Brand Management: Unilever's Brand Portfolio and Dove Case Study

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Brand Management

Executive Summary
The assignment deals with the management of brand portfolio together with, the
hierarchical administration of the company, Unilever. The benefits and drawbacks are
stated regarding the specific roles undertaken in the organization. The strategies for
managing brand equities are also ascertained. In the next section, the strengths and
weaknesses of the brand, Dove of the industry Unilever has been delivered.
Furthermore, the last part of the assignment focuses on several branding aspects like
brand value, market share and so on.
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Table of Contents
Task 1 (Building and managing brand over time).............................................................3
Task 2 (Brand Portfolio and Hierarchy Management)......................................................7
Task 3 (Brand extension and leverage).........................................................................12
Task 4 (Measuring and managing brand value).............................................................15
References.....................................................................................................................18
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Task 1 (Building and managing brand over time)
Introduction
The organization ‘Optimum Impression Ltd’ has hired managing personnel for
supervising the marketing functions necessary for increasing the brand value of the
article whose headline has been given as ‘Brand is Power’.
Any brand is a collaboration of products and services that helps in creating a brand
name that enhances the reputation of the organization in the existing as well as
potential customer base.
Brand equity, on the other hand, refers to the value generated from selling the product,
which is the article here, whose tagline has already been formed.
The stages of making a brand successful are developing an identity, conceptualizing the
meaning, gaining responses from the customers and maintaining a long-lasting
relationship with them. Marketing plays a critical role in forming brand equity such that
the communication of the customers with the management of the organization
enhances which enhances the possibility of revenue generation.
Discussion
The definition of the brand is different for various companies, like Optimum Impression.
It is the feeling that the customers generate for the company. The recognition of the
company increases when the company invests highly on the brand name and
highlighting the qualities of the products.
Brand equity can be defined as the value that the company gains by branding the logo
and other identifiers of the company (Rosenbaum-Elliott et al., 2015). Increasing brand
equity involves marketing campaigns and increasing the recognition of the company.
In order to strengthen the brand equity, the company, Optimum Impression has to follow
certain strategies, which are maintaining the quality of the products, being loyal to the
customers and keeping consistency in all the services, they are renowned.
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For enhancing the quality, the company might implement sales of a few products, but
should not compromise in the warranty and efficiency aspects. Failure in this part
causes bad word-of-mouth, which tarnishes the image of the brand (Heding et al.,
2015). To develop the loyalty factor, the emotions of the customers need to be
understood by the company owners. The consistency element features in transmitting
the same vibes from all the functionalities performed within the organization.
Brand extension is a form of marketing process where the customers relate to the
products, launch new campaigns and increase the interest level of the customers.
Reinforcing the brands can be utilized when the company is capable enough to gather
the customers to repeat their purchases from the same company repeatedly. Here, the
product life cycle is mostly emphasized (Atwal and Williams, 2017). Overcoming the
brand crisis can be done by proper planning, acknowledging the issues that the
company, Optimum Impression has been facing, ask for help from the stakeholders,
inform them often about the progress and monitor the responses that are obtained.
The benefits of branding are boosting the recognition of the customers, gaining a
competitive edge in the market, introducing the products in a smooth manner, share the
values of the customers with the company goals and objectives, develop the credibility
of the business and augment the purchases made from the company, Optimum
Impression. Bonding with the customers is the main goal of investing in the prospects of
branding. Therefore, it helps in making the shopping experience of the customers
memorable. The competition of the company also reaches new peaks, where the other
players feel threatened by the chosen organization.
The applications present in the brand equity model for the company, Optimum
Impressions can be elaborately understood with the help of the following:
Aaker’s model- here, developing brand equity can be done by initiating the brand as a
product, brand as an organization, as a person and as a symbol (Rauschnabel et al.,
2016). Hence, this model is beneficial for increasing the loyalty of the brand, awareness
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factor, improving the quality of the features present in the products and associating the
brand with other premium factors.
Keller’s brand equity model- this model of brand equity signifies a pyramid-shaped
structure that comprises of levels containing factors like identity, meaning, response and
relationships. In the first stage, the job that is being delivered by the company, Optimum
Impressions are scrutinized, and then the meaning aspect takes account of the social
message that the company is delivering to the customers from where several responses
of the customers are obtained and thus a relationship gets formed.
Marketing plays a significant role in developing the brand equity of the business,
Optimum Impressions. To heighten the standard of the brand, thorough research of the
market is undertaken. As the new generation of customers is tech-savvy, the branding
of the business should be done in a digital process and integrate the customers through
social networking sites (Du Preez and Bendixen, 2015). Brand awareness can be
achieved with the help of marketing campaigns and advertising modes. The various
processes of marketing, that is important for improving brand equity has its own
strengths and weaknesses. The mediums of advertising the products of the company,
Optimum Impressions are many, like radio, television, newspapers and so on. Engaging
the advertisements through a television would reach less number of people, but the cost
incurred would be huge. Similarly, the coverage done by radio is not that extensive and
hence the equity level of the brand remains significantly poor (Ertimur and Coskuner-
Balli, 2015).
Well known brand example revitalization
The example for understanding the revitalization of the brand has been Optimum
impressions, whose main aim is to regain the brand value it had created earlier. For
this, the company needs to overcome several challenges, so that the trust of the
customers and the employees can be re-established (Punjaisri and Wilson, 2017). Once
the consumers feel that the company lacks the quality and the potential to meet their
needs, they tend to move to other similar brands that involve more standard products
and range of services at a lesser price. For example, the company can evaluate the
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situation about the customers are leaving the brand. Thereafter facilitate enhanced
innovation strategies that would help in producing endorsement procedures to the target
audiences. Hiring the right candidates for marketing can help to a certain extent in
revitalizing the brand image as well as equity factors of Optimum Impression Ltd.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that marketing is an important tool for extending the branding
of the organization, Optimum Impressions. The customers receive a clearer message of
the company through the processes of branding. Targeting the customers by
incorporating emotional tactics heightens the influencing rate of the customers. For
motivating the buyers, branding is an essential tool, which further establishes the loyalty
aspects of the customers and their commitment towards the company. The branding
campaigns create a platform where the buyers begin to identify themselves associated
with the products manufactured by the organization.
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Task 2 (Brand Portfolio and Hierarchy Management)
Introduction
The organization Unilever has been chosen for assessing the strategies involved during
the formation of brand portfolios. Several theories and frameworks have been stated for
the critical evaluation of the strategies. The management of the hierarchies present in
the organization has been illustrated as well. Further, the administration of the equities
associated with the brand has been undertaken. The company is headquartered in
London, United Kingdom. The brands attached are Knorr, Dove, Sunsilk and many
more. The company’s annual turnover amounts to 49 billion Euros and over 155,000
people are working under the company as satisfied employees (Unilever global
company website. 2019).
1. Analyze the organization’s brand portfolio strategy
Definition of brand portfolio
The brand portfolio of the company, Unilever can be defined as the collection and
accumulation of the various brands operating united under the assigned brand name.
These brands operate under segregated market segments and influence customers
from diverse genres (Veloutsou and Guzman, 2017). The brands operating for Unilever
are mostly for home products, beauty care and many more. The strategy under which
all these brands operate mostly entails to the satisfaction of the customers and
heightening the competitive edge.
Models of brand portfolio with an example
The models based on which the strategies of brand portfolio for the organization,
Unilever are given as follows:
House brand
The house brand model approach of the brand portfolio of the company, Unilever, helps
the brands, Knorr and Dove to be the main brand based on which the company attains
most of its revenues. Thus investment to the marketing processes of these brand
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portfolio is enormous that the other ones. As per Abrahams, (2016), the customers tend
to develop an emotional attachment with these brands the company thus targets these
portfolios to be more diverse and highly satisfying. Sunsilk is another example of house
brand of the organization, Unilever. Advertising and other endorsement features are
further given focus upon so that the revenues can be obtained in an augmented pattern.
Branded house
Branded house is mostly defined as a single brand, which the organization of Unilever
prioritizes on. Rexona, of Unilever, is one of the examples of the branded house that the
organization highly depends. It is the foremost brand, which has acquired a large
number of customers and enhanced the brand value. According to Urde, (2016), this
strategy of the brand portfolio helps in boosting the recognition of the brand name as
well as the reputation of the organization. The customers feel enlightened with the
service quality and further looks for other items of the same brand. The advertising and
other promotional campaigns get more exposure to the branded house.
Mixed approach
The mixed approach of the branding procedure of the company Unilever considers
factors, like sub-branding, store branding, co-branding and private-label branding.
Here several brands of the single company are considered and the customers have to
browse through all the different brand variations before they make their final choice. As
the company, Unilever functions through the development of multiple brands operating
in the home, health and beauty products, the profitability of the industry increases
manifold with simultaneously enriching the satisfaction level of the customers as well as
the fulfilment of the employees. Thus, the retention level of both improves
tremendously.
The sub-brand process of the mixed brand portfolio helps in targeting a specific
segment of the premium customers. As stated by Buil et al., (2016), the income level of
the customers is taken under consideration, like ranging from middle income to high-
income buyers. For example, Dove produces all range of pricing and accordingly sets
the standard of the products.
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In-store branding is where the relationship of the retailers with the customers enhanced.
In co-branding, two or more products are paired together to enhance the awareness
level and thus resulting in improved brand image. In the private-label branding, the
manufacturers of Unilever sells products, which are exclusively found in specific retail
outlets and no other place.
2. Provide an illustration of the hierarchy management of brands within
organization portfolio
In the hierarchical management of the company, Unilever, a strategy has been
developed as per the numbers as well as considering the nature of the products and
services that are made to be available from the brand portfolio. According to Lin, (2015),
this strategy further helps in establishing a strong bond amongst the consumers and
employees of the organization. The hierarchy helps in graphically portraying the
strategies of the business of Unilever. The representation of the hierarchy with critical
evaluation can be done through the stages involving the following:
Corporate brand
This is the topmost strata of the hierarchy where the pros are only a single brand of the
company has been the priority. As mentioned by Iglesias et al., (2017), the corporate
and the company brands can be used together as it enhances the goals and purposes
of the chosen company, Unilever, but the con is that the difficulty level increases.
Family brand
It is also known as the umbrella brand, where different items of various brands of the
same organization are taken into account. The products do not have similarity and the
sustenance of the products becomes a little complicated due to the variations.
Individual brand
Here, the customization of the brand takes place and thus the satisfaction level of the
consumers gets enriched. The disadvantage is that the process is very complex and
incurs increased expenses.
Modifier
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The modifier strata of portfolio management of branding ensures that the quality of the
products and services of Unilever maintain consistency. As per Brooks and Anumudu,
(2016), they create bold trademarks for the development of the industry.
Product description
This is the condition where a new product has been introduced. The consumers can be
used for understanding the features of the products and giving a tough competition to
the other brands.
Figure 1: Brand Hierarchy
(Source: Brooks and Anumudu, 2016)
3. Analyze strategies used for managing the equity of the brands within the
organizations portfolio
The strategies that can be initiated for the developmental goals of brand equity for the
organization, Unilever are given as follows:
Differentiation
The brands developed by Unilever have a strong contribution to the growth of the
satisfaction of customers. These products have different features as compared to other
industries.
Knowledge
A strategy of imparting more information of the products to the consumers, the
promotional and advertising procedures are more effective.
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Relevance
The brands of Unilever have to meet the conditions prevailing in the target market.
According to Su and Tong, (2015), the products developed should be in accordance
with the necessities of the consumers.
Esteem
The respect level of the brand of Unilever is mostly emphasized in this esteem layer.
Increased recognition causes more customers to get associated with the brand, thus
causing more profitability.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be stated that improving the brand portfolio of an
organization, like Unilever is integral for making the business more renowned in the
market. Thus, different models of branding, like house brand, the branded house has
been discussed with the help of hierarchy management structure incorporated in the
business. The strategies for increasing the reputation of the brand equities in the target
market with the help of policies like knowledge distribution, differentiation, relevance
and esteem has been categorically explained.
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