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25.1 MANAGING BRANDS

Main Tasks in Managing Brands
In any given product category, only a handful of brands are successful.
Years of uninterrupted nurturing, with the support of a good marketing
program, are required to develop a winning brand & get it established
in the market. Such a marketing program includes a meaningful
product differentiation & a right position for the brand, accompanied
by the right distribution & promotion support. The entire activity is
resource-intensive & time-intensive; it also involves meticulous planning
& careful execution. No wonder, brand building is a very difficult task.

Main Tasks in Managing Brands

Selecting brand name & logo, giving the product an identity &
enhancing its visual recognition.
Differentiation: Investing the brand with the attributes necessary to
compete, giving it a unique image.
Positioning the brand: Developing the right value proposition for the
brand & lodging it as the best choice for the target customer.
Providing the right distribution & promotion support, in tune with
the brands positioning.
Keeping the brand live & active brand rejuvenation, brand
relaunches, brand extensions, packaging & innovations.
Brand proliferation: Adding more brands to a line.
Strengthening the brand portfolio through acquisition/takeover.
Monitoring the brand through the various stages of its lifecycle.
Monitoring its profitability, competitive positioning, market share,
growth needs & investment needs.
Brand portfolio rationalization/restructure.
Understanding brand equity & building the equity of brands.

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25.2 SELECTING BRAND NAME & LOGO
A good brand name will be distinctive; it will be easy to pronounce,
recognize & remember; it may denote something about the
nature/function of the product; it will also be appealing.

Names communicating Functions/Attributes of the Product

Most firms select brand names, which communicate the functions/some
key attributes of the product. For ex, GoodKnight good nights sleep,
Boost the energy booster drink, Aquaguard protected water, Fair &
Lovely fair & lovely skin.
When Wipro system offered a software program on astrology, the name
chosen was: Jyothishi, TVSs tire: Srichakra, Cherry Blossoms instant
polish: Shinex, Paint for the wood: Touchwood, Portable stereo:
Walkman.

Names Communicating Specialty of Product

Certain firms try to communicate the specialty of the product through
the chosen name, GMs Opel, Fords Ikon, Mitsubishis Lancer,
Suzukis Zen are names intended to communicate the specialty of the
respective brands. The name Taj given to hotel chain of Indian Hotels is
an attempt to recapture & reflect the Mogul splendor.

Use of Acronyms
Sometimes the names are acronyms. Amul Anand Milk Union Ltd,
MRF Madras Rubber Factory, FIAT First Italian Automobile
Transportation.

Use of Company Names

The temptation to use the company name as a brand name is also

strong. Some of the most famous brand names belong to this category:
Bata, Cadburys, Samsung, Philips, Godrej, Sony are good examples.

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25.3 SELECTING LOGO
Along with the brand name, firms also use a logo for visual
identification. Logo enhances recognition by the provision of a symbol of
identity. A logo is a pictorial symbol intended to communicate with the
consumers. It is an accompaniment to the brand name & the 2 together
identify a firms products. Flags, mascots, pictures, graphic designs or
plain alphabets are all used as logos.

Some well-known Logos

HMVs Master Voice: The dog was a very popular logo for HMV. All HMV
gramophone records carried the picture of the dog. And the punch line His
Masters Voice lent more meaning to the logo & together they enhanced the
product appeal.

Air Indias Maharaja: Think of Air-India, the Maharaja comes to mind.

The Maharaja, with his myriad moods has become one of the most endearing
mascots. The logo has become inseparable to brand.

Kelvinators Penguin: Kelvinators mascot, the Penguin, is also well known &
has become almost inseparable to Kelvinator. The friendly bird which weathers
all storms & is identified with extreme cold climate goes well with the product,
refrigerator. The ad-line, the coolest one is also apt.

Asian Paints Gattu: Asian Paints is another company that has created a
winning logo. When you look for Asian Paints, you catch sight of Gattu the
impish little boy with a paintbrush in one hand & a dripping can of paint in the
other. In many towns of North India, buyers ask for Asian Paints, by asking for
the bacha chaap paint (the kids paint).

Onidas Devil: Even a mascot with some negative association can work for a
brands prospects, if handled imaginatively. Thats what MIRC Electronics did
when it launched its TV brand Onida in the 1980s. It used the devil, which
represented envy, as the logo for Onida. Onidas marketing team explained their
approach: We thought, why not personify envy? It would fuel interest.
Onidas strength lies in its pride & envy platform. The devil has
remained a central part of Onidas advertising theme, securing one of the
highest recall levels in brand-rating studies.

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25.4 OPTIONS IN BRANDING
Individual Brand Names
Here, each product of the firm is given an independent brand name.
HLL, for ex, gives separate brand names for most of its products.
HLL-Individual Brands: In its bathing soap line, HLL has several
brands like Dove, Lux, Pears, Lifebuoy, and Liril & Hamam. In
detergents, it has Surf, Rin & Wheel. The washing soap line carries
brands like Sunlight & 501. In toothpastes, it has brands like Close-Up
& Pepsodent. Its cocoanut hair oil has Nihar. Its cooking oil is Dalda. So,
HLL has built numerous brands in its different lines. They are
individual brands, each moving in its own right, independently.
HLL Has Umbrella Brands too: HLL has also developed a couple of
umbrella brands for certain product categories. Brooke Bond is being
developed as an umbrella brand for its tea & coffee products. And,
Kissan is becoming an umbrella brand for its foods line. Under Kissan,
Annapurna is being developed as another brand to cover a variety of
raw food items. In the make-up line, Lakme is being developed as an
umbrella brand to cover variety of products, from nail polish perfumes
Nestl: Nestle is another company going in for individual brand names.
Nescafe is its premium coffee brand; Maggi is its brand of noodles,
Kitkat its chocolate brand & Milo its chocolate beverage brand. It has
Milkmaid as its brand in condensed milk & Cerelac in weaning food.
Nestle is also going in for umbrella branding in select categories. For ex,
Maggi is now becoming an umbrella brand for several food items like
soups, sauces, pickles, ketchups & jams.
When an individual brand name is given for each product, there is no
question of any joint responsibility among the different products. Each
brand gets promoted separately & moves by itself. The promotional
expenditure tends to be high with individual brands. Still, many
companies follow individual branding, as they want to reap the
associated benefits.

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25.5 SELECTING FAMILY/UMBRELLA BRAND
In this case, different products of the firm are marketed under one
brand. Family branding/umbrella branding does not mean that entire
product mix of the firm should go under a single brand name.
A firm may resort to different branding approaches for different lines.
When a group of products are given the same brand name, it becomes a
case of family/umbrella brand. In the case of Amul, it is an umbrella
brand name for one line of products of the company. Amul is an
umbrella brand for NDDBs milk & milk-related products. And Dhara
is an umbrella brand for the firms cooking oil line. Dhara is an
umbrella brand for several brand for seven types of oils marketed by
the firm mustard oil, groundnut oil, sunflower oil etc.,

Family/Umbrella Brand Few Examples

Amul is an example of family/umbrella brand. Amul is the common brand
name for the companys milk powder, butter, ghee & milk chocolates.
Vijay is the family brand name for the products of Vijay Electricals, MixerGrinders, Electric Irons, Electric Kettles, Water-Heaters & other products of
the firm go under the Vijay brand.
Videocon is a family brand name for a variety of products of Videocon
Corporation. Its TVs, VCRs, Refrigerators, Washing-Machines & AirConditioners go under the Videocon brand name.
Godrej is another brand name. Several product lines of the firm & several
products in each of the product lines go under the brand name Godrej. The
products include locks, steel almirahs, office furniture, electronic typewriter,
desktop printers, refrigerators, air-conditioners etc., The Company also uses
separate brand names for some other product lines. In soaps, it has individual
brands like Cinthol & Ganga. In detergents, it has individual brands like Key &
Biz.
Johnsons is another family brand. The company, J&J sells many of its baby
care products under the Johnsons brand name baby powder, baby soap, baby
shampoo etc.,
BPL is another noteworthy family brand. About 5 dozen products of the
company go under the brand name BPL. It also happens to be the company
name.

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25.6 BRAND EXTENSIONS
A brand name can be extended in 3 ways
1. Extended to other items in the same product line:
Sunrise coffee was extended to other offers. Sunrise Premium
& sunrise Extra coffee, catering to different segments. This is
called line extension. All are products in the same line coffee.
2. Extended to items in a related product line:
Maggi initially was a brand of noodles. Later, the brand name
was extended to other product lines in the related food
category Ketchup, Soup etc., It is a case of related brand
extension. Maggis instant culinary expertise was extended to
related food items. This is called related brand extension or
category extension.
3. Extended to items in an unrelated product line:
The brand name Enfield, initially used for motorcycles, was
later extended to Gensets. Here, the products belong to
different & unrelated categories. It is a case of unrelated brand
extension or outside category extension.

Line Extension Colgate Example

Colgate Dental Cream: Mega-brand, the categorys volume driver.
Colgate Gel: Positioned as giving long-lasting fresh breath.
Colgate Calciguard: With an anti-cavity therapeutic positioning.
Colgate Total: With therapeutic, multi-benefits positioning.
Colgate Sensitive: positioned for special needs.
Colgate Herbal: positioned as herbal toothpaste.
Colgate Cibaca Top: positioned on economy.
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25.7 BRAND EXTENSIONS (CONTD)
Line Extensions
Line extension is the simplest form of brand extension. The idea is to
make some additions to the line & cater to different segments of users of
the product. In line extensions, the key criteria are whether the core
strength of the parent brand can be leveraged for the new products.
This is known as the principle of benefit transfer. The new extensions
also give back some benefits to the principle brand. Lifebuoys line
extension into Lifebuoy Plus/Lifebuoy Gold is an example of line
extension working well when this criterion is fulfilled.

Category Extension
Here, the brand name is extended over different products, but the
products are related in some way. In other words, they belong to a
category. The Maggi example fits this description. Dettol can be cited as
an example.
Dettol: For years, Dettol has been a well-known brand of antiseptic
lotion. When the firm, R&C, decided to expand into new antiseptic
products, they decided to launch them under the Dettol brand name,
i.e., brand extensions in related category. They felt that it would enable
the new products to gain immediate identification as sister products of
Dettol & they would easily move under the Dettol name. The Dettol
brand name was extended to # of related products Soap, Plaster,
Handwash etc.,

Outside Category extension

Here, the brand name is extended across completely new & unrelated
products, falling under altogether different product categories. It is here
that brand extension is put to the severest test & the value of the brand
is extended to products in unrelated lines that the reward, as well as the
risk, is the maximum. The reward arises from the substantial savings in
the cost & time involved in developing an altogether new brand. And
the risk is on account of the chances of customers rejecting the extension
as an inconsistent one.
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