Brand Management

(MC5051)

Week 5

Building Brand Equity:

Through the choice of brand elements, marketing programmes &
IMC
Manuja Koirala, PhD
 Brand Equity
• Brand equity is the added value that is endowed to products and
services.

• This value may be reflected in how consumers think, feel, and act
with respect to the brand, as well as the prices, market share and
profitability that the brand commands for the firm.

• Brand equity is an important intangible asset that has

psychological and financial value of the firm.
 Brand Elements
Trademark devices that differentiate the brand:
 Logos
 Symbols
 Characters
 Slogans
 Jingles
 Website
 Packaging
 Can enhance brand awareness and facilitate formation of brand associations
 Brand Elements Choice Criteria
1. Memorable
 Easily recognised
 Easily recalled

2. Meaningful
 Descriptive
 Persuasive

3. Likeable
 Fun and interesting
 Rich visual and verbal imagery
 Aesthetics
Brand Elements Choice Criteria
4. Adaptable
 Flexible
 Updateable

5. Protectable
 Legally
 Competitively

6. Transferable
 Within and across product categories
 Across geographical boundaries and cultures
 Designing
Marketing Campaigns
to Build Brand Equity
 Integrating Marketing Programmes and
Activities
• There is a move away from mass-market strategies

 The 21st century has forced marketers to change how they develop their
marketing programmes.

 Integration and Personalisation are crucial factors in building and maintaining

strong brands
 Personalising Marketing
May reinforce brand imagery and feelings
May creatively create unique associations

 Marketers have embraced the following concepts:

Experiential marketing
One-to-one marketing
Permission marketing
 Experiential Marketing
Connects a product to unique and interesting experiences

 The idea is not to sell something, but to create brand

awareness or demonstrate how a brand can enrich a
customer’s life
 One-to-One Marketing
Focus on individual consumers through consumer databases
 Respond to consumer dialogue via interactivity
 Customise products and services
 Permission Marketing
(Seth Godin)
Marketing to consumers only after gaining their expressed
permission
 Permission marketing can be contrasted to interruption
marketing
 “Anticipated, personal and relevant” - Godin
 Integrating the Brand
into Supporting Marketing Programmes

 Product strategy
 Pricing strategy
 Channel strategy
 Product Strategy
Mass customisation: e.g. Dell’s built-to-order computers.

After marketing: e.g. innovative design, instruction manuals.

Loyalty programmes: Frequent-flyer programme of airlines.

 Effective Loyalty Schemes
1. Know your audience
2. Change is good
3. Listen to your best customers
4. Engage people
 Pricing Strategy
Price premiums are among the most important brand equity benefits of building a
strong brand.
Consumer price perceptions
Consumers often rank brands according to price tiers in a category (i.e. range
of acceptable prices)
Setting prices to build brand equity
Value pricing
Everyday low pricing
 Pricing Strategy

Assess what value the customer places on your brand

 Assess customers price sensitivity

 Identify an optimal pricing structure

 Consider competitors reactions

 Assess customer emotional response

 Channel Strategy
Direct channels
Selling through personal contacts between the company and
prospective customers by mail, phone, electronic means, in-person
visits, and so forth
Indirect channels
Selling through third-party intermediaries such as agents or broker
representatives, wholesalers or distributors and retailers or dealers
Web strategies
Integrated Marketing Communications
to Build Brand Equity
 Simple Test for
Marketing Communications

1 3 2

Current Communication Desired

Brand Brand
Knowledge Knowledge
 Information Processing

For a person to be persuaded by any form of communication, the following steps

must occur:
Exposure: A person must see or hear the communication.
Attention: must notice the communication.
Comprehension: must understand the intended message or arguments of the
communication.
Yielding: must respond favourably to the intended message or arguments of the
communication.
Intentions: must plan to act in the desired manner.
Behaviour: must actually act in the desired manner.
 Ideal Ad Campaign

The ideal ad campaign would ensure that:

The right consumer is exposed to the right message at the right place
and at the right time.
Consumers notice and attend to the ad.
The ad correctly positions the brand.
The ad motivates consumers to consider purchase of the brand.
The ad creates strong brand associations.
 Advertising
Advertising – any paid form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.
Specific effects are difficult to quantify and predict.
Television – allows for sight, sound and motion and reaches a broad
spectrum of consumers.
Large number of ads create clutter that makes it easy for
consumers to ignore or forget ads.
Very costly.
 Advertising

Radio – stations are highly targeted.

Particularly effective medium in the morning and can complement
or reinforce TV ads.
Disadvantage – lack of visual image.
Print – Newspapers and magazines.
Mobile marketing – expected to grow rapidly.
Promote personalization such as ringtones and wallpapers.
E.g. downloadable coupons.
 Advertising

Place advertising – also called out-of-home advertising, e.g.

cinema, product placement, point of sale advertising, billboards
and posters.
 Promotions

 Sales promotions: short-term incentives to encourage trial or usage

of a product or service.
Consumer promotions
Designed to change the choices, quantity, or timing of
consumers’ product purchases.
Trade promotions
Often financial incentives or discounts given to retailers/
distributors to stock, display, and facilitate product sale.
 Public Relations and Publicity
Relate to a variety of programmes and are designed to promote or protect a
company’s image or its individual products.
‘Publicity’ refers to non-personal communications such as press releases,
media interviews, press conferences, blogs and other social media.
PR may also involve fundraising, membership drives and special event
management.
Buzz Marketing
Occasionally, a product enters the market with little display yet is still able to
attract a strong customer base.
 Personal Selling

 Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the

purpose of making sales
The key to better selling:
Rethink training
Get everyone involved
Inspire from the top
Change the motivation of salesforce
Build electronic links
Talk to your customers
 Personal Selling

 What are the advantages of personal selling?

 Role of Integrated Marketing
Communications (IMC)

The “voice” of the brand

A means by which it can establish a dialogue and build relationships
with consumers
Allow marketers to inform, persuade, provide incentives, and remind
consumers directly or indirectly
Contribute to brand equity by establishing the brand in memory and
linking strong, favourable, and unique associations to it
Thank you