Brand Management is a widely researched area. This paper is a survey of the available literature of the key elements of brand management, like brand extension, brand association, brand positioning brand awareness, etc. The strength of the individual elements and their inter-relationship is discussed.
A
brand is been defined as, "an identifiable product,
service, person or place, augmented in such a way that the
buyer or user perceives relevant unique added values that
match their needs most closely" (Freire and Caldwell,
2004). It is more than just the sum of its component parts;
it embodies additional attributes that are intangible but
are very real. A brand is an intangible asset for any company;
and because it is intangible, its value is more, as it is
always difficult to build something intangible. A brand
is a perceived image that resides in the minds of consumers
(Davis, 1995). It is a set of expectations and associations
evoked from experience with a company or product (Davis,
2002). It is the aura that surrounds a product or service
that communicates its benefits and differentiates it from
its competitors for the consumer (Ellwood, 2002).
As
a `brand' is considered to be an asset for a company, brand
management has been upgraded in recent years and is now
known as Brand Asset Management (BAM) (Davis, 2002). BAM
is defined as a balanced, organization-wide approach for
building the meaning of a brand, communicating it internally
and externally, and leveraging it to increase brand profitability,
brand asset value and brand returns over time (Davis, 2002).
BAM builds and manages all the aspects of a single brand
to enhance and maintain its position in the market. The
brand management process is about maintaining the consistency
of brands, fortifying or leveraging brands, creating, adjusting
and managing suitable marketing programs and increasing
the brand equity (Keller, 2003). There are basically two
types of brand management-`top down' which is a centralized
and coordinated marketing guidance from the top management,
and `bottom up' where suggestions are given by the middle
and lower lever managers (Webster and Keller, 2004). However,
the participative type of managing a brand is the best approach
(Webster and Keller, 2004). Brand management is an essential
component of a holistic business strategy. A successful
brand leads to successful brand management, which in turn
contributes to increased brand value (Pitt, et al.,
2003). |
