Strategic brand management process

1. Identifying and establishing brand

positioning and values.
2. Planning and implementing brand
marketing programs.
3. Measuring and interpreting brand
performance.
4. Growing and sustaining brand equity.

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Brand knowledge
• Brand knowledge can be characterized in term of
two components :
• Brand awareness is related to the strength of
the brand node or trace in memory, as reflected by
consumers’ ability to identify the brand under different
conditions.
• Brand image can be defined as perceptions
about a brand a reflected by the brand associations
held in consumer memory.
In other words, brand associations are the
other informational nodes linked to the brand node in
memory and contain the meaning of brand for
consumers.
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Brand Associations : Macintosh

Macintosh
Innovative User friendly

Apple logo Educational

Creative Fun

Desktop publishing
Graphics
Friendly

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Customer-Based brand Equity Pyramid

4.Relationship
What about you and me?
Resonance

3.Response
Judgments Feelings What about you?

Performance Imagery 2.Meaning

What are you?

Salience 1.Identify
Who are you?

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Identifying and establishing brand positioning (1)

• Brand positioning is at the heart of

marketing strategy.

• Brand positioning : as the “act of designing

the company’s offer and image so that it
occupies a distinct and valued place in
the target customer’s minds.

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MK321 by Wittaya C.Sopon.
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MK321 by Wittaya C.Sopon.
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MK321 by Wittaya C.Sopon.
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MK321 by Wittaya C.Sopon.
Identifying and establishing brand positioning (2)

• Deciding on a positioning requires

determining:
1. Who the target consumer is.
2. Who the main competitors are.
3. How the brand is similar to these competitors
(points-of-parity)
4. How the brand is different from these
competitors.(points-of-difference)
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Target Market

• Identifying the consumer target is important

because different consumers may have
different brand knowledge structures and
thus different perceptions and preferences
for the brand.
• A market is the set of all actual and potential
buyers who have sufficient interest in, income
for, and access to a product.In other words, a
market consists of all consumers with
sufficient motivation, ability,and opportunity
to buy a product.

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Market segmentation
• Market segmentation involves dividing the
market into distinct groups of homogeneous
consumers who have similar needs and
consumer behavior and thus require similar
marketing mixes.
• Defining a market segmentation plan
involves tradeoffs between costs and
benefits.

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Segmentation bases
• Possible segmentation bases for
consumer and industrial markets
• Descriptive or customer-oriented
(what kind of person or organization is the
customer)
• Behavioral or product-oriented
(how the customer thinks of or uses the brand or
product) clearer strategic implications.

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Segmentation : toothpaste market
• The Sensory segment
: seeking flavor and product appearance.
• The Sociables
: seeking brightness of teeth
• The Worriers
: seeking decay prevention
• The Independent segment
: seeking low price

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Criteria : Segmentation and Targeting
• Identifiability : Can segment identification be easily
determined?
• Size : Is there adequate sales potential in the segment?
• Accessibility : Are specialized distribution outlets and
communication media available to reach the segment?
• Responsiveness : How favorably will the segment respond
to a tailored marketing program?

Identifiability
Accessibility Responsiveness
Size

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Segmentation : users of a brand (commitment)

Low 1. Convertible: On the threshold of

change; highly likely to switch brands
2. Shallow: Not ready to switch, but may
be considering alternatives
3. Average: Comfortable with their choice;
unlikely to switch in the future
4. Entrenched: Staunchly loyal; unlikely to
change in the foreseeable future
High
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Segmentation : nonusers of a brand (openness to trying)

Low 1. Strongly Unavailable:Strongly prefer

their current brand
2. Weakly Unavailable: Preferences lies
with their current brand, although not
strongly
3. Ambivalent: As attracted to the”other”
brand as to their current choice
4. Available:Prefer the “other” brand but
High have not yet switched
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Nature of competition
• Not to be too narrow in defining competition
• Often,competition may occur at the benefit
level rather than the attribute level.
Ex: Baskin-Robbins VS frozen coffee drink,
blended frozen-fruit (Starbucks, TCBY,Daily
Queen)
• Recognizing the nature of different levels of
competition has important implications for the
desired brand associations.

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Competitive frame of reference
• Once the appropriate competitive frame of
reference for positioning has been fixed by
defining the customer target market and
nature of competition, the basis of the
positioning itself can be defined.
• Arriving at the proper positioning requires
establishing the correct points-of-difference
and point-of-parity associations.

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Points-of-Difference Associations

• Points-of-Difference (PODs) are attributes or

benefits that customer strongly associate
with a brand, positive evaluate, and believe
that they could not find to the same extent
with a competitive brand.
• Brand associations can be broadly classified
in terms of either functional,
performance-related considerations or
abstract, imagery-related considerations.

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Points-of-Parity Associations
• Points-of-parity (POPs) are those associations
that are not necessarily unique to the brand
but may in fact be shared with other brands.
1. Category points-of-parity are those associations
that consumers view as being necessary to be a
legitimate and credible offering within a certain
product or service category.
2. Competitive points-of-parity are those associations
designed to negate competitors’ point of difference.

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Points of Parity VS Points of Difference

• To achieve a point of parity on a particular

attribute or benefit, a sufficient number of
customers must believe that the brand is
“good enough” on that dimension.
• There is a “zone” or “ range of tolerance or
acceptance” with POPs
• Points of parity are thus easier to achieve
than points of difference.

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Positioning
• The optimal competitive brand positioning
are
1. Defining and communicating the
competitive frame of reference.
2. Choosing and establishing points of
parity and points of difference.

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1. Defining and communicating the competitive
frame of reference

• A starting point is determine category

membership which a brand competes.
• Choosing to compete in different categories
often results in different competitive frames of
reference and thus different POPs and PODs.
• The preferred approach to positioning is to
inform consumers of a brand’s
membership before stating its point of
difference in relation to other category
members.

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2. Choosing and establishing PoP and PoDs

• Choosing Points-of-Parity
Three main ways to convey a brand’s
category membership :
• Communicating category benefits.
• Comparing to exemplars
• Relying on the product descriptor

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2. Choosing and establishing PoP and PoDs

• Choosing Points-of-Difference
The two most important considerations :
• Desirability criteria : 3 keys
• Relevance
• Distinctiveness
• Believability
• Deliverability criteria : 3 keys
• Feasibility (actual or potential ability of the product to
perform at the level stated)
• Communicability
• Sustainability

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Establishing PoP and PoDs

• Many of the attributes or benefits make up

the POPs or PODs are negatively correlated.
e.g. “low price” vs “high quality”
• Increasing level of effectiveness
• Separate the attributes
• Leverage equity of another entity
• Redefine the relationship
ex: apple “user friendly” “The power to be
your best”

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Updating positioning over time (1)
• Updating positioning involves two main issues:
1. How to deepen the meaning of the brand to tap
into core brand values or other, more abstract
consideration (laddering).
Maslow’s hierachy:
1.Physiological needs (food,water,air etc.)
2.Safety and security needs
(protection,order,stability)
3.Social needs (affection,friendship,belonging)
4.Ego needs (prestige,status,self-respect)
5.Self-actualization (self-fulfillment)
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Updating positioning over time (2)
2. How to respond to competitive challenges that
threaten an existing positioning (reacting)
• Do nothing
just stay the course and continue brand-building
efforts.
• Go on the defensive
to add some reassurance in the product or advertising
to strengthen POPs and PODs.
• Go on the offensive
reposition the brand to address the threat,launch a
product extension or ad campaign.

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Defining and establishing brand values

• Core brand values are those set of abstract

associations (attributes and benefits) that
characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or
dimensions of a brand.
• First step is to create a detailed mental map of
the brand.A mental map accurately portrays in
detail all salient brand associations and
responses for a particular target market.(When
do you think of this brand,what comes to mind?)
• Second step,brand associations are grouped into
categories according to how they are related.
Core brand value
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Brand Mantras (1)
• A brand mantra is an articulation of the
“heart and soul” of the brand.
• Brand mantras are short, three-to five-word
phrases that capture the irrefutable essence or
spirit of the brand positioning and brand values.
• Their purpose is to ensure that all employees
within the organization and all external
marketing partners understand what the brand
most fundamentally is to represent with
customers so that they can adjust their actions
accordingly.

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Brand Mantras (2)
Emotional Descriptive Brand
Modifier Modifier Functions

Nike Authentic Athletic Performance

Disney Fun Family Entertainment

• Brand function term describes the nature of the product or

the type of experiences or benefits that the brand provides
• Descriptive modifier is a way to circumscribe the business
functions term to further clarify its nature
• Emotional modifier provides another qualifier in terms of
how the brand delivers these benefits.

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Internal Branding
• Core brand values and brand mantras point
out the importance of internal branding
making sure that members of the
organization are properly aligned with the
brand and what it represents.
• Branding should be perceived as
participatory.
• B2E (business-to-employee)

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 Brand audit
• A brand audit is a consumer-focused exercise
that involves a series of procedures to access
the health of the brand, uncover its sources of
brand equity, and suggest ways to improve and
leverage its equity.
• Brand inventory is to provide a complete, up-to-
date profile of how all the products and services
sold by a company are marketed and branded.
• Brand exploratory is research activity directed to
understanding what consumers think and feel
about the brand to identify sources of brand
equity.
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