Lecture summary Brand Management

Brand Management Lecture Notes – Sofie Polman
Table of Contents
Lecture 1.....................................................................................................................................................2
Lecture 2: Branding With Purpose...............................................................................................................4
Lecture 3: Brand Associations.....................................................................................................................7
Lecture 4: Brand Extensions: Managerial Perspectives..............................................................................11
Lecture 5: Brand Personality & Relationships............................................................................................13
Lecture 6: Brand Experience......................................................................................................................16
Lecture 7: Brand Engagement...................................................................................................................17
Lecture 8: Brands & Employees.................................................................................................................23
Lecture 9: Branding For Good: Brand Activism..........................................................................................26
Lecture 10: Brand Growth: The Behaviorist View On Branding.................................................................31




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,Lecture 1
What is a brand?
 Identification – to be able to recognize the brand & its products
o There is no competition without brands
 Differentiation – what makes you different than the competition?
 Mental construct – what’s in consumers’ heads
 Relationship partner – between customers and the brands
 Driving force – inside of the organization

BRAND = IDENTIFICATION
A name, term, sign, symbol, design, or any combination of those, used to identify the goods and services of
one seller or group of sellers. - Philip Kotler
 Consumer & B2B brands do this – similar design across different products

BRAND = DIFFERENTIATION
A distinguishing name or symbol intended to identify the goods or services of one seller, and to differentiate
those goods and services from those of the competitors. - David Aaker

BRAND = MENTAL CONSTRUCT
Brands are mental containers of meaning and serve as internal information sources for buyers – Giep Franzen
 Brands are networks of associations
 stuff you learn about the brand (advertisement, use, recommendations from others)

BRAND = RELATIONSHIP PARTNER
“... brands can and do serve as viable relationship partners [and] consumer brand relationships are valid at the
level of lived experience...” - Susan Fournier
 brands you have a connection with/are loyal to

BRAND = DRIVING FORCE
[B]rands are the mechanism that connects organizations and people... they are also the cultural forms that
allow us to express who we are ... [and] the soul of corporations, organizations and movements. - Martin
Kornberger

How to build a strong brand?
Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) Pyramid by Keller
4 Questions (consumers ask about your brand):
1. Who are you? (identity)
2. What are you? (meaning)
3. How do I think & feel about you?
4. What is our relationship?
 consumer judgments (performance) and feelings (imagery) – they both influence each other (quality
influences the emotions; imagery also influences performance due to bias). Based on these feelings, you
develop a relationship with the brand.


Performance and imagery are more objective,
feelings and judgments are subjective.




2

,Brand salience: Before anything else, you need to create brand salience (= the brand must come to mind
easily). This means you have to build BRAND AWARENESS: The ability to recall and recognize the brand (in
relation to the needs it satisfies!)
Two types of brand awareness: recall vs recognition
 Recall = the brand comes to mind spontaneously aka “top of mind awareness” (TOMA) “what brand(s)
of [category] can you think of?”
 Recognition = the brand is recognize from relevant cues (e.g., name, logo, packaging, design) aka
“aided recall” “which of these brands do you know/recognize?”

Depth: How easily do you recall/recognize the brand?
Breadth: In which situations does the brand come to mind?

Some general tips for building awareness
 More exposure is better (low involvement learning is based on repeated exposures), so budget is key,
but also:
 Be consistent (think 10 times before changing logo/name/packaging)
 Always establish link to product need
o Make sure people know what product/service you sell
 Ensure sufficient exposure to package (two second rule) for recognition
o Show packaging for at least 2 seconds as that is the optimal time you need
 Create a personal connection (use a presenter who establishes this)
o George Clooney for Nespresso
 Use mnemonic devices (music, sound, imagery)
o Memory aid to help people remember your brand

Brand meaning: the associations with a brand, built by: own experience, experience of others (WOM) &
advertising
 brand performance and brand imagery
 after presence you want to create meaning

Good associations:
 Favorable
 Strong link to the brand
 Unique (distinct from other brands in category)

Two types of associations:
1. Functional, performance-related
2. Imagery-related (often more abstract)

Brand performance
1. Primary characteristics & secondary features: (e.g., low sugar, high engine power)
2. Product reliability (consistency), durability & serviceability
3. Service effectiveness (level of satisfaction), efficiency (speedy & responsive) & empathy (trusting,
caring)
4. Style & Design
5. Price
 Functional aspects

Brand imagery
1. User profile(s): what kind of person(s) use(s) the brand?
2. Purchase & Usage Situation: when do you buy/use the brand? (for here or to go?)
3. Personality & Values: more tomorrow!


3

, 4. History, Heritage & Experience (both shared & individual) (we are around for long and you can trust
us)



Consumer Responses to the Brand: How do consumer THINK & FEEL about the brand?
Judgments
 Quality
 Credibility (= trustworthiness, expertise, likability)
 Consideration (would I buy this brand?)
 Superiority (better than the others?)
 more rational

Feelings
 Warmth, fun, excitement
 Security, social approval, self-respect
 more emotional

Consumer-Brand Relationships: What relationships do consumers (want to) have with the brand?
Does the brand “resonate” with customers? (Brand Resonance)
 Loyalty (behavioral loyalty & attitudinal attachment; class 5)
 Sense of community (more in class 5)
 Active engagement (more in class 7)

Two dimensions:
 Intensity: how strong are the feelings?
 Activity: Do consumer act on their feelings?

Southwest airline
 First layer: you want to be in their thoughts

Lecture 2: Branding With Purpose
Brands: Enable identification & differentiation, create meaning (associations) for consumers, help consumers
to build relationships with organizations & products, and serve as a driving force for organizations

Brand Equity: Understood through Keller’s pyramid: (1) build brand salience, (2) create associations on
performance and imagery, (3) foster favorable judgment and feelings, (4) develop strong and meaningful
relationships with customers (resonance)

Branding with purpose
 Coolblue (purpose defined at level of brand benefits)
 AUARA (societal level “water to change the world” – combi of company and NGO)
 TIDAL (music streaming service, by highly influencing artists; more money to artists and better quality)
 Marcel’s Green Soap (Dutch advertiser that developed green alternatives for soap)
 TOMS (shoe brand that donates 1 pair of shoes when one is sold)

Increasing relevance
Looking beyond profit that you can make is becoming more popular – business roundtable wants to promote
an economy that services all Americans

Simon Sinek’s golden circle: Why, how, what
3 levels on which you can market products


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