STRATEGIC BRAND
MANAGEMENT
Ananda Hussein Ph.D
STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT
• A product is anything that is potentially valued by a target
market for the benefits or satisfaction it provides, including
objects, services, organizations, places, people, and
ideas
What is Brand?
• A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other
feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as
distinct from those of other sellers.
Strategic Role of Brands
• FOR BUYERS, BRANDS CAN:
• reduce customer search costs by identifying products
quickly and accurately,
• reduce the buyer’s perceived risk by providing an
assurance of quality and consistency (which may then be
transferred to new products),
• reduce the social and psychological risks associated with
owning and using the “wrong” product by providing
psychological rewards for purchasing brands that
symbolize status and prestige.
Strategic Role of Brands
• FOR SELLERS, BRANDS CAN FACILITATE:
• repeat purchases that enhance the company’s financial performance
because the brand enables the customer to identify and re-identify
the product compared to alternatives,
• the introduction of new products, because the customer is familiar
with the brand from previous buying experience,
• promotional effectiveness by providing a point of focus,
• premium pricing by creating a basic level of differentiation compared
to competitors,
• market segmentation by communicating a coherent message to the
target audience, telling them for whom the brand is intended and for
whom it is not,
• brand loyalty, of particular importance in product categories where
loyal buying is an important feature of buying behavior.
Brand Management Challenges
• Intense price and other competitive pressure
• Fragmentation of markets and media
• Complex brand strategies and relationship
• Pressure to invest elsewhere
• Short-term pressure
Strategic Brand Management
Brand Identity Strategy
Identity Implementation
STRATEGIC
BRAND
ANALYSIS
Brand Strategy Over
Time
Managing the Brand
Portfolio
Leveraging the Brand
BRAND
EQUITY
MANAGEMENT
Strategic Brand Analysis
• Strategic brand analysis includes market and customer,
competitor, and brand analysis
• Tracking brand performance  to guide decision on new
products, modified products, and eliminating products.
Product Life Cycle
Relevant issues in PLC analysis include:
•
•
•
Determining the length and rate of change of the PLC
Identifying the current PLC stage and selecting the
product strategy that corresponds to that stage
Anticipating threats and finding opportunities for
altering and extending the PLC
Brand Equity
• Effective strategic brand management requires that we
understand brand equity and evaluate its impact when
making brand management decisions:
“Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liability linked to
a brand, its name,and symbol, that add to or subtract from
the value provided by a product or
service to a firm
and/or to that firm’s
customers.”
Measuring Brand Equity. Several measures are needed to
capture all relevant aspects of brand equity.**
* loyalty (price premium, satisfaction/loyalty),
* perceived quality/leadership measures (perceived
quality, leadership/popularity),
* associations/differentiation (perceived value, brand
personality, organizational associations),
* awareness (brand awareness), and
* market behavior
BRAND IDENTITY STRATEGY
Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations
that the brand strategist aspires to create or
maintain. These associations represent what the
brand stands for and imply a promise to customers
from the organization members.*
Four Brand Identity Perspectives
Product
Organization
Person
Symbol
* David A. Aaker, Building Strong Brands, 1996, 68.
Strategies for Improving Product Performance
Cost
reduction
Add
new
product(s)
Product
improvement
Product line
Strategy
Alter
marketing
strategy
Eliminate
specific
product(s)
MANAGING THE BRAND PORTFOLIO
Leverage
Commonalities to
Generate Synergy
Allocate
Resources
BRAND PORTFOLIO
OBJECTIVES
Facilitate Change
and Adaptation
Achieve Clarity
of Product
Offerings
Source: David A. Aaker, Building Strong Brands, New York: The Free Press, 1996, 241-242.
Reduce
Brand
Identity
Damage
BRAND LEVERAGING STRATEGY
LINE
EXTENSION
BRAND
EXTENSION
Minor variants of a single
product are marketed under
the same brand name
Extensions of the brand
name to other product
categories
--Similar
--Dissimilar
CO-BRANDING
Co-branding (dual branding) involves two or more established
brands making a joint offer of their product brands —
The participant’s brand names
are identified on the good or
service.
Several different forms –
Component co-branding
(Volvo and Michelin)
Same company co-branding
Alliance co-branding
(Delta and American Express)
Ingredient co-branding
SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF BRAND MANAGEMENT*
Failure to fully understand the meaning of the
brand.
Failure to live up to the brand promise.
Failure to adequately support the brand.
Failure to be patient with the brand.
Failure to adequately control the brand.
Failure to properly balance consistency and
change with the brand.
Failure to understand the complexity of brand
equity measurement and management.
*Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management, Prentice Hall, 2003, 736.
Thank You