Gestion de la marque (document en anglais)

Brand management

I. Introduction

Definition of a brand (American Marketing Association): A brand is a name, term, sign or symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of seller and to differentiate them from those of competition. Too restrictive

Optimal brand definition: A name, a sign or a symbol which serve to identify and differentiate a product versus other ones and that is registered in the minds of consumers as a set of tangible and intangible benefits.

Brand is a name that influence buyers and create mental associations

Example: Apple: tangible benefits: design, innovation, intangible benefits: fashionable, part of a group…

HP, Fanta, Sony different personalities, quality perceptions, attitudes toward the brand, different feelings from consumers…

Other definition (Keller): Is a set of mental associations, held by the consumer, which add to the perceived value of a product or service. The association should be unique (exclusivity), strong (saliency) and positive (desirable).

Example: Nike is unique and strong but there are negatives associations due to child labor. BP has negative associations too.

A brand is more than a product: added value given to a product, creation of perceived differences among products

The power of a brand resides in the mind of consumers

The world’s top 3 brands?? Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft

Rank Brand Brand Value ($Millions)

1 Belgacom 1.145

2 Proximus 763

3 Colruyt 737

4 Mobistar 733

5 Delhaize 247

6 Quick 226

7 Spa 185

Rank Brand 2010 Brand Value ($Millions)

1 Coca-Cola 70.452

2 IBM 64.727

3 Microsoft 60.895

4 Google 43.557

5 GE 42.808

6 McDonald’s 33.578

7 Intel 32.015

8 Nokia 29.495

9 Disney 28.731

10 HP 26.867

The World’s 10 best Global Brands The Belgian’s 7 Strongest Brands

Belgacom has two strong brands (number 1&2)

Country of origin makes a large role in certain cases.

When do we have brands?

Reduction of the risk

Perceived risk Brands

They are two types of risks. When you buy a certain brand, you buy a guarantee. It’s not easy to create brand.

Brand or not brand?

- Need of important communication support

- Need R&D support

- Need trade support

Firms using brand management

Consumer goods (Swatch)

Services (Base)

Industrial Products (ArcelorMittal)

Industrial components (Intel) => in the ad we can see more the logo of Intel than the logo of HP. Intel becomes stronger in the negotiations versus HP.

What can be branded?

Consumer goods, geographic location, high-tech products, online products, retailers and distributors, services, people and organizations, perishable products, B to B products, causes, sport, arts and entertainment…

Everything can be branded but giving a brand is more than giving a name. You need also to innovate, it’s essential.

Evolution of brands

1. 1990’s: Retailers brands and competition among national brands$

End of brands?

2. 2000’s: Success of brands continue

Advantages of brands

Firms Consumers

• Differentiation

• Consumer loyalty

• Possibility of premium price

• Financial capitalization

• Legal protection

Creation of a barrier to entry

• Identification

• Origin, traceability

• Reduced risk

• Guarantee

• Constant quality

• Value of sign/part of a community

Difficulties of today’s branding

- High cost of brand creation and brand support

- Increased power of consumers

- Less controllable brand image

- Aggressive private labels competition

- Importance of global brand

- Fragmentation of media

- Brand responsibility given at a high level

- Brands important for financial analysts

New challenges of brand building

1. End of new brand proliferation /Increased use of brand extension

o Increased use

...