Chapter 6 .

Brand strategies

Syllabus :

1. Multi Product Branding

2. Multi Branding
3. Mix Branding
4. Brand Licensing
5. Brand Product Matrix
6. Brand Hierarchy
7. Generic branding
8. Brand building blocks

Branding Strategies

Licensing
strategy
Multi-product Multi-branding Co- branding Licensing
branding strategy strategy strategy strategy

Godrej makes: Hindustan Lever

makes:
- Godrej navtal
Pears
ICICI-Big
Bazar
Nivea
Old Spice

- Godrej Louis Philippe

Storewel Domex Farmlite biscuit
– Ashirwaad Louis
Levis
- Godrej Fair & Lovely atta
ColdGold
Wheel Intel-HP
Philippe
Arrow

Cadbury makes: Levis

- Cadbury
Dairymilk
- Cadbury 5 Star
Arrow
- Cadbury Perk
Generic branding
- Cadbury strategy
Bournvita - Green Peas

Norfloxazine
Multi Product Branding

Multi Product branding strategy is when an organization uses one name

for all its products .

This approaches is also referred as blanket or family branding

strategy.

It is an attempt to leverage corporate brand equity, in an attempt to create

product brand recognition e.g Godrej – Godrej store well, Godrej Navtal ,
Cadbury makes Cadbury Five Star, Cadbury Dairy Milk , Cadbury
Perk etc.

This can result in significant economies of scope since one advertising

campaign can be used for several products.

It also enables acceptance because potential customers are already

familiar with the name.

A corporate branding strategy should only be used if the company is

already well known by the target market and also has a positive image in
their minds.

If corporate branding is done well, the corporate name becomes

synonymous with the product category (e.g Klenex, Tampax) Every
purchase of Charmin will refer to the product as Klenex.

The main advantages of corporate branding is that the products are not
treated as individuals, hence there is not sufficient focus on the product
Advantages

 Can leverage co- op brand equity in an attempt to create product and

recognition

 Can result in significant economies of scope since one advertising

campaign can be used for several products

 Facilitates new product acceptance because potential buyers are

already familiar with the same.

 Makes possible for line extension

 Sub branding combines a family brand with a new brand.

 Allows for brand extension ; even to enter a completely different

product class

Limitation

 Too many uses for one brand name can dilute the meaning

 The products are not treated as individuals , hence there is not

adequate focus on the product’s unique characteristic

MULTI BRANDING STRATEGY

The depth of branding strategy concerns the number and nature of

different brand marketed in the product class sold by a firm.
Why might a firm have multiple brands in the same product category?

The primary reason relates to market coverage. Although , multiple

branding was originally pioneered by General Motors ,Procter &
Gamble is widely recognized as popularizing the practice.

The main reason to adopt multiple brands to pursue multiple brand

segments.

These market segments may be based on all types of consideration –

different price segments, different channels of distribute, different
geographic boundaries and so forth.

In many cases , multiple brands have to be introduced by a firm because

any one brand is not viewed equally favorably by all the different market
segments that the firm would like to target . Some other reason for
introducing multiple brands in a category –include the following

 To increase shelf presence and retailer dependence in the store

 To attract consumer seeking variety who may otherwise switch to

other brands

 To increase internal competition within the firm

 To yield economies of scale in advertising , sales, merchandising and

physical distribution.

e.g. HUL detergent powder- Surf Excel, Wheel, Rin

Advantages

 The firm can distance products from other offerings in markets

 The image of one product is not associated with other products the
company markets

 The products can be specifically targeted

Co- Branding

Co-branding is an arrangement that associates a single product or

service with more than one brand name, or otherwise associates a
product with someone other than the principal producer.

The typical co-branding agreement involves two or more companies

acting in cooperation to associate any of various logos, color
schemes, or brand identifiers to a specific product that is contractually
designated for this purpose.
There are two types of co – branding i.e. Ingredient co- branding and
Composite co- branding.
For e.g. Coca Cola with Macdonald’s
Sunfeast Farmlite digestive biscuits made from Aashirvaad atta
Intel with HP
ICICI bank visa card with Big bazaar

Ingredient co- branding

is another form of co- branding .
Ingredient co – branding implies using a renowned brand as an
element in the production of another renowned brand
For e.g.
Sunfeast Farmlite digestive biscuits made from Aashirvaad atta
HP or any computers with Intel Processors
Sunsilk with Keratin Micro technology
Pantene with Pro V

Composite co – branding
 Composite Co- branding strategy involves two existing brands and
composite with these two to make or create a composite brand name for
a new product.
It refers to the use of two renowned brand names in a way that can
collectively offer a distinct product / service that could not have been
possible individually
For e.g
Iphone with Voda fone
Coca Cola with McDonalds
Exclusive Citibank Platinum VISA credit card for Jet Airways flyers

Brand Licensing

Brand Licensing is a contractual agreement whereby a company allow

another firm to use the brand name, patent, trade secret or other property
for a royalty or a fee.

Licensing also assists companies entering global markets with minimal risk.

Licensing can be quite lucrative for the licensor. It has long been an
important business strategy for designer apparel and accessories such as
Garfield cat, Disney’s Mickey Mouse or celebrities and designers such as
Martha Stewart , Tommy Hilfiger

Licensing is also seen as a means to enhance the awareness and image of

the brand.

Linking the trademark to other products may broaden its exposure and
potentially increase the strength, favorability and uniqueness of brand
associations .

Licensing may provide legal protection for trademark .

Licensing the brand for use in certain product categories to prevent other
firms or potential competitors from legally using the brand name to enter
those categories for e.g. Coca Cola entered licensing agreements in a
number of product areas, including radios, glassware , toy trucks etc.
But there are certain limitations to licensing . A trademark can become
over- exposed if marketers adopt a saturation policy.

Consumers can become confused or even angry if the brand is licensed to

a product that seemingly bears no relation.

f the product fails to live up to consumers expectation, the brand name

could become tarnished and the manufacturer can be caught up in
licensing a brand that might be popular at the moment but is really only a
tad and produces short –lived sales.

Brand product matrix

A brand is A name, a term, a symbol or a design or a combination of

these, that is intended to identify the products or services of one
business or group of businesses and to differentiate them from those
of competitors

The brand product matrix is used to categorize the product and branding
strategy of a firm. One useful tool is the brand product matrix a graphical
representation of all products sold by the firm .

The matrix or Grid has the brands of a firm as rows and the corresponding
products as columns (see Figure) HUL
Product

Soaps Facewash Shampoo Detergent Cream

Pears x x x
Dove x
Breeze X X X x
L’oreal x x x
Wheel X X x
Domex X X X x x
FairLovely X X X

The rows of the matrix represents brand –product relationships and

capture the brand extension strategy of the firm in terms of the number
and nature if products sold under the firm’s brands.

In other words, what is the level of awareness like to be and what are
the expected strength favorability and uniqueness of brand associations
of the particular extension product.

At the same time how does the introduction of the brand extension affect
the prevailing levels of awareness the strength, favorability and
uniqueness of brand associations or overall response ( judgment and
feelings ) forward the parent brand as whole?

ROW- Brand product relationship COLOUMN – Product brand

Brand line consist of all product
original as well as line & Category
extension sold under a particular
brand
Brand Mix i.e set of all brand lines
that a particular seller makes
available to buyers
i.e has to be and extension strategy
characterized by breath
relationship
Product line consists of all brands of
a single family brands or individual
brand that has been line extended
Product Mix i.e set of all product
lines that a particular seller makes
available to buyers
i.e has to be and portfolio strategy
characterized by depth

BRAND HIERARCHY
  A brand hierarchy is a means of summarizing the branding strategy
by displaying the number and nature of common and distinctive brand
elements across the firm's products, revealing the explicit ordering of
brand elements.

There are different ways to define brand elements and levels of the
hierarchy. Perhaps the simplest representation of possible brand elements
and thus potential levels of a brand hierarchy—from top to bottom—might
be as follows

 Corporate Brand ( Maruti Suzuki) or HUL

 Range Brand (Swift) - DOVE

Individual Brand ( Swift D’zire) - Dove shampoo

 Modifier ( Swift D’zire Regal) - Hair fall rescue

Corporate Brand

 The highest level of the hierarchy technically always involves one

brand—the corporate or company brand.

 For legal reasons, the company or corporate brand is almost always

present somewhere on the product or package, although it may be
the case that the name of a company subsidiary may appear instead
of the corporate name

 Corporate branding is the practice of using a company's name as a

product brand name.

 It is an attempt to use corporate brand equity to create product brand

recognition. It is a type of family branding or umbrella brand. Disney,
for example, includes the word "Disney" in the name of many of its
products

Range Brand /Family Brand

  At the next-lower level, a range / family brand is defined as a brand
that is used in more than one product category but is not necessarily
the name of the company or corporation itself.

 Brand spread across a range of product categories for e.g Dove

Individual brand

 Individual branding, also called individual product branding or

multibranding, is the marketing strategy of giving each product in a
portfolio its own unique brand name.

 This contrasts with family branding, corporate branding, and umbrella

branding in which the products in a product line are given a single
overarching brand name. The advantage of individual branding is that
each product has an image and identity that is unique.

 This facilitates the positioning of each product, by allowing a firm to

position its brands differently.

 Examples of individual product branding include Procter &

Gamble, which markets multiple brands such as Pampers, and
Unilever, which markets individual brands such as Dove.

Modifier Brand

 A modifier is a means to designate a specific item or model type or a

particular version or configuration of the product for e.g Dove
Shampoo Hair fall rescue

_______________________________________________________
_____________

Generic brand

A product that is named only by its generic class (e.g., drip-grind

coffee, barber shop
 Other products have both an individual brand and a generic
classification (Maxwell House drip-grind coffee, Maurice's barber
shop).

Generic brand products are often thought to be unbranded, but their

producer or reseller name is usually associated with the product, too
e.g Food Bazar Rawa, Food Bazar Maida.

This approach is usually associated with food and other packaged

goods, but many other consumer and industrial products and services
are marked as generics e.g Kerosene , Aspirin

Brand building blocks

It is not easy to build brands in today’s environment The Brand builder who
builds brand is like playing golf in strong and rough weather. Substantial
pressures and barriers, both internal and external can slow down the
brand building

To be able to develop effective brand strategies, it is useful to understand

these pressures and barriers

The brand building blocks are:

1) Pressure to compete with price

In all industries from computers to cars to frozen dinners to soft

drinks, price competition is at center stage.

Whereas a decade ago , manufacturers had all the information , but

now the retailers are collecting vast information and developing
models to use it .

As a result, suppliers those in the third or fourth market –share

position with only modest loyalty levels, are exposed to harsh
pressure to provide price concessions.
 A decade ago only 10% was spent towards communication mix as
distribution was simple while today 75% of the amount is spent
towards advertising and promotion.

Market realities imply the key success factor is low cost .

Organizations must reduce overhead , reduce staff and curtail
unnecessary expenditure

2) Proliferation of Competitors

Each brand tends to be positioned more narrowly , the target market

s become smaller and the non- target market becomes larger

Efforts to market to a broad segment thus become more difficult

in the phase of the complex “brandscape”.

New vigorous competitors come from a different sources.

Additional competitors not only contribute to price pressure and brand

complexity

3 ) Fragmenting Markets and Media

At one time, being consistent across in media and markets were easy.
There were limited number of media options and only a few media
vehicles . Mass media was the norm

Whereas today it’s a totally different situation . The numerous array of

media options, includes interactive television, advertising on the internet ,
direct marketing and event sponsorship and more being invented daily.

Coordinating messages across these media without weakling the brand is a

real challenge.

4) Complex Brand strategies and relationships

There was a time, when a brand was a clear, singular entity e.g.Kraft
cheese .
Today the situation is different. There are sub brands( such as Kraft free
singles ) and brand extension such as Kraft miracle whip

This complexity makes building and managing brands difficult. In addition

to this each brand has its role and identity and understand is difficult .

Also the tendency is to use establish brand because to establish a

new brand is expensive.

Further relationship between brands and sub brands must be clarified both
strategically and with respect to customer perceptions

5) Bias towards changing strategies

T h e r e a r e s o m e t i m e s o v e r po w e r i n g i nt e r n a l pr e s s ur e s t o
c h a n g e a b r a n d i d e n t i t y a n d / or i t s execution while it is still
effective, or even before it achieves its potential

More strong brands such as Marlboro, Volvo have one characteristic in

common: each developed a clear identity that went unchanged for a long
time

The norm is to change , however , and this powerful identities supported by

clear visual imagery never get developed

6) Bias against Innovation

When there is a bias towards changing its brand identity or its execution
,often it prevents true innovation in products and services.

Companies managing an established brand can be so pleased by past and

current success, and so pre occupied with day to day problems , that they
become blind to changes in the competitive situation.

A few competitors therefore, time and again become the cause and
beneficiary of true innovations

For e.g Top Ramen one of the successful brands created its business by
investing in products, advertising and packaging with a single minded
vision that they totally eclipsed taste and current health consciousness .
Maggi introduced whole wheat Atta noodle

7.Pressure to invest elsewhere : The sins of complacency and Greed

A position of a great brand strength is also a potential strategic problem,

because it attracts both complacency and greed.

Xerox may be the ideal example of a dominant brand that lost its position
because of an inadequate commitment to the core business.

In the 1960s, Xerox virtually owned the copier industry; its market share
was literally 100 percent .Instead of sticking to its strengths and
defending its cost or developing new technologies , It diverted resources
into an “office of the Future “ concept

This resulted in Kodak and Cannon companies entered the industry with
innovative , superior and often less expensive products .Though there are
various reasons why Xerox lost its position on 1970s one key explanation is
the brand’s strong equity , which caused complacency and a temptation to
look for greener pastures

8.Short Term pressures

Pressures for short term results Sony founder Akio Morito has opined that
most corporate go through short term pressures.

1) Acceptance of maximization of stock holder value should be

superseding the objective of the firm
2) Management style itself is dominated by short – term orientation
3) A short – term focus is created by the performance measures
available
.
The net out come is a sometimes – debilitating bias toward short –term
results . As a result , these investments are often forgone and the
organization
 TheTen guidelines for building strong brand

1 Brand Identity.
Have an identity for each brand. Consider the perspectives of the
brand – as a person, brand as an organisation , and brand as a
symbol, as well as the brand-as- product. Identity is how you aspire
to be perceived

. 2. Value propositions
Know the value propositions for each brand that has a driver role
.Consider emotional and self- expressive benefits as well as
functional benefits.

3. Brand position

For each brand,have a brand position that will provide clear guidance
to those implementing a communication program.

4. Execution
Execute the communication program so that it not only is on target
with the identity and position but achieves brilliance and durability.

Generate alternatives and consider options beyond media

advertising.

5. Consistencyover time
Have a goal a consistent identity ,position and execution over time.

Maintain symbols, imagery and metaphors that work.

.
6. Brand system.
Make sure the brands in the portfolio are consistent and synergistic.

Know their roles. Have or develop silver bullets to help support brand
identities and positions .
 7. Brand leverage.

Extend brands and develop co- branding programs only if the brand
identity will be used and reinforced .

Identify range brands and, for each , develop an identity and specify
how that identity will be different in disparate product contexts .

8.Tracking brand equity .

Track brand equity over time, including awareness , perceived quality
, brand loyalty and especially brand associations . Have specific
communication objectives .
9. Brand responsibility

Have someone in charge of the brand who will create the identity and
position and coordinate the execution over organizational units ,
media and markets.
.
10. Invest in brands.
Continue investing in brands even when the financial goals are not
being net.

____________________________________________________________
________________

Questions

Q1 Define brand and explain brand product matrix ( 2012, 13, 14, 15 )
Q2. Explain brand building blocks or Its difficult to build brands in current
scenario . Elucidate. ( 2010,11,12,13,14,15)
Q3. What are the ten guidelines to build a brand .( 2011, 14,15)
Q4 Write a note on co- branding ( 2014)

Short notes

1. Multi Product Branding (2010)

2. Multi Branding
3. Brand licensing ( 2012)
4. Brand hierarchy
5. Range branding