Indian Streams Reserach Journal

Vol.2,Issue.I/Feb; 12pp.1-4

P.Selvaraj Research Papers

ISSN:-2230-7850

BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCE

P.Selvaraj Principal Herambhu Business School, Karimnagar

Abstract
Branding has emerged as a top management priority in the last decade due to the growing realization that brands are one of the most valuable intangible assets that firms have. Driven in part by this intense industry interest, academic researchers have explored a number of different brand-related topics in recent years. Key words: brands; brand equity; brand extensions.

INTRODUCTION Brand management begins with having a thorough knowledge of the term brand. It includes developing a promise, making that promise and maintaining it. It means defining the brand, positioning the brand, and delivering the brand. Brand management is nothing but an art of creating and sustaining the brand. Branding makes customers committed to your business. A strong brand differentiates your products from the competitors. It gives a quality image to your business Brand management includes managing the tangible and intangible characteristics of brand. In case of product brands, the tangibles include the product itself, price, packaging, etc. While in case of service brands, the tangibles include the customers' experience. The intangibles include emotional connections with the product / service. Branding is assembling of various marketing mix medium into a whole so as to give you an identity. It is nothing but capturing your

customers mind with your brand name. It gives an image of an experienced, huge and reliable business. Brand Attributes Brand Attributes portray a company's brand characteristics. They signify the basic nature of brand. Brand attributes are a bundle of features that highlight the physical and personality aspects of the brand. Attributes are developed through images, actions, or presumptions. Brand attributes help in creating brand identity. A strong brand must have following attributes: 1. Relevancy- A strong brand must be relevant. It must meet people's expectations and should perform the way they want it to. A good job must be done to persuade consumers to buy the product; else inspite of your product being unique, people will not buy it. 2. Consistency- A consistent brand signifies what the brand stands for and builds customers trust in brand. A consistent brand is where the

Please Cite This Article As : P.Selvaraj , BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCE : Indian Streams Research Journal (Feb ; 2012)

BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND...

Indian Streams Reserach Journal

Vol.2,Issue.I/Feb; 2012

company communicates message in a way that does not deviate from the core brand proposition. 3. Proper positioning- A strong brand should be positioned so that it makes a place in target audience mind and they prefer it over other brands. 4. Sustainable- A strong brand makes a business competitive. A sustainable brand drives an organization towards innovation and success. Example of sustainable brand is Marks and Spencer's. 5. Credibility- A strong brand should do what it promises. The way you communicate your brand to the audience/ customers should be realistic. It should not fail to deliver what it promises. Do not exaggerate as customers want to believe in the promises you make to them. 6. Inspirational- A strong brand should transcend/ inspire the category it is famous for. For example- Nike transcendent Jersey Polo Shirt. 7. Uniqueness- A strong brand should be different and unique. It should set you apart from other competitors in market. 8. Appealing- A strong brand should be attractive. Customers should be attracted by the promise you make and by the value you deliver. Brand Identity It is the aggregation of what all you (i.e. an organization) do. It is an organizations mission, personality, promise to the consumers and competitive advantages. It includes the thinking, feelings and expectations of the target market/consumers. It is a means of identifying and distinguishing an organization from another. An organization having unique brand identity have improved brand awareness, motivated team of employees who feel proud working in a well branded organization, active buyers, and corporate style. Brand identity leads to brand loyalty, brand preference, high credibility, good prices and good financial returns. It helps the organization to express to the customers and the target market the kind of organization it is. It assures the customers again that you are who you say you are. It establishes an immediate connection between the organization and consumers. Brand identity should be sustainable. It is crucial so that the consumers instantly correlate with your product/service. Brand identity should be futuristic, i.e, it should reveal the associations aspired for the brand. It should reflect the durable qualities of a brand. Brand identity is a basic means of consumer recognition and represents the brand's distinction from it's competitors.

A SYSTEMS MODEL OF BRAND ANTECEDENTS and CONSEQUENCE A Systems Model of Brand Antecedents and Consequences A number of brand dashboards have been developed by firms which capture, but rarely link, many aspects of brand equity and performance. For branding research to be scientifically rigorous, it is important to develop a comprehensive model of how brand equity operates and to develop estimates of the various cause-and-effect links within it. To that end, we expand on the notion of a brand value chain (Keller and Lehmann 2003) discussed earlier. The chain focuses on the following four major stages.

fig:1 A systems model for consequences Source: Brands and Branding: Research Findings and Future Priorities by Kevin Lane Keller, Donald R. Lehmann What companies do? Marketing programs, as well as other company actions, form the Controllable antecedents to the brand value chain. Importantly, these activities can be characterized along two separate dimensions: quantitative factors such as the type and amount of marketing expenditures (e.g., dollars spent on media advertising), and qualitative factors such as the clarity, relevance, distinctiveness, and consistency of the marketing program, both over time and across marketing activities. 2. What customers think and feel. Customer mindset consists of the Five As discussed above. Importantly, there are feedback effects here, as demonstrated by the halo effect where brand

Please Cite This Article As : P.Selvaraj , BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCE : Indian Streams Research Journal (Feb ; 2012)

BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND...

Indian Streams Reserach Journal

Vol.2,Issue.I/Feb; 2012

attitudes affect perceptions of brand associations (Beckwith and Lehmann 1975, 1976). Moreover, what customers think and feel about brands is obviously not under the sole, or often even primary, control of the company. Individual customer characteristics as well as competition and the rest of the environment help shape what is thought of the brand, e.g., by influencing expectations (Boulding et al. 1993). Both personal experience (feedback from use and product satisfaction) and the experience of others (through word of mouth and expert ratings) also determine what a customer thinks of a brand. 3. What customers do? The primary payoff from customer thoughts and feelings is the purchases that they make. This product-market result is what generates revenue, share, and other metrics commonly used to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing programs. Of course, other things customers do, especially word of mouth, impact future product-market results and need to be considered in any comprehensive model. 4. How financial markets react. For a publicly held company, stock price and market capitalization, as well as related measures such as Tobin's Q, are critical metrics. In essence, these measures are the ultimate bottom line. As such, they are relevant at the CFO and CEO level, unlike most marketing metrics which are at the customer level or productmarket level. Importantly, stock price is impacted by a number of other variables such as the growth potential of the industry as a whole, general economic trends, and stock market dynamics, which need to be controlled for in assessing the financial value of brands. Conclusion. Branding and brand management has clearly become an important management priority for all types of organizations. Academic research has covered a number of different topics and conducted a number of different studies that have collectively advanced our understanding of brands. A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day by day. It's important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your brand. After all your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It's a foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be without.

REFRENCES: [1] Levitt, T., "Marketing Myopia," Harvard Business Review, 1960. [2] Randall, G., Branding, edited by Norman Hart, Kogan Page, London, 1997. [3] Sheppard, A., Adding Brand Value, in Brand Power, edited by Paul Stobert, Macmillan, London, 1994. [4] Doyle, P., "Brand Equity and the Marketing Professional," Market Leader, Issue 1, Spring 1998. [5] Meyer, C., Fast Cycle Time, The Free Press, New York, 1993. [6] Palmer, j., "The Human Organisation,' Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 1. No. 4, June 1998, pp. 294-307. [7] Pascale, R., Milleman, M., and Gioja, L., "Changing the Way We Change," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, No. 6, 1997, pp. 126129.

Please Cite This Article As : P.Selvaraj , BRAND MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BRAND ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCE : Indian Streams Research Journal (Feb ; 2012)