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A Practical Guide to Brand Management

There is a growing amount of valuable literature covering the topic of Brand Management. This article attempts to present some of the theory in a practical way.

The purpose of the article therefore is to develop a template that can be used as a framework to construct a Strategic Brand Plan, which can be used as a practical guideline to apply theory to practice.

The article does not attempt to develop a new model for Brand Management, but rather to distill the theory into a “Dummies guide to Brand Management”, or a “Back to Basics guide to Brand Management” in such a way that meaningful theory is translated into practical application.

The brand plan template
The brand plan template (BPT) is a visual presentation of a brand plan. (see SA Encyclopaedia of Brands and Branding 2000, page 75)The purpose of the BPT is to balance consumer needs with what a brand may offer. As per the template the process is as follows. Firstly evaluate the current brand position; secondly fully understand the consumer’s needs and thirdly, express the brand in such a way as to outline the practical benefits to the consumer. Finally match the brand benefits to the consumer needs.

Understand the current Brand Position
Obviously products are what a company makes or provides in the form of a service. The more competitive a market is the more generic the products or services appear to be. Branding a product or service is one of the processes that are undertaken to differentiate the product or service from other alternatives a consumer may have.

A brand is also the promise a company makes which indicates to the consumer how their product is different from the generic product. Brands therefore reveal elements of differentiation between products. The current brand positioning is the current promise that is being made to the consumer and therefore a suggested starting point.

The current brand position can be expressed visually and verbally. A tool that may be used to present the brand positioning visually is the FCB grid. The grid suggests two levels of purchases, low involvement purchases or high involvement purchases, as well as two decision making processes, emotional or rational.

Evaluate the macro environment
Macro environmental factors are political, economic, social and technological advancement. These forces may have an impact on the environment within which the brand exists. These forces must be identified wherever possible and their potential impact on the brand must be evaluated.

Determine who is capable of buying the product.
Traditional market segmentation techniques provide a valuable understanding of your potential customer base. Geographic segmentation determines the physical distribution of the market. Demographic segmentation provides the buying ability of a specific market segment.

Determine the markets needs
Determine what the markets needs are relative to the generic product. Basic needs are rarely expressed clearly and are often revealed in disguised forms. Clearly identifying consumer’s basic needs may simplify the brand strategy.

Determine the reasons for buying the product.
The purchaser of a luxury car can rationally explain the purchase as a good investment. The emotional or irrational explanation could be to send a message to their family and friends that they have arrived. Traditional imperial techniques will not provide the underlying psychological reason for a purchase. Market research is invaluable in determining the psychographic and behavioral profiles of consumers.

Determine what would inspire consumers to buy the product.
To understand the consumer one needs to go beyond numbers. Market segmentation is based on groupings which can be measured empirically. The use of market segmentation techniques is valuable for identifying a target market and for the positioning of a brand.

It can be argued that market segmentation provides no guidance or insight into art, inspiration, instinct or intuition because it cannot be measured. This does not reduce the importance of market segmentation, as the consumer must be identified before being understood. This in turn implies that a deeper understanding of the consumer is required.

“At the heart of an effective creative philosophy is the belief that nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive man, what instincts dominate his action, even though his language often camouflages what really motivates him. “ (Bill Bernbach).

Determine the consumer’s value system
The process of understanding the deeper reasons why consumers buy can be related to their values. These may be amongst others, security, benevolence, a sense of belonging, self-direction and tradition. Identifying and relating to the underlying values of the consumer provides valuable depth to the market segmentation information.

Determine what the market perception of value is
Evaluate the product in comparison to other related products. Develop a matrix of products and prices in the market place to determine a value framework.

Understand the differences within markets
It is quite possible that different target groups may have the same aspirations and values. This implies that the message and the positioning remain the same but may change within the context of that specific group. A young student, newly married person or even someone going through a mid-life crisis could aspire to being a super athlete. The context in which an appeal is made to these different consumer groups may vary but the basic message will be the same .

Evaluate the current brand benefits
It is generally accepted that benefits and not products are sold. Yet the product is the foundation on which the benefits are built on. Brand Managers must therefore understand the functional capabilities of the product. Intimate knowledge of the product ensures that benefits will be projected in a more meaningful way.

Brand managers need to express the tangible product benefits as well as the intangible product benefits. A watch is a reliable time keeping device, which is an important benefit for successful professionals. A watch also provides an important fashion and status message.

Evaluate the current brand value
Consumers will always insist on value for money. The value perception of a product is based on a true value of the collective tangible and intangible benefits of the product. The obvious goal is to accurately quantify the consumer’s perception of value. For existing products the market leader often determines this perception. A competitive analysis will be a practical guide to the consumer’s perception of value for a specific brand.

Evaluate the current brand availability
The distribution policy determines the brand availability. A cold coke within arms length is often quoted as part of Coca-Cola’s vision regarding their distribution. This immediately determines a distribution policy that ensures wide availability. It is vital that the distribution chain is critically evaluated in the context of the required or promised availability.

Worldwide, and in South Africa, consumers are witnessing how the Internet is eliminating the space between user and provider.

Evaluate the current brand message
Brand Managers need to encourage a holistic approach to communication rather than develop ad hoc advertising campaigns. One could therefore critically evaluate the current communications portfolio by developing a checklist.

Determine the current brand’s performance
Current sales volumes, market share and profitability must be clearly quantified and monitored. Successful brands are profitable brands.

Determine the gap between benefits and market needs
In order to determine the gap between the product benefits and the market needs one should identify and focus on the common elements. The objective is to achieve a high level of synergy between what the consumer wants and what the brand has to offer.

Determine the gap between value and market demand
Brand value is not determined by the positioning of the brand. Brand value is an economic relationship with the existing or potential demand for the product. One of the objectives of branding a product is to increase the perceived value of the product and generate demand. Market research may be required to understand the relationship between value and market demand more fully.

Determine the gap between availability and desire
The general rule of thumb is the lower the consumer involvement the more widely the distribution needed.

Determine the gap between your message and value
Every communication effort must focus on creating and reinforcing a positive perception of your brand. The markets perception of your generic or specific product must guide every message.

Determine the desired Brand positioning
The key objective is to position the brand in such a way as to increase consumer involvement. One should use the elements identified in the gap analysis to refine the positioning.

Concluding remarks

Brand Managers are only caretakers of the brand
Brand Managers should have a sense of legacy when dealing with brands. It can be argued that the best link with the past and future of the brand is the advertising agency. This is one very good reason why changing advertising agencies must always be a last resort. The greatest time of instability of any brand is when a new brand manager takes over custodianship of the brand, because the quickest way to make your mark is to change the agency. Therefore keeping the current agency may be viewed as a sign of maturity.

Brand Managers are the brand evangelists
Brand Managers must not only live their brands, but also strive to be the industry spokesperson concerning the generic benefits or some related aspect of their brand. Brand managers should establish credibility in order to have the leverage to successfully implement a sound brand strategy.

Derek Reardon
Tribal Strategies cc