Branding And Brand Management
To understand brand management, one must understand brand or branding. The first part of this paper will cover brand or branding, and the second part will cover brand management.
The Birth of Brand Management
Brand management is reputed to have been created at Procter & Gamble with the McElroy memo. The McElroy memo was a three page, internal memo that clearly violated the P&G one page memo rule. While working on an advertising campaign for Camay soap, McElroy became frustrated because he needed to compete with other P&G soap products in addition to the products produced and distributed by rival consumer goods producers, such as Lever and Palmolive. His memo detailed why P&G should spend more attention to Camay and other P&G brands instead of concentrating resources on the flagship product, Ivory. In this way, each brand’s qualities would be distinguished from every other brand’s, leading to “product differentiation.” Thus, modern brand management was born.
What is a Brand?
A brand is a promise that enables people to use shortcuts to make decisions. The brand causes image associations, sets expectations, and leads to changing levels of consumer trust. Should the expectations be met, then trust in the brand will increase. If the brand falls short of consumers’ expectations, the trust erodes and the brand becomes associated with low quality or inconsistent performance.
By controlling the image to set positive, attainable expectations and consistently meeting said expectations, the brand can be self-defined in a positive image. Should the owner of the brand allow the marketplace or society to define the brand, it would be more likely to be associated with an undesired image. Self-definition only happens if the brander knows what qualities make the product special and exploits or otherwise draws attention to those assets.
A good brand name has several characteristics. These characteristics are: able to be legally protected, pronounceable, memorable, recognizable, attention grabbing, suggestive of benefits, reflective of company or product image, and distinctive from the competition.
What is Brand Management?
The actual branding process is cyclical. First, brand managers must identify a product’s identity by distinguishing it from other products and identifying its niche. Second, brand managers must ensure that communications outlets and forums deliver consistent messages about the product and its qualities. Third, product development follow, with thoughts of how to create product that will consistently deliver the desired message. The most important part of the branding process is ensuring that the “right” messages about the product go into all communications regarding the product/company.
The leaders of any organization start the definition of the brand because they have control of management. The CEO should be the brand leader of his or her company. Those who interact with customers or clients as well as the product creators also have a role in brand management, because they are possible outlets of communications regarding the brand.
Individuals who can define the brand must create some promise that is both memorable and desirable. The brand promise must also be unique and exclusively associated with the company or product to be branded. To create a successful brand promise, brand managers must possess a clear understanding of the marketplace and customers. They also need to understand the abilities and motivations of those in product development or with customer contact because those individuals will be implementing the deliverable brand promise. Implementation entails putting the brand promise into the minds of anyone with product or company contact, especially those who are directly impacted.
Following through on the brand promise is the final step of a brand management cycle. Having highly motivated people who are both willing and able to deliver on these promises, the necessary technology and systems in place, and processes to consistently fulfill or exceed all parties’ expectations are necessary to follow through on the promises. If these elements are strong, the managing capability will be maximized.
Final Thoughts on Brand Management
Brand management is moving from an image based proposition to building a fact-based reputation. Consumers want data that corroborates product claims and turn to the web as a resource for such information. Revitalizing a languishing brand entails establishing a leadership position for the brand and getting a product or company that delivers on its promises to market as quickly as possible. By increasing the product’s perceived value to the customer, the brand manager increases the brand’s worth or equity.