Brand Management of Virgin Media: A Comprehensive Report

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Brand Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................. 3
LO1............................................................................................................................. 4
LO2............................................................................................................................. 8
LO3........................................................................................................................... 10
LO4........................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 14
Reference List...........................................................................................................15
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Introduction
The procedure through which a brand is able to grow and maintain its goodwill and
reputation in the market is called Brand Management. It is vital for an organisation to
engage in brand management this helps in creating various themes and appeal for
different commodities in the market. For the purpose of this report, the case of Virgin
Media has been considered. Virgin Media is a British based technology company
that provides primary digital services within the United Kingdom. The products of the
company include broadband internet services, digital television sets, mobile
telephony services, and fixed line telephone. The revenue of the company as per
2012 is around £4,100 million and the total number of employees that are active
within the organisation is over 14,000 individuals (Virgin Media, 2019). In this
particular report branding as an instrument of advertising various strategies of
portfolio management, ways through which branding can be measured and other
aspects will be evaluated in the case of Virgin Media.
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LO1 Demonstrate an understanding of how a brand is built and managed over
time
P1 Explain the importance of branding as a marketing tool and why and how it
has emerged in business practice
Branding could be called a procedure through which a differentiated and picture and
name is created for an organisation within the minds of the consumers. Through the
correct form of branding, a consistent image and theme of the organisation are
maintained within the psychology of customers through appropriate advertising and
marketing efforts (Flint et al., 2016).
The significance of branding as an advertising instrument has been elaborated
here down below:
 It creates a brand and organisational loyalty for products and services.
 Branding helps in creating a clear message for the marketing campaigns that
are active
 It helps in increasing and creating the credibility of the enterprise within the
market.
 Motivate a large figure of consumers in the market to be encouraged towards
buying the products of the organisation
 Helps in connecting consumers emotionally with the products that the
organisation is offering
The reason why branding has come up as a practice has been illustrated below:
 It has come up as a practice in business so as to help organisations to
increase visibility. The higher the level of visibility the more goodwill is
elevated which in turn assists in elevating the longevity of the enterprise in
the industry
 Branding helps in raising the price of the products and commodities so that
more profits can be brought into the organisation. With the higher level of
profit, the organisation is able to who involved itself in activities such as
expansion, Innovation and others.
The procedure through which how branding has emerged as a business practice
has been discussed here:
 With the introduction of television into the lives of everyday individuals, shows,
movies and other entertainment packages help marketing campaigns to exist.
Through which product placement and service advertisement can we put forth
in the market
 Introduction of platforms such as social media, blogs, YouTube videos and
others now give accessibility to businesses to promote and brand products
and commodities directly onto the screens of customers.
P2 Analyse the key components of a successful brand strategy for building
and managing brand equity.
Six varying components through which a company is able to be successful in terms
of its brand strategy building all of these aspects have been accepted here down
below:
Target audience - Virgin Media utilizes a B2C model through which the commodities
of the enterprise are directly put into the visibility of the consumers through
marketing endeavours. This enables them to be encouraged towards buying the
goods of the organisation (Upadhyaya, 2017). When it comes to the services of
Virgin Media the target audience also exchange to other businesses as well.
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Through B2B Virgin Media is able to provide internet and mobile services to
companies such as Samsung, and others.
Brand promise - A brand promise is the set of expectation that an organisation
provides to the target audience that is said to be fulfilled when the consumer makes
consumption of products and commodities.
Brand perception - Brand perception is the point of view Virgin Media has chosen
to take in the market through which an emphasis on better internet services, steadier
built and other perceptions are promised. This perception has formed the lens
through which a group of consumers talk and discuss about a brand (Heding et al.,
2015).
Brand value - On this stage, Virgin Media informs is consumers about the ethical
and cultural values that the organisation has through which an attempt to gain the
respect of the consumer is made.
Brand voice - The personality of Virgin Media is portrayed through the brand voice
of the enterprise. Currently, the brand voice of Virgin Media is that of an informative
individual that is that has a serious undertone through which it attempts to inform its
consumers about the commodities it has.
Brand Positioning - Virgin Media Create brand positioning in the market to the
utilisation of multiple elements such as logos, trademarks, packaging, brand equity
and other facilities of the organisation through which it is able to make it stand itself
in the market.
M1 Evaluate how brands are managed successfully over time using
application of appropriate theories, models and concepts.
In order to manage the brand image and growth of Virgin Media successfully, two
theories will be discussed here down below:
Keller's brand equity model Is a simple brand that focuses on creating and building
building a fortified brand picture for Virgin Media in the market. Within this theory,
there are aspects such as creating positive feelings, opinion, belief, thoughts and
perception through which the method in which the commodity of Virgin Media
changes for the better within this model, there are four players data brand response,
brand meaning, brand identity, and resonance. Through the utilisation of all of these
four stages within this pyramid model, Virgin Media informs customers about the
technology products they provide. The places where they provide such services
include the UK market where these are available (Hill and Brierley, 2017)
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Figure 1 - Keller's brand equity model
(Source: Upadhyaya, 2017)
Apart from this, there is another theory called Aaker's Brand Equity Model. With
this theory, there are five aspects which include brand association, brand
awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, proprietary assets (Zhang, 2015). From
all of these five areas, a company is able to focus on one aspect to growing one at a
time. For instance, if Virgin Media chooses, then it must present to the consumers
with reasons to buy its technology products. It must have appropriate pricing and
should be able to market properly into the market so that it can attain wide
availability.
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Figure 2 - Aaker's Brand Equity Model
(Source: Shimizu, 2016)
Another model which can be discussed here is the ‘5 dimensions of brand
personality model’ theory that can be utilised in the case Virgin Media of as well.
Within this theory, there are elements such as sincerity, excitement, competence,
sophistication, and ruggedness. While on one end of this theory is sincerity where
there are aspects such as being honest cheerful down to earth and others on the
other side which is ruggedness. There are aspects such as being masculine, feeling
tough, outdoorsy and others. Through evaluation of all of these sides dimension, it
can be said that Virgin Media within all of these five spectrum, falls between the
competence and sophistication levels as they are a reliable company which is
intelligent and focuses toward upper-class consumers (Voss and Mohan, 2016)
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Figure 3 - 5 dimensions of brand personality model
(Source: Zhang, 2015)
M2 Apply appropriate and validated examples within an organisational context
Some instances of how key components of a successful brand strategy that can
be applied in the case of Virgin Media have been illustrated here down below:
Example 1
When the company attempts to launch a new product, it may use brand strategy
aspects such as organisational promise through which the company can provide
informal assurance to consumers. In 2008, the company had newly launched its
broadband internet access service into the market, where it made the assurance that
it will provide high-speed internet connectivity at low costs. These assurances will
help the organisation to help attain initial sales that the enterprise requires to push
the new product into success.
Example 2
Back in the early 2000s, Virgin Media had been a well-known figure in the market for
providing end-to-end fixed-line telephone services. It became a well rounded
business that had successfully positioned its brand into the market. The company
had been able to achieve this removing all intermediary cable operates and investing
more financial assets in the growth of the telephone services to provide better voice
services.
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LO2 Analyse how brands are organised in portfolios; how brand hierarchies
are built and managed
P3 Analyse different strategies of portfolio management, brand hierarchy and
brand equity management.
Portfolio Management may be understood as the combination of both science and
art through which a company is able to create organisational policies, objectives and
other aspects of the organisation. It tries to create and maintain all of the products
that fall under the umbrella of the business (Nguyen et al., 2018). When considering
the case of Virgin Media, there are several various strategies of portfolio
management. Brand portfolio strategies encompass effective development and
creation of brand assets that help in the growth of the goodwill of the organisation.
Two forms of strategies of brand portfolio:
Branded house strategy
With the assistance of this strategy, the company makes itself the product that
consumers must subscribe. It focuses on creating a memorable and easily
detectable organisation that consumers can gravitate towards. One of the prime
organisational examples, which can be provided, which uses a strategy like this, is
Apple, Bentley, Tesla and others. All of these organisations use the name of their
business to draw in consumers by promising them high quality utility on each
commodity (Atwal and Williams, 2017).
Figure 4 - Branded house strategy
(Source: Atwal and Williams, 2017)
House of brands strategy
These forms of businesses are very similar to the functioning styles of a holding
company. Here within a single brand, multiple other sub-brands operate and try to
elevate their market position. Examples of the company who utilise this form of the
strategy include businesses such as Rexona, Dove, AXE, Unilever, Slim-Fast and
others.
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Figure 5 - House of brands strategy
(Source: Ekinci, 2018)
After evaluating both of the above strategies, it can be ascertained that in the case of
Virgin Media, branded house strategy is a much better method of elevating itself
in the market. The rationale behind this is that a large portion of the target audience
within the market already recognises the company as a good organisation that tries
to input quality in all of its commodities.
Brand hierarchy encompasses summarising various elements and components that
are present within a commodity. Brand hierarchy has many layers or strategies such
as family brand, modifiers, corporate brand, and individual band, which targets
different groups of consumers in the market. All of these different layers represent
multiple sections towards which various elements of the product can be used.
Brand equity management is the differentiated responsiveness that employees,
consumers and other competitors have towards the communicated words, actions,
services, products of the brand entity. The various strategies that exist within brand
equity management include designing brand strategy, market research and
others (Ekinci, 2018). Designing brand strategy focuses on building simplicity within
the product of the company and having a well-outlined product mix, through which
product campaigns can be launched. Market research encompasses gathering and
evaluating various types of data so that the ways in which competitive advantage
positioning unique value point and others are unveiled.
M3 Critically analyse portfolio management, brand hierarchies and brand
equity using appropriate theories, models and frameworks
According to Rosenbaum-Elliott (2015), for companies who wish to last for a long
time in the industry branded house strategy is an effective way to go about the
market. It helps in staying relevant in the market for a longer period of duration.
Similarly, If a company chooses to attain quick profits and leave the industry then the
house of brand strategy is much better as it focuses more on products. When it
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comes to a brand hierarchy the most successful way in which a company can move
towards either creating a corporate brand or family brand. While the corporate brand
focuses on attaining high levels of profit, a family brand puts more emphasis on
being together and helping each other move forward. Both of these are effective
strategies that helped the company move quickly up the business ladder. As
postulated by Shimizu (2016), when evaluating designing brand and market research
side by side, it has been observed that marketing research is broader in the
spectrum while designing band is more specific and focus. For different bands, the
managerial head of the organisation must ascertain which one is the best partner for
them.
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LO3 Evaluate how brands are leveraged/extended over time domestically and
internationally
P4 Evaluate how brands are managed collaboratively and in partnership both
at a domestic and global level.
In order for brands to operate in a global as well as domestic level the Ansoff Matrix
might be used through which a company might be able to formulate and create new
products within a local region (Heding et al., 2015). Along with the company may
choose to expand in the international markets as well where it can push existing
products and innovations. Within this strategy, Virgin Media can choose from four
parts. These strategies include techniques such as market penetration, market
development, product development, and diversification. The best strategy in the case
of Virgin Media is the development pathway through which the organisation will be
able to expand in a location such as Norway, Melbourne, Japan and others.
Figure 6 - Ansoff Matrix
(Source: Steenkamp, 2017)
Organisations are managed through various brand approaches. Virgin Media can
operate with other organisations to produce more collaborative output. Some of the
best brand approaches have been illustrated below:
Economic approach - Within this approach the company has to evaluate and
explore all of the four Ps that exist within the business. These four P's include
product, price, placement, and promotion (Steenkamp, 2017).
Identity approach - Utilizing this approach the organisation aims to create a visual
and unified behaviour identity into the market. Here the image of the brand is more
important than the emphasis on its product.
Consumer-based approach - This approach helps in attempting to reconfigure the
cognitive construction of consumers where their interests are given primary
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