Kirti Dutta

Brand Management-Principles and Practices

Chapter 2 Creating a brand

Teaching notes

The previous chapter highlighted the need for branding. It showed that a brand is a physical entity (tangible aspect), which has something extra (intangible aspect) to offer. This chapter gives an understanding of how a brand can be successfully created and how the right combination of both the tangible and intangible attributes results in creating brand loyal customers. To get maximum returns on the investment and to increase marketability, organizations use branding. Creating a brand is a sequential task and starts with the strategic analysis of the external and internal environment. From this analysis the opportunities are highlighted and brand objective is delineated. The next step is to design the personality of the brand which can be done by denoting the brand as a product, person, symbol or organization. The brand value proposition is then drawn along the functional, self-expressive or emotional benefits. The brand positioning basis and the marketing strategies of the organization related to the product, price, promotion, place and online strategies are drawn. After its creation, the brand needs to be monitored constantly. All the communications a brand has with a customer leads to the creation of brand image and brand personality. Brand managers, therefore, need to be very sure of their product, of the communications with customers, and of the various interactions the customers have with the brand. These various inputs result in the creation of a brand identity. The customers understanding of the brand in terms of positioning, personality and brand image is then studied and the performance of the brand is measured both in financial and customer based terms. A successful brand so created can then offer opportunities to the organization in terms of extension and stretching strategies and the brand architecture is important for successful management of different brands. The brand extensions can be in the form of endorsers, sub-brands and driver roles. Kapferers brand identity prism gives an understanding of how the brand identity can be designed. The left side is external and consists of physique, relationship and reflection and the right side is internal and consists of personality, culture and self-image. The Aakers brand personality traits help in measuring the personality of the brand and consist of sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness. All the signals of the brand result in the formation of a brand image which impacts the brand equity, sales and willingness to pay premiums for the brand. A positive image can be developed on the basis of product, price, packaging, user and usage imagery

Copyright Oxford University Press, 2012