Techniques to increase

brand value
Lecturer: Trương Quang Vinh
 Chapter 2
BRAND CONFIGURATION
 Illustrate the connection between
1 marketing and branding.

Explain the different types of brand

2 architecture.

OBJECTIVES
3 Identify the different levels of branding.

4 Analyse the use of brand extensions.

Assess the balance between global and

5 local brands..
 1

Branding and its relationship to marketing

• Brand management: brand managers were responsible for
the delivery of market communications for a specific brand or
sub-brand.
• Product managers are often the people who implement
innovation in product development, so they need to work closely
with brand managers to ensure any innovation is aligned with the
brand personality.
Advertising managers play a role in the management of
information from marketing to (usually) external agencies. They
have a good understanding of what the internal brand vision is and
are better able to match those needs with an appropriate agency.
Market research managers must similarly coordinate the
responses from regional markets to pre-launch materials through
to post-launch dissonance surveys.
Sales force staff can be a valuable expression of the brand and a
useful source of direct customer feedback.
 2

The seven P’s of marketing

Product price should not just be an addition of development costs,
marketing costs and profit margins. The perception of price is
critical to the perception of the brand, as consumers tend to
compare prices within a field of goods or services at the point of
purchase.
Strong brands can create a ‘price premium’ above their
competitors. This is the additional price the organization can
charge for the ‘brand’.
Some companies price their products too low and the resulting
effect is to devalue the brand in comparison with similar high-
quality products.
• Some companies may only have one product to brand, such as
Apple Macintosh (in the past)
• If the product is your chosen brand vehicle then it can be a
powerful tool.
Good design can play an important role in translating brand values
into product attributes that enhance the brand experience.
The biggest advantage of using a product to focus brand values is
that people often use a product every day or even all day.
The downside to this kind of brand activity is that you have to be
sure that your product is fit for the task the consumer wants to
achieve, that it won’t let people down.
Promotion is often the core of brand management activities, and
may involve marketing, public relations, sales promotion and
advertising.
The place where a consumer buys a product should also help to
reinforce your brand values; this means the location as well as the
type of store.
Brands that sell through other retail outlets use point of sale (POS)
or point of purchase (POP) materials to define their brand message
clearly amongst many product offerings.
In certain sectors, the location or address of the retail site is often
crucial to the perception of the brand.
• People are the greatest asset for any company
• People who often have to deliver a service directly to the
customer need to be aware of how they represent the company
brand.
The organization of business processes can help your brand, for
example by reinforcing brand values through timely delivery of the
service.
The physical elements that go to make up your product, retail,
business or service brand need to be aligned to your brand
personality.
 3

Corporate brand
u 1. sole identity company
u 2. validated identity company
u 3. branded identity company
The sole identity company represents an organizational structure
that has a single brand proposition and personality throughout the
portfolio of products
The strength of the sole brand is that even as the company’s
underlying businesses change, the brand personality remains
constant for customers.
There are weaknesses to this approach.
Branding activities for a sole brand usually focus on awareness
campaigns, intended to remind customers they are available,
competitive and strong.
This is a convenient method for large product and brand portfolios
to be managed to maximize the benefits of both sole and branded
strategies
Later in the brand’s lifestage, the sub-brand may become more
widely recognizable and trustworthy.
The use of a validating brand can also help divide the tasks that the
two brand marks need to fulfil.
There are many ways to execute the validating brand name on the
product, package or promotional material.
Other corporations, particularly FMCG groups, may use a portfolio
of different brands to represent different brand propositions
Products like margarine packs are relatively small in size and
content, and are visually indistinguishable from one another.
• The advantage of these types of branded identities is that they
can be finely tuned for niche markets and target consumer
groups.
• The disadvantage of this type of approach is that each individual
brand requires its own branding effort and promotional budget.
 4

Range brands
The critical reason to introduce range brands is to help organize
and structure a large number of products under one brand
proposition. This kind of proposition may often be an ideological
belief or top-level idea that precedes the individual product type.
This loyalty is effective so long as all the products are excellent and
their innovation keeps pace with consumers’ expectations.
This guarantee effect means that it is much easier for a company to
introduce new products into the range as they are already
supported by the range brand.
Range brands can collect and combine differing products that
make up a total brand concept for consumers.
To build a successful range brand it is best to understand
consumers’ mental maps of their needs and how they would like to
purchase groups of products.
The range brand concept is a reduced risk method to introduce a
brand concept that picks up on a new lifestyle trend in the market.
 4

Line brand identity

The concept of line brand identity is similar to range branding but
deals with products that are functionally closer. These are often
new flavors added to a range or new variants on an existing
product concept.
The main disadvantage of line brand extensions is that it is too
easy simply to continue introducing new product versions.
 5

Product brands
Some of the most successful brand management examples come
from product branding, where each product has its own brand,
logo or trade mark, brand name, packaging design and brand
personality.
Using a multiple product brand strategy can successfully gain a
larger overall share of the market than is often possible with a
single product brand.
A product brand strategy is useful for companies that generate
innovative products and create new categories, as they can position
their new product or category without reference to other brand
propositions.
Brand managers need to assess whether the product is sufficiently
unique to warrant an individual brand or if it could be better
branded through a line, range or corporate proposition.
There are many successful product brands in the market and one
of the common elements is their improvement over time.
 5

Brand extensions
Brand extensions are one of the most discussed topics of brand
management, since there are many conflicting viewpoints.
However, some brand commentators believe that we are entering
an era of potentially endless brand extension opportunities.
u Same product in a different form
u New product that uses the
distinctive taste, ingredient or
component of the parent product
u Companion or complementary
product
u New product that uses customer
franchise of parent brand
u New product that uses some
expertise gained in producing or
marketing the parent brand
u New product that uses a benefit,
attribute or feature owned by the
parent brand
u New product that uses designer
image or status
There is the flow of connotations from the core brand to the
extension, and there is the flow of connotations from the extension
reflected back on the core brand.
u Lower introduction costs for new
products or lines. The creation of
awareness in both the trade and
consumer group will have a
correspondingly lower cost.
u Lower risk on investment in new
products.
u Increased opportunity for customer
trial and use, through the variety of
products on offer.
u Once a company has a large market
share in one product, it will be easier
to gain share in an associated market
than further increase the original.
u Leverage brand name in the market,
especially against competitors.
u Reduction in the total brand value
if any of the products are lower
quality.
u Dilution of the brand proposition
and personality. Will the brand
personality stretch to cover
increasingly diverse product offers,
targeted at different target groups?
Or will the brand become too
indistinct for the consumer to be
attracted to it?
u Will the extended products have
negative qualities that can damage
the core brand values? Brand
extension is not risk free; there will
always be some change in brand
perception.
 5

Global versus local brands

As global consolidation takes place, there are huge financial
incentives to buy up strong brands in fields where a company is
weak, rather than developing a new brand from scratch. Many of
these brands were originally companies in their own right before
being swallowed up by larger groups.
Alternatively, a large company may wish to incorporate these
brands to build a stronger, single brand proposition.
These are two very different approaches to entering and managing
global brands with products that are both identical to their
European versions.
• imported concept
• integration and association with the local culture