOOL
Branding refers as the marketing tool because it helps in underpinning the marketing initiatives
of the Unilever. There are several areas of marketing where branding helps in developing a
company’s image, that includes advertising, promotional merchandise, customer service, logo,
reputation etc. Branding helps Unilever in not only marketing but in the entire business.
Marketing defines the process of offering goods and services with the purpose of earning profit.
Marketing is somewhere necessary to maximize the brand value through improving the
customer education, product differentiation and perceiving value in an effective manner. In a
nutshell, it can be say that a better marketing means better brand. In the context of Unilever,
marketing helps in leading its sales of products where branding helps it in enhancing the
reputation while strengthening customer loyalty (Lee et al., 2017).

TASK 2 BRAND PORTFOLIO & HIERARCHY MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES OF PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
A Brand portfolio is considered as the family of brands, their relationship and their roles with
each other. A brand portfolio must deliver leverage, relevance, clarity, synergy, energy and
differentiation (Ande et al., 2017). A unilever has a total of 400 brands which it used to sale in
different areas through distribution strategies. Other than Unilever, various organizations have
followed different approaches of the brand portfolio. Those are as follows
Branded house strategy
The branded house strategy is considered as the practice of umbrella branding where multiple
products can be sold with a single brand name. The products are sold at a market range price as
the product is itself a parent brand and all other products are its sub-brands (Ande et al., 2017).
The companies which comes under this strategy are Google as it itself is recognized for its sub
brands or services such as Calendar, Google pay, e-mail etc. Also, Virgin uses this strategy to
distribute its products includes Virgin TV, broadband, phone, mobile etc. Apple also recognized
for the products like i phone, mac, i-tune etc. Volkswagen, FedEx are another examples of this
strategy as they itself are the parent brand and offers value added services with their products.
House of brand strategy
This branding practice mainly focuses on the sub brands and the launched products which is
used to sale with a different brand name. The strategy is just opposite to the branded house
strategy as the products under this strategy has a separate identity and are not dependent on
the identity if the parent brand (Ande et al., 2017).

The organizations such as Unilever and P& G are the holding companies as they are involved in
using this strategy. The products such as wheel, Tide, Dove, Pantene all have separate identity
and marketed separately with different brand codes. The company turns to be successful in
applying this strategy as sometimes customers without having the knowledge about the parent
company purchase the brands.
Hybrid brand strategy
The hybrid or a combination strategy which combinable adopted both branded house and
house of brand strategy. The companies those have long established history and long brand
cache in order to maintain faith with the customers are follows this strategy (Ande et al., 2017).
Pepsi and Coca-Cola are the best examples who have adopted this strategy. The companies are
popular and known for their own brand but also deal as a parent brand for their sub-brands.
Also, Johnson & Johnson has come under this approach as Neutrogena is its independent brand
and Vision Care is its linked-name brand and Life Scan is its endorsed brand (Çifci et al., 2016).

Each of the above approaches has various advantages and disadvantages as the branded house
strategy enhances synergy and clarity among the brands but does not deliver on brand promise
and may bring service failure. For House of brand, the benefit is that parent brand remains
separate and do not leads to failure but significant resources are required to promote synergy
(de Oliveira et al., 2015). As for the hybrid strategy, the benefit is that it can bring wider
scope to enter new markets but at the same time it is a complex strategy to adopt.
BRAND HIERARCHY OF UNILEVER
Managing hierarchy or brand hierarchy is a corporate branding practice which is used by
various companies to create brand recognition. It is very necessary for Unilever to manage its
brand hierarchy effectively to bring visual order and consistency in its architecture of brands.
The company owns over 400 brands which are distributed all over the world and achieved the
turnover of 53.7 billion euros by 2017. The company has formed its hierarchy management on
the basis of fulfilling the needs of the different customers.
In the brand hierarchy of Unilever, the brands are distributed among different categories
includes the personal care products, beauty products, food and beverages etc. The company
tries to make new innovations in its products in order to maintain the relationship with the
customers. Creating an appropriate and an effective brand portfolio leads to bring brand value
and brand equity (de Oliveira et al., 2015). This corporate structure of the company
distributes the brands according to the different age group includes the children and the adults.

STRATEGIES OF UNILEVER FOR MANAGING EQUITY OF BRANDS
Unilever equity brands are organized with appropriate target market. The brands such as ice
cream, food, beverages, personal care products, home appliances, domestic products, lux,
Lipton, sun silk, surf and foods are managed by the company to gain positive experiences of the
customer on using the brands.
The company follows “Path to Growth” strategy where the company passes through the
restructuring efforts of the past and analyse it to restructure a new and effective plan. The
strategy was a plan of five years under which Unilever launched smaller brands and sold it by
cutting substantial amount of costs. The strategy turns to be successful in various aspects but
also brings weaknesses in managing brands. The company restructures its portfolio by
considering the qualitative and financial analysis in detail (de Oliveira et al., 2015).
The Unilever adopts and built the relevant strategies for developing and creating a better
company image and reputation. The strategies are implemented in order to adopt the
marketing changes and policies by bringing the relevant innovations in the brand characteristics
and features. The major Focus of Unilever is on the cost management, differentiation and the
customer needs.
Unilever adopts the use of brand symbols, brand image and brand slogan in order to
differentiate its products and brings uniqueness from its competitors. The products such as
Dove, Axe and Heart band are sold due to their brand image and further help in maximizing the
brand equity (de Oliveira et al., 2015). Also, the company deals in distributing its brands
through various channels and stores such as the ice cream parlors, baby stores, grocery stores
and other departmental stores. Also, Unilever has recently announced significant brand
extension to broaden product portfolio.