Managing Brands Over Time

Reinforcing Brands

Brands are important assets for an organisation and they stay with the organisation, evolve with the change with consistent brand promises and remain longer in the markets than the products. Reinforcing brands involves several activities required to maintain the brand equity and by reinforcing brand values for the present and potential customers.

Brand equity can be maintained by consistently delivering the message and understanding of the brand in terms of:

• Brand and its various products
• Benefits of the products How the product helps with satisfying the demand
• Associate marketing

The process of brand reinforcement requires regular monitoring of a product at all the levels of its life cycle for keeping check and monitoring the changes in the tastes and preferences of customers. These strategies are adopted by the business entities for connecting with the customers and making them aware of their advantages.

In the words of Gardner and Levy (1955), the long-term success of a brand depends on marketer’s ability to select a brand meaning prior to market entry and operationalising that meaning in the form of an image, and maintaining that image over time.

The image of the brand as perceived by the people is not affected by the messages and communication activities of the firm rather it is the awareness and understanding derived from the total set of brand-related activities that are adopted by the firm. Though statements related to positioning or repositioning include the idea behind the brand image they do not indicate how the image can be managed over time.

Brand reinforcement can be done by:

• By expanding the categories of products that the brand represents
• By creating more brand awareness, among both existing and new customers
• Making the brand superior and stronger with stronger associations to keep moving forward

Maintaining Brand Consistency

Brand consistency is associated with the perception of the people regarding the brand that has an impact it has on their minds regarding the image of the brand and the company. For example, Netflix is consistent on social media.

One of the most “on brand” things for Netflix has been audience interaction through social media, as well as creating fun content using screenshots or citations from their own shows. The brand messages are delivered following the brand identity and image, values and strategy over some time. These messages get fixed in the minds of the customers that make them remember the brand across various channels.

Brand consistency ensures that the brand can be easily recognised through messages that are aligned with the brand values, design, logo or other forms of offerings. The brand needs to create a level of trust and loyalty with customers. Many liabilities and assets are linked with the brand that increases or decreases the value provided by the products to the customers and the business entity in the long run.

The brand assets can be classified as:

• Brand loyalty
• Brand awareness
• Brand associations
• Perceived quality
• Other forms of proprietary assets in form of trademarks, patents, relations and more

Organisations need to keep their brands consistent since it is the only way for the brand to stay alive in the minds of the customers over time. It is important of being aware of the messages that are being conveyed and to interact with the customers regularly to understand and meet their expectations and make changes to the brand accordingly.

Brand consistency leads to:

• Shape brand perception
• Maintain brand recognition
• Build trust and loyalty
• Evoke positive emotions concerning the brand
• Differentiate the brand
• Help to beat the competition

Protecting Sources of Brand Equity

Brands are an important asset of the company which is associated with its products and services that the firm relies on for its growth and profitability. Organisations need to differentiate themselves from their competitors by promoting their products and services and maintaining a good reputation with their customers for achieving their goals.

For example, Apple has a protected logo and tag line, design, technology etc. Similarly, other brands like Samsung, Vivo have protected the sources of brand equity by registering their brand and trademark.

The companies must protect their sources of brand equity in the following manner:

• Legally protect the selected appropriate brand elements: There are several components associated with brand elements that differentiate the brand from others in the form of its logo, business name, signature, colours, symbol, package design and more. Organisations need to protect brand elements from being used illegally by other companies which leads to the devaluing of the brand.
  
  
• Registering the brand with the right legal bodies: Firms need to register their brand and trademark for preserving and protecting the rights of the brand from being copied or followed by others in the market. These trademarks are registered with the government’s trademark agency for protecting them from initiating any kind of legal disputes.
  
  
• Defending the trademarks from infringement of other competitive elements: Branding of products by business organisations gives them a competitive advantage which strengthens their position in the industry. The company needs to protect its trademark from infringement by several new and start-up companies that make illegal infringements for competing with the stronger brands and their elements in the marketplace.

Revitalising Brands

Companies use the marketing strategy of revitalising brands for improving the existing products or when a product has reached its stage of maturity or due to changing demand of the people due to which there is a fall in profits of the company. It is a process of adopting a suitable brand revival strategy by the company to reinstate the product in the market and protect it from getting obsolete and disappearing from the market.

Brand revitalisation is a transformation strategy that is adopted by the company for the following reasons:

• With changes in technology, the products need to be upgraded
  
  
• For selling the products in the global markets the brand needs to be revived
  
  
• To attract a new target audience in a competitive market
  
  
• To resolve issues that harm the image of the company or create a negative impact on the employees or consumers
  
  
• For handling situations of cost efficiency, dip in profits, problems with the product and changing trends of the consumers
  
  
• Due to the situation of merger or acquisition the brand needs to be re-structured
  
  
• To deal with copyright issues due to brands having the same names, design or logo Due to restructuring of the organisation and the business

Brand revitalisation strategies require effective problem-solving, making improvements and innovative and creative thinking. For example, Harley Davidson: From running into bankruptcy twice, to rerun the promise and create strong campaigns. Demand always exceeds supply. The company must do continuous research for improved product features and usage for retaining their loyal customers.

The company needs to become innovative in its approach by creating a story that relates to the people for backing the product and creating an impact on the customers. Another effective strategy is to change the product packaging and make it more user-friendly and appealing to the customers. Many companies prefer to expand their business by transforming their distribution channels, redefining their brand identity or renaming their product.

They prefer to rework the product design or create a new product and relook at the product prices based on value addition. These strategies are beneficial in a competitive market that helps with gaining the attention of the target audience.

Expanding Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is making people aware and informing them regarding the offerings of the brand. It helps the people with identifying, understanding and recognising the brand and the products. Brand awareness is necessary at the time when consumers do their research and make a purchase. Consumers can identify the product in the qualities that differentiate products from its competitors. If consumers are familiar with the brand they are more likely to buy the product that looks at others in the market.

Brand awareness is necessary for influencing consumer decision making, launching new products and services and differentiating brands from competition. Brand awareness is effective in making repeat purchases and increasing sales and market share. Brand awareness is important for companies that use social media sites for marketing.

For example, Chanel launched a video series that has sparked attention and driven customer engagement on social media to new heights for the brand—based on the powerful story of Chanel’s origins.

Part five of the series, which tells the story of founder Coco Chanel, has been especially connective for audiences. Due to advancements in technology brand awareness is essential in every business since it is a collective marketing effort that helps with boosting brand awareness amongst consumers and increasing market share.

In the words of the Strategic Planning Institute, Aggressive marketing and advertising are the key factors in increasing brand awareness and converting awareness into market share.

Brand awareness is effective in making repeat purchases by the people since it has an impact on their attitude and perceptions that help with making brand choices leading to brand loyalty.

Brand awareness is necessary since it helps with:

• Fostering trust in the brand
• Creating brand associations
• Creating brand value and brand equity

Improving Brand Image

Brand image is how customers think about a brand over time and it is formed as a perception of the brand in the minds of the customers. The image is created due to the interactions and experience of the people with the products and the brand.

For example, Tata Nano was tagged as the “cheapest Car” as a result its sales fell drastically. To revive the sales, the new campaign was launched “Celebrate Awesomeness” that re-positioned its image in the minds of the customer.

According to Kotler, An image is the set of beliefs, ideas, and impressions that a person holds regarding an object. Different customers perceive the brand differently and they do it based on their interaction with the brand.

Nowadays, business organisations spend a lot of time, effort and resources on creating a brand identity for creating a brand personality resulting in creating a brand image. The organisations must maintain a consistent brand image that creates an overall impression in the minds of the customers and also be able to stand out from the others.

The advantages of a positive brand image are:

• Establishes credibility
• Makes a good impression and increases referrals
• Attracts new customers
• Makes a way for introducing more products under the same brand
• Helps with boosting the confidence of the existing customers
• Helps in retaining customers
• Helps in retaining them
• Improves business-customer relationship

Organisations create strategies that help them establish credibility within the market, with the right pricing strategy and delivering high-level customer service.

Companies use various methods for improving their brand image:

• Value proposition
• Through the buyer personas and journey
• Website design and structure
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Consistent blogging and email marketing
• Social media
• Public relations
• Personalisation and segmentation
• Analytics for monitoring the metrics for brand image

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Adjustments to Brand Portfolio

Organisations have multiple brands in their brand portfolio to fulfilling the needs of different market segments. The brand portfolio covers all different types of brands owned by the company and managing the brand portfolio requires a long-term understanding with proper planning of the role of different brands and their relationship with the customers over some time. Brands play an important role in the migration of customers within the brand portfolio.

The brand portfolio strategy is linked with the business strategy that includes directions required for the market growth of the product and its associated value propositions. It requires making adjustments to the brand portfolio to continue in the markets and support the growth of the company.

Brands create an emotional connection with their customers along with creating associations through the following steps:

• The first step requires identifying brands that have a clear, strategic role in the portfolio by evaluating their financial performance
• The next step involves defining the brand portfolio solutions according to the needs of the target customers
• The last step is to create a brand portfolio roadmap by establishing the roles and priorities of each brand during the transition

Managing the brands over a while needs certain adjustments to be made in the brand portfolio for the optimum performance of the brand and for increasing the strength of the brand over some time. Many organisations have several brands for serving their customers and it requires a brand portfolio strategy of re-evaluating the brands for supporting the marketing investments.

It would require removing certain brands for meeting that meet the strategic and financial objectives of the company. The organisations need to analyse the role of the brand over the long term by making adjustments to the brand portfolio through migration strategies, acquiring new customers, retiring brands and removing obsolete products from the brand portfolio.

Migration Strategies

Brand migration takes place when a brand is converted, replaced or integrated into another brand. M&A activities are most often the reason for brand migration. An example for this is Novartis. The new pharma brand was created in 1996 in a merger of the two Swiss companies Ciba-Geigy AG and Sandoz AG.

The process of brand migration strategy is adopted by firms for offering a consistent experience to customers with the existing brands. The migration strategy helps consumers understand how different brands and products in the brand portfolio can satisfy their needs with the changing times. It also gives them an understanding of how they can switch among the brands or products due to their changing needs.

Migration of brands helps in the following manner:

• Organisations can increase their market share and value by consolidating the brands
  
  
• The process of migration helps to increase the overall brand value of the master brand by transferring the gained brand equity of the company
  
  
• The marketing costs are reduced by the migration of brands and it generates higher value by focusing on positioning of on global brand
  
  
• Migration helps with creating better synergies and customer experiences
  
  
• Larger global brands attract better and more talented employees than smaller and lesser-known brands

Acquiring New Customers

The process of customer acquisition involves gaining new customers for increasing the client base of the business organisation. Acquiring new customers is a crucial strategic initiative since there can be no business without customers. Customer acquisition is used by brands for understanding the value of each customer by measuring the money spent by the firm for bringing in new customers.

The firm gains higher profits when there is lesser spending on acquiring a new customer. Organisations make their marketing strategies based on these metrics for improving their profitability. The process of acquiring customers depends on how effective is the organisation in building a comprehensive relationship with the customers and also being able to retain them in the long run.

For example, brands like ZARA, H&M are using influencer marketing and affiliation marketing to acquire new customers.

The marketing strategy of acquiring new customers is a challenging task for the organisations. The most effective strategy for acquiring new customers is through promotional campaigns. There are several cost-effective strategies such as encouraging customer referrals and this is possible when the customers are well satisfied and the organisations have a healthy relationship with their customers.

The customer acquisition process involves:

• Identifying the target audience by conducting marketing research
• Defining a strategy and design a plan from the data findings and the best practices of the industry
• Launching the campaign after identifying the target audience through the selected channels
• Measuring and optimising marketing campaigns for getting a clear picture of what is working in the marketing campaign.
• Eliminating campaigns that do not bring in results and boosting the campaigns that are working

The need for customer acquisition is important since it helps with brand awareness, sales, recommendations, business ventures and more.

Various strategies used by companies for customer acquisition are:

• Display advertising
• Social media marketing
• Search marketing
• Content marketing
• Affiliate marketing
• E-mail marketing

Retiring Brands

Organisations focus on methods of brand reinforcement by keeping the brands active and maintaining brand equity among their new and potential customers. There are times when the firms make strategic decisions regarding retiring a product and removing them totally from the markets. This is because certain brands have exhausted their brand equity and people are no longer associated with the brand. Therefore it is best to remove or retire the brands or the other way is to reduce the number of products to save the fading brand.

For example, companies like Tata, and Hyundai discontinued some of their car models (Tata Estate, Tata indica, Hyundai Grand i10 Nios) and launched new models (Tata Punch, nexon and Hyundai creta, Nios). Similarly, Coca cola has discontinued some of its products like Tab, odwalla.

The method of retirement involves eliminating the product from the market without replacing it or in some cases the product is with a new version. The products are retied for many reasons such as change in technology, reduced value, competitive pressures or the product is not able to generate the required profits or revenue.

Obsoleting Existing Products

The strategy of planned obsolescence is a calculated method used for ensuring that the existing version of a given product will become dated or useless within a given time frame. This means that the products require replacement in the future and this phenomenon is very common in the domains of fashion, mobile technology, computer hardware, software and more.

Organisations engage in planned obsolescence for controlling costs by removing products that are no longer in use. These products are at the end of their lifecycle and they remain unsold for long periods and are not expected to be sold in the future. These products become outdated due to advancements in technology and due to the changing trends which require the business entities to constantly adapt to these changes and respond to the wants and requirements of the consumers.

The marketing strategy of using planned obsolescence was first implemented in the 1920s by General Motors CEO Alfred P. Sloan to compete with his rival Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. The strategy was very successful and the customers began upgrading to brand-new models for following the current trends.

Hence, planned obsolescence is a business strategy used by the firms for products that are designed purposefully to have a specific life span. These are tactics used by the company where at times the planned obsolescence is designed into a product for encouraging the customers to buy the next upgrade version of the product.