Strategic Brand Management - The Beginner's Guide

Price is an important element from a brand’s point of view for building brand equity. Brands set the price of a product depending on three factors: i) the cost of production, ii) competitor’s pricing strategy, and iii) the consumer’s perception of the value of the product. What is Consumer price perception? Consumer price perception theory states that, consumers already have a predefined price range (a minimum value and a maximum value) for any product category, which is acceptable to them for purchasing a certain product. The consumers tend to correlate the quality of this product with the price of the product in the price band. Where, the price of the product is at the lower end of the price range or price band, the consumer assumes it to be of a lower quality. Whereas, if the price is at the higher end of the price band, he/ she equates it to be of superior quality. Hence you find several companies such as Procter and Gamble, Unilever Ltd., Volkswagen and...

Introduction In india, celebrities are not treated as mere mortals, they're Idolized, especially the ones from the fields of Cricket and Bollywood. Hence in India, brands go out of their way to associate themselves with such celebrities. No wonder nearly 50% of the ads in India feature a celebrity endorser. Below are some answers to the basic questions that a brand manager might come across when it comes celebrity endorsements for the brand. Why does a brand need a celebrity? Can I do without celebrity? Currently, in every category in any given market, be it urban, semi-literate or non-urban, there's a very high proliferation of local, regional and international brands, who are jostling for space, fighting to get one-up over its competitors. At such times, celebrity-brand association provides the brand to: Break the clutter, stand out visually and create a distinct differentiation Enhance or change a brand's existing positioning Gain fresh equity, credibility or ...

Diverting a bit from the usual subject that my blog usually deals with, I really wanted to cover some of the interesting social media campaigns that I read about on the web in the year 2013. Though not necessarily in any particular order, below is the list of the campaigns I put together from the web. “ Lootera ” promotional campaign  The Vikramaditya romance drama starring Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha set in the year 1953, brought a bit of the 50s era onto the social media platform by introducing Facebook apps like 'Lootera Radio', 'Vintage Camera' and 'Lootera Talkies' . Fans could listen to the film's songs by changing the frequencies on the 'Lootera Radio' app, which was designed like a Radio, which was quite a big deal in the 50s. Another app, 'Vintage Camera' let the users apply vintage filters to their images. Also, to give the fans an experience of the movie talkies of those years, another Facebook app called 'Looter...

In this post, I'm going to digress a bit from the usual topics I cover in this blog.  Every businessman, be it an entrepreneur or a veteran, at some point or another, needs a little bit of motivation and inspiration. Below is my collection of inspirational quotes by some of the well-known achievers this world has seen:  1.        “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” – Richard Branson 2.        “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It’s best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving other innovations.” – Steve jobs 3.        “An organizations ability to learn, to translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage” – Jack welch 4.        “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers 5.      ...

There are 6 integral criteria for choosing your brand elements: 1)       Memorability 2)       Meaningfulness                              3)       Likability 4)       Transferability 5)       Adaptability                         6)       Protectability 1. Memorability: Brand elements that help achieve a high level of brand awareness or attention to the brand, in turn facilitate the recognition and recall of a brand during purchase or consumption. 2. Meaningfulness : Here a marketer needs to ensure that brand elements are descriptive and suggesting something about the product category of the brand. This is important to develop awareness and rec...

Once a marketer has defined the target market and the type of competition, it’s imperative for the marketer to define the basis of this positioning. This can be done by the defining the Points of Parity and Points of Difference. Points of Parity (POP) are usually the attributes or functionalities or benefits or any other marketing mix elements that are not unique to the brand and might be shared by some or all the competitors, as they mostly include the basic necessities for a brand to be considered in a particular category. There are two types of Points of Parity: i)             Category Points of Parity: These represent the necessary elements that a brand should possess for a consumer to consider it in a particular category. In other words, these elements ensure that a consumer considers your brand too while considering your competitors. ii)            Competitive Points of Parity: Once your brand provides the basic ele...

The Customer based Brand equity model is based on the 4 questions asked by the customer. Who are you ? - Brand identity What are you? - Brand meaning What do I think or feel about you? - Brand responses   What kind of association would I like to have with you? - Brand relationship The above order is known as the Branding ladder , and the importance of the order lies in the fact that without the identity, we really cannot establish a meaning, responses won't occur unless the meaning has been established, and without the proper responses being elicited a relationship cannot be forged A strong brand is one which utilizes the six “brand building blocks” below, assembled in the shape of a pyramid to reach to the top and enjoy a significant brand equity. a)       Salience : It measures the awareness of the brand, how and when the brand is evoked in a customer’s mind b)       Performance : Relates to th...