What is brand management? Methods of brand management

Brand management is a set of marketing techniques that apply to a particular brand, product or service in order to increase the value in the perception of end users and the target audience. It can be seen from the definition that this is a complex and diverse process, since there is a huge number of different products and services in a market economy.

Objectives

Brand management aims to increase the value of a brand. In this case, the value is the benefit that the producer receives. It should be noted that concepts such as brand management, marketing and PR are different things. In the first case, managers compose financial reports and maintain accounts, since the effectiveness of their work is measurable financially. In the second case, the budget for marketing tasks is allocated at the very end of the business plan, to the actual "balances". This same principle often applies to PR. Accordingly, unlike PR and marketing, brand management plays an important strategic role in the work of the entire organization.

History and development

The term "brand management" appeared in 1930 in a memo from Procter and Gamble advertising officer Neil McElroy. He proposed the introduction of a new post called "brand-men" and formulated job duties. Neil McElroy successfully implemented all his ideas, then he headed the company itself, and later - also the Ministry of Defense of the United States of America.

Ratings

To date, this concept has become firmly embedded in the structure of the market economy and corporate culture. Many consulting firms and magazines often publish various ratings of the most valuable and best brands. These classifications are designed to reflect the most objective value on the rank of the companies represented, which is largely based on the value of the brand itself. As numerous studies show, large and strong brands can always provide greater comfort and a much higher return to their shareholders than highly specialized and weak ones.

Classification of brands

Brand management at the present stage is not even an instrument, but a whole science. That is why a certain type of branding is necessary. As a result, many brand management models emerged . Consider these:

• Premium-class brands are brands whose product price is much higher than the average price for a particular product category.
• Economy class is aimed at the broadest masses of buyers, has a large price range.
• "Fighter" is a brand that can be claimed with minimal advertising and marketing costs. It is created if necessary to ensure competition with private cheap brands.
• Private brands (they are also "white brands") are brands of retail trade.
• Family - a similar product of the same name (for example, toothpaste and brushes).
• The expansion of brand marketing is the use of an already well-known brand to bring to the broad market some new products or a whole range of goods and services.
• A license is a document that confirms the act of transferring rights to another manufacturer for the use of an already existing brand.
• Branding is a joint - combining the marketing efforts of several manufacturers.
• Corporate - the name of the company is the brand itself.
• The employer's brand is the creation of the image of the company in the vision of potential customers, colleagues and employees.
• Strategic brand management - the most global and long-term methods for planning marketing steps, usually consist of weapons from large holdings and corporations.

Architecture

There are three main types of the company's brand structure. They are also known as brand management methods.

1. Several brands are connected to a system, which is called architecture. Each individual brand has its own name, style and image, but the foundation company itself is invisible to the layman. An example is Procter and Gamble, which is the ancestor of this concept. It has spawned many strong and large brands, such as Pampers, Pantene, Ivory, Tide.
2. Subsidiary brands develop and advance in the general context of the parent. This approach significantly saves the marketing budget. Examples include MTS and Stream.
3. In the latter method of architecture, only the parent brand is used, and all other products have a name in the name and use similar styles and images. A vivid example of this trend is the company Virgin with its subsidiaries, such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Megastore, Virgin Brides. They have the same logo and style, they are supported by each other and are advertised in a similar way.

Importance of choosing the name and technology of promotion

Quality brand management should be based on the company's name. It should be easy to pronounce, attract attention, harmonious, memorable. The name should contain a mention of any positive qualities of the service or product, reflect the very image and mission of the company, positively position the product, stand out among many other products. Rationalization, orientation and rebranding are used as common technologies.

Rationalization is the reduction of the number of trademarks, since their number may eventually exceed the permissible marketing power of the company. Rebranding is a brand change, but with the preservation of some basic data. This technology is very risky, but it allows in the long term to keep old customers and attract new ones. Orientation - The creation of the symbolic value of the goods. This means that the characteristics of the product in themselves are no longer decisive and the main arguments for buyers - the brand itself has come to the fore. Life cycles of goods have become very short in the conditions of a modern free and competitive market. And the appearance of cheaper analogues and substitutes threatens the existence of popular products. Hence the need to focus not so much on the characteristics of the product as on marketing and brand. That is, the orientation goes to the end user.