Introduction

Brand Management holds the key in the modern markets. In a world where products are multiplying and becoming more and more similar, management of brands is critical for survival of the products as well as the companies making them.

The long-term brand management starts with the brand concept and name selection.

Brand concept refers to the meaning of the brand, i.e. it defines the brand market boundaries. Brand name is like naming a new child.

COLGATE has never shown any compromise to its original concept- Colgate is one word for dental care.

The best examples of brand names are- LUX, Liril, Rexona, Protex, Haman, Surf, Ariel, Nirma, Nivea, Fem, Oil of Oley, Vaseline, etc.

A brand mark is a symbol or a design used for the purpose of identification.

For example- Air India’s MAHARAJA.

Branding is the practice of giving a specific name to a product or group of products from one seller.

Type of Brands

1. Individual Brand Name: Each product has a special and unique brand name, such as Ranipal, Surf, Chelpark ink, Ovaltime, Aspro, etc. The manufacture has to promote each individual brand in the market separately.
2. Family Brand Name: Family name is limited to one line of a product, i.e. products which complete the sales cycles, e.g. ‘Mohuns’ for breakfast foods, ‘Amul’ for milk products, ‘Mapro’ for fruit squashes and syrups, ‘Erasmic’ for toiletry, ‘Lakme’ or ‘Ponds’ for cosmetics, etc. Family brand name can help combined advertising and sales promotion.
3. Umbrella Brand: All products such as chemicals, textiles, engineering goods, etc. manufactured by the Tata concerns will have the “Tata’s” as one umbrella brand. Such a device will also obtain low promotion cost and minimise marketing effort.
4. Combination Device: Tata house is using a combination device. Each product has an individual name but it also has the umbrella brand to indicate the business house producing the products, e.g. Tata Indica.
5. Private or Middleman’s Brands: Branding can be done by manufactures or distributors such as wholesalers, large retailers. In India this practice is popular in the woollen, hosiery, sport goods and such other industries. It helps small manufactures who have to rely on the middleman for marketing.

Branding and Marketing Programme:

Branding is a powerful instrument of advertising and sales promotion in order to secure consumer loyalty toward the brand.

The reasons for granting unique importance to branding in the marketing programme are given below:-

1. Product Differentiation: Product differentiation by branding enables manufactures to establish his own price and eliminate price competition to some extent. A branded product enjoys a separate individually.
2. Brand Image: It is a mental picture of the product in the mind of the consumers. Consumers make their buying decisions on the basis ……………………………different brands offered to them. e.g. The brand ‘Godrej’.
3. Brand Personality: Marketers try to personify the brand as if they are persons, so that the target consumers may associates the product with such a personality e.g. Brand personality of lux soap is that of an urban woman (Age 17-24 years) upper middle class with college education and concern for beauty.
4. Creation of Market: Ever-increasing competition leads to branding of product by a manufacturer to face competition and create exclusive market for the product.
5. Advertisement and Publicity: Branding helps advertising, display and sales promotion. Branding and packaging go hand in hand. Package itself can act as a medium of advertisement. Brand names make word-of mouth advertisement very effective.
6. Brand Preference: Branding not only gives separate identity and easy recognition to the product but it also creates special brand preference and brand loyalty. Popular brands such as Lux, Liril, Vim, Colgate, Sunlight have very great pulling power in… Brand preference indicates that the customer regards the brand favourably but will accept a substitute if the said brand is not available in the shop.
7. Brand Patronage: Development of loyal customers, acting as talking advertisements and repeat buyers, is the greatest reason in favour of branding. In a competitive market, a clear message of service and appreciation, responsiveness to your customers, and value in the brand name produces consumer loyalty to your brand.
8. Brand Loyalty: A satisfied customer continues to use the brand, even when competing products are available in the market. Satisfaction of customers leads to brand loyalty.
9. Brand Associations: Customers value certain brands based on the associations linked or to it. Example- Ganga soap with holy river Ganga, Hero Honda with fuel efficiency.
10. Brand Equity: Brand equity is based on brand loyalty, brand awareness, equality of the brand and brand associations. Therefore, brand equity is the intrinsic value or worth of the brand in terms the kind of money a consumer is willing to pay for it, in preference to its rivals. For a company, brands are valuable assets. Example- Brands like Colgate, Coke, Lifebuoy, Horlicks have high brand equity.
11. Expanding the Product-Mix: Many successful multiproduct firms today began with a single product whose success created an umbrella under which additional products could be launched with less risk.

Brand Strategy and Policy:

Branding strategy indicates how the firm choose to use branding as an integral part its overall marketing strategy.

The brand name is the centre around which the entire marketing mix is built up. The brand manager has to take various kinds of decisions while managing a brand and the details are given below:

1. Brand Positioning: Marketers can position their brands clearly in target customer’s minds at three levels,

a. positioning based on product attributes is the lowest level (e.g. face cream-cleansing).

b. a better positioning is by using the brand name with a desirable benefit to the customer.

e.g. Face cream- Ponds-softer skin, glowing skin.

c. strongest brands are positioned on strong beliefs and values (e.g. face cream makes you more attractive)

e.g. Halo Shampoo.

2. Brand Name Selection: Selection of a brand name starts with a careful analysis of the products and its benefits, the target market, and proposed marketing strategies. A good brand name, after all, will add greatly to a product’s success.

The following are the desirable qualities for a brand name:-

a. The name should be suggestive of the product’s benefits and qualities.

e.g. Fair & lovely, V-guard, Whirlpool.

b. It should be easy to pronounce, recognise and remember.

e.g. Ariel, Surf, Nokia, Pepsi.

c. The brand name should be distinctive:

e.g. Kodak, Oracle, Canon.

d. It should be extendable:

e.g. Amazon.com online bookseller expanded into other categories.

e. The brand name should translate into foreign language easily, and should not have different meanings in different languages.

f. The name should be capable of registration and legal protection. For this, the name should be original and not copy of other product names.

E.g. Xerox, Cellophane, Linoleum, Vaseline.

3. Brand Logo Selection: Most companies use a logo along with the brand name, for visual identification. A logo is a pictorial symbol intended to communicate with the consumers. Logo improves recognition of the product by customers.

Logos can be made of anything- words, letters, pictures or graphics.

Examples of Popular Logos:

1. Air India- Maharaja
2. Ceat Tyres- Rhino
3. Amul Butter- Girl
4. Asian Paints- …….the boy.
5. Brand Sponsorship:

There are four major types of brand sponsorship options:

1. The product could be launched as a manufacturer’s brand e.g. Philips, IBM, Bajaj.
2. The manufacturers may sell the products to resellers who give it a private brand name which is also known as store brand or distributor brand. E.g. Fab Mall, Nilgiri’s.
3. Some manufacturers market licensed brands. Sellers of children’s products use many licensed names. E.g. Batman, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Donald duck, Coca-Cola has many licenses all over the world.
4. Sometimes two companies join together and use co-branding with two established brand names. E.g. ICIC Bank- King Fisher, Idea-HDFC Bank.

4. Brand Development: Development of brands can involve four different strategies. They are:-

a.  Brand Extensions: Brand extension means extending an established and successful brand name to more products, which may or may not be related to the core brand. This a powerful tool in brand development and management.

E.g. Maggie noodles, Maggie ketchup, Maggie soup, etc.

Amul milk powder, Amul ghee, Amul butter, Amul cheese, Amul cheese spread, Amul ice cream, Amul chocolates.

b. Line extensions: Line extensions involves introduction of additional item in a given product category under the same brand name, such as new flavours, forms, colours, ingredients, packages size, etc. Majority of new products launches by companies are line extensions.

E.g. HLL’s Surf, Surf Ultra, Surf Excel, International Surf Excel.

Colgate line extension includes Colgate Gel, Colgate Herbal, Colgate Calciguard and Colgate Total.

Line extension are low-cost and low-risk ways of launching a new product.

c. Product Flanking: Product flanking refers to the introduction of different combinations of products at different prices and package sizes to tap market opportunities.

The core product is flanked on both sides by bigger or smaller packs/costly or cheaper products.

E.g. BRU instant coffee- original pack size was 200 grams. Flanked by 1 kg, 500 grams on one side and 100 grams, 50 grams on the other side.

d. Multi-brands: Sometimes companies launch additional brands in the same category. Multi branding facilities products differentiation i.e. to establish different features, attributes and appeal to different buying motives.

E.g. HLL’s soaps – Dove, Lux, Pears, Liril, etc.

e. New brands: A new brand name is created by a company when it enters a new product category for which the present brand name is found not suitable.

E.g. Honda created the Lexus brand for its Luxury car to differentiate from the established line.

Titan watches created a new brand name, ‘Fast Track’ for the watch aimed at teenagers.

5. Brand Rejuvenation: Brand rejuvenation is the act of adding value to an existing brand by improving product attributes and enhancing its overall appeal. The aim is to re-focus consumer’s attention on an existing brand.

E.g. HLL’s Surf became Surf Excel, Surf Ultra.

6. Brand Re-launch: Occasionally, some brands do not succeed in the market. Some brands reach declining stage after an initial success. Companies try to give the brand one more trial with some modified attributes or features and aggressive promotional campaigns. This process is called brand re-launch.

E.g. Santoor Soap of Wipro failed in the market initially. New Santoor was launched ably supported by a new promotional campaign.