Brand Management

Introduction to the course

What are Products/Brands?
What does a brand do?
 Branding and Generative AI

• We hear so much about it

• But how and where can we use it
• Generative AI could be leveraged to create
• Immersive procedurally generated virtual reality experiences
• Interactive chatbots for customer support
• Dynamic video content tailored to individual viewer preferences
• What do all these mean?
• Develop impactful, scalable, and personalized content that
boosts engagement, conversion rates and ROI
Branding and Generative AI

• Enhance efficiency – first draft

• Bolster accuracy – avoid mistakes
• Personalize and optimize content
• Blog writing and long form content
• Social media posts
• Digital marketing
• Creative design
Digital versus Traditional Branding

• Integrated approach – combine both

• Why digital
• Reach and accessibility
• Cost efficiency
• Data driven insights
• Targeted marketing
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Challenges
• Saturation
• Short attention spans
• Data privacy concerns
Digital versus Traditional Branding

• Traditional branding
• Credibility and trust
• Tangible impact
• Wide audience reach
• Brand consistency
• Challenges
• Cost
• Measurement
• inflexibility
 Brand Name Spelling

• Do consumers know the spelling of the brand names they

want to search/buy?
• Toyota
• Maserati
• Christian Dior
• Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH)
• Is there a problem for the brand?
• Is there an opportunity for other brands?
 What should brands do?

• Titan Eyewear
• Launched in 2012
• After Covid
• Anti fog lens, clear sight lens, anti viral lens, audio sunglasses
• Heritage brands targeting Gen Z
• Dove – Real people
• Adidas – street style aesthetics
• Maybelline – Influencers
• Levi’s – stretchable
 What should brands do?

• Bombay Shaving Company

• Alcohol in aftershave 1 2
• Lay’s Wafer Thin
• Using Influencers 1 2
• KFC – plant based meat
• Maruti Suzuki – commercial vehicles – Affinity towards
local 1 2
• Bira 91 partnering with BoAt for audio devices
• What are they doing here?
Brand Topics

• Brand Awareness versus Brand Recall

• Brand awareness
• Mostly by repetition Top of the mind

• Brand Recall
• Touch their souls or emotion
FIrst choice
• T(arget)-C(ategory)-B(enefit)
• Repetition
What is common?

• Bubble wrap – Air bubble packaging

• Dumpster – Mobile garbage bin
• Kleenex – Tissue, disposable hankie
• Escalator – Moving stairway
• Thermos – Vacuum flask
• Chap stick – Lip balm
• Frisbee – Flying disk
• Google – Search engine
• Band Aid – Adhesive bandage
• Dunzo - Local delivery
End of life of a brand

• What happens when a brand reaches the end of its life?

• What changes will we see?
• What can the brand do?
 What Happens When Brands Become
Generic? Genericide happens

• When a brand legally loses its mark by reaching a point

where the product name is no longer differentiated and is
therefore synonymous with the generic product
• Everyone can use the Kleenex name – kleenex with small k
• Trademark law judgment
• The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor
of Google, Inc., in an action under the Lanham Act, seeking
cancellation of the GOOGLE trademark on the ground that it is
generic.
 What should we do?

• Make sure you establish solid brand identity guidelines

• Educate your internal team
• Don’t blindly follow successful competitors
• Defend your brand
Identify the country of origin of
these brands

• Chandon wines • Munich Polo (children

• HiDesign clothing)
• Allen Solly • La Opala (Tableware)
• Amrut Single Malt • Van Heusen
• Da Milano (Leather and • Peter England
home furnishings) • Flying Machine (Denim)
• Monte Carlo (clothing) • Louis Philippe
• Franco Leone (Footwear) • American Swan
Brands care about/Trust

• 71% (in 2011) to 75% (2021) – consumers do not care

about brands – across 2000 brands
• Almost 400,000 people
• Percentage of brands that consumers trust
• 24% in East Asia
• 39% USA
• 69% India
• 74% China
• 47% Worldwide
 Some brands to discuss

• McD, Starbucks
• Bata
• 4600 stores in 50 countries
• 1 million customers per day
• Branding eggs
• 360 crore eggs per month in India, 60 lakhs from branded category
• Hamara Bajaj – RIP in 2009
Key Concepts in class 1

• What are products?

• What are brands?
• Importance of Brand Equity
• Role of associative network memory model
• Sources of brand equity
• Consumer Based Brand Equity model
 New Model for Consumer Goods

• The FMCG value creation model

• Mass market brand building/product innovation (Gillette)
• Relationships with grocers and mass retailers (Hamam)
• Entered developing markets early and actively cultivated their
categories as consumers became wealthier (Bata)
• Designed operating models for consistent execution and cost
reduction (Dove)
• Used M&A to consolidate markets and create a basis for organic
growth post acquisition (Coca Cola)
• Top 100 most valuable brands grew 126%
• Easily outperformed the S & P 500 till 2008
 However

• This model seems to be losing steam

• Top line growth slipping in most sub segments
• Lagged the S&P 500 by three percentage points from 2012
to 2017
• Where is it happening?
• Organic growth at 2.5%, foreign exchange effects, inflation
• Big companies grew very slowly (1.5%)
Why? Technology!

• Younger generation
• Digital intimacy
• Explosion of small brands with retailer support – Dhora,
Anokhi, Jolaa, Yoga bars, Green snack, Zen Tiger tea,
etc/Brandless, Unreal brands, etc in the USA
• Better for the consumer (Soul Tree, Kama Ayurveda,
Khadi Naturals, Khadi Mauri, Just Herbs)
• Disruption of mass-retailer relationships
• Local brands
Brands that have stayed

• Amul
• Parle – G
• Dairy milk
• Fevicol
• Rooh Afza
• Dabur Chyawanprash
• Maggi
So, what does a strong brand have?

• Big significant promise (The Ultimate Driving Machine)

• But narrow enough (Sports/Fitness)
• Asymmetrical strength (Intel)
• Empathetic (Starbucks)
• Optimally distinct communication (Fevicol ads)
• Functional and emotional message
• Brand needs to deliver
Successful brands

• Knowledge of target market

• Unique offering to the market
• Passion for the brand
• Consistency of offering
• Competitiveness in the market
• Exposure across multiple media
 What is happening in Branding
today?

• Disruption – changing societal trends touch every category

• Differentiation – more important, but harder to achieve
• Brand experience – increasingly important way to
communicate difference
• Higher meaning or purpose – brands relate to consumers on
a deeper sustainable level
• Privacy – balance is more delicate as brands delve deeper
• Health and ingredients – consumer concerns drive new
product introductions
• Craft – relatively small volume, but a powerful indicator
Brand Confusion

• Can consumers tell brands from each other?

• Role of promotional programs
• Role of ads
• Consumer led brands
• Brands start to look alike
• Inconsistent brand image
• Lack of real innovation
Brand Safety

• Safety in advertising
• Not placed next to content that is offensive or dangerous
• Keyword blacklist using AI algorithm
• 57% of neutral or positive stories are being incorrectly
flagged as unsafe for brands
 Branding today

• Apparel – style, value, and experience

• Retail – absence of physical store
• Beer – changing tastes in mature market
• Cars – consistent quality – need for differentiation
• Fast Food – health and experience
• Financial institutions – profits are high, though trust is low
• Luxury goods – economic weakness dims sales
• Personal care – beauty and social mission
• Soft drinks – new products and marketing
• Technology – booming market
 Branding in India

• Western brands are widely known

• Indian brands catching up, and dominate in some categories
• Becoming Indianized seems to be important
• Regional differences
• Status versus understanding the Indian consumer
Indian Market

• Coffee market
• CCD versus Café Mocha versus Barista versus Starbucks versus
Kumbakonam degree coffee versus who else?
• Instant noodles
• Maggi versus Foodles versus Knorr Soupy Noodles versus
Sunfeast Yippee
• DTH services
• Tata sky versus Dish TV versus Sun versus…
• Automobiles
• Maruti versus Hyundai versus Mahindra versus…
• Matrimonial services
• Shaadi.com versus Bharatmatrimony versus Jeevansaathi versus
Telegumatrimony…
 Geographical Indication Or
Global Irritation
• What is GI?
• Intellectual property (IP) protection based on geography and
tradition
• Key to preserving a country’s natural resources and cultural
heritage, through products with unique means of production
• Champagne/Tequila/Cognac/Scotch/Napa Valley Wine
• Rosgolla (WB/Orissa)
• Kolhapur Chapppals (Mah/Kar)
• Basmati (Punjab/Haryana/HP/Delhi/Uttarakand/UP/J&K
• Navara Rice (Ker/TN)
• Phulkari (Haryana/Raj/Punjab)
Royal Enfield/Bullet

• India’s fastest growing motorcycle brand?

• How did it evolve?
• Imported for the army, made in India, Milk man bike, to its
current status
• Why was dealership renovation so important?
• Customer relationship with the bike
• How have riding clubs helped them to grow?
• Did the bikes improve? Did the segment change?
• How should they grow?
The Effect of Cancel Culture
Boycott, social media shaming

• So, what is cancel culture

• Be prepared – what does the Brand stand for?
• Listen to customer – Starbucks racist incident
• How bad is the situation - assess
• Careful communication – KFC Finger Lickin Good
 Brand Tanishq: Navigating Social
Media Backlash

• OK, our first case. So, let us set some ground rules
• If you haven’t read the case, please tell us ☺
• Allow students to present their POV
• Continue with the same theme – agree or challenge what
they have said
• Once we have reached some sort of conclusion, then we
can move to other issues
• There are no right or wrong answers…well, there are some
wrong answers if you haven’t read the case ☺
Rationale of Customer-Based Brand Equity Model
to measure and understand a brand's value from the customer's perspective

• Basic premise
• Power of a brand resides in the minds of customers
• Challenge is to ensure customers have
• the right types of experiences with products and services and their
marketing programs
• to create the right brand knowledge structures
Products/Brands

• Not all products are brands. Why do we say that?

• Anything that can be offered to a market for
• attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a
need or want
• Name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of
them intended to identify the goods and services of one
seller or groups of sellers and to differentiate them from
those of competition.” - AMA
Reason to Brand

• Products and services are alike

• Brands add emotion and trust to the products and simplify choice
• Added emotions and trust
• Create a relationship between brands and consumers
• Brands create aspirational lifestyles based on these
relationships
• Associating oneself with a brand transfers these lifestyles to
consumers
• Branded lifestyles allow extensions and price premiums.
What is Brand Equity?

• Customer based brand equity (Keller)

• Differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer
response to the marketing of the brand
Sources of Brand Equity

• Brand awareness
• Recall and recognition
• Consequences of brand awareness
• Learning advantages
• Consideration advantages
• Choice advantages
• Establishing brand awareness
Sources of Brand Equity

• Brand Image
• Strength of brand associations
• Encoding and storage
• Quality and quantity of processing
• Recall of brand associations
• Favorability of brand associations
• Desirability
• Deliverability
• Uniqueness of brand associations
• Shared with other brands in category
• Unique to brand
 Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid

4. Relationships =
What about you & me?
Resonance Intense, active loyalty

3. Response =
What about you?
Judgments Feelings Rational and emotional decisions

2. Meaning =
What are you?
Performance Imagery POP’s and POD’s

1. Identity =
Salience Who are you?
Deep, broad, brand awareness
Resonance Dimensions

• Behavioral loyalty
• Frequency and amount of repeat purchases
• Attitudinal attachment
• Love the brand
• Proud of brand
• Sense of community
• Kinship
• Affiliation
• Active engagement
• Seek information
• Join club
• Visit web site, chat rooms
Goods Versus Services

• Goods
• tangible product - can be seen, touched,
smelled, and/or tasted.
• Services
• intangible product - exchanged directly
from producer to consumer.
 Product Tangibility Continuum

Tangible Intangible

Goods Services Ideas

e.g., Antidepression e.g., Psychiatric e.g., Power of
drug Counseling Positive thinking

Book Hairstyling Business

Chair Massages Religious
 Classifying Products

• Consumer Products
• For use by the ultimate consumer.
• Durability - on the basis of how long the
product lasts.
• On the basis of consumer buying habits.
• Convenience products Milk, bread
• Shopping products Furniture, appliances, cars
• Specialty products Luxury cars, designer clothing, fine art

• Business Products
 Product Durability Continuum

Durable Nondurable

Many-use Products Few-use Products One-use Products

e.g., Furniture e.g., Cosmetics e.g., Food

Automobiles Toothbrush Faddish goods

Appliances Blades Disposable razors
 Convenience Products

• Products that consumers purchase:

• Frequently
• Immediately
• With minimum of effort
• Price, Branding, and customer convenience.
• Staple, Impulse, and Emergency goods
• Promotion of convenience products
Shopping Products

• Products that consumers purchase:

• After comparisons
• Across brands and stores.
• Similarity across brands.
• Homogenous
• Heterogeneous
• Promotion of shopping products.
Specialty Products

• Specialty products:
• Possess unique characteristics
• Time and effort
• Availability
Business Products

• Equipment
• Maintenance
• Specialized services
• Raw materials
• Processed materials
• Component parts
 The Product Mix

• Assortment of product lines and individual offerings

• Product mixes are measured in terms of:
• Breadth of assortment
• number of product lines
• Length of assortment
• number of brands in each line
• Depth of assortment
• variations of each product in the mix
• Consistency
• Closeness of product lines

• Existing Product Mix

Importance of Product Lines

• Product line as a series of related products

• Desire to grow
• Optimal use of company resources
• Increasing company importance in the market
• Exploiting the product life cycle
Product Mix Expansion

• Line Extension
• Mix Extension
• Related product, same brand Lime extension
• Unrelated product, same brand Brand extension
• Unrelated product, different brand Diversification strategy
• Related product, different brand line extension and brand extension
• Trading up and Trading Down
• Alteration of existing products
• Product-mix contraction
Effective Product Management

• New Product Development

• Management of Existing Products
New Product Development Process

• Idea Generation
• Screening of Ideas
• Business Analysis
• Prototype Development
• Market Tests
• Commercialization
Consumer Adoption Process

• Moving from learning about the product to

purchasing regularly.
• Stages in the adoption process
• Awareness
• Interest
• Evaluation
• Trial
• Adoption
• Confirmation
• Differences across products.
• Adoption Versus Diffusion
Adoption Versus Diffusion

• Individual Versus community.

• Categories of adopters
• Innovators (2.5%)
• Early Adopters (13.5%)
• Early Majority (34%)
• Late Majority (34%)
• Laggards (16%)
Consumer Adoption Process (Contd.)

• Characteristics of adopters
• Younger
• Higher social status
• Better educated
• Higher income
• More mobile
Consumer Adoption Process (Contd.)

• Adoption rate and characteristics of the

innovation
• Relative advantage
• Compatibility
• Complexity
• Trialability (Possibility of trial use)
• Observability
Product Life Cycle

• Path that products follow.

• Consists of Four stages.
• Introduction
• Growth
• Maturity
• Decline
• Marketing Strategies for different stages.
• Extending the product life cycle.
Typical Life Cycle of a Product Category
Growth-Share Matrix Developed by
the Boston Consulting Group

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