If
you refer to a chocolate as Cadbury and noodles as Maggi,
you’ve just contributed to a brand manager’s success,
writes Anahita Subedar
WHAT’S the first thing
that comes to your mind when you hear ‘fast food’?
McDonald’s burgers or Domino’s pizza? And your
instant recall when you hear ‘photocopying’ would
be Xerox just as ‘toothpaste’ is associated with
‘Colgate’ and ‘cold drinks’ with Pepsi/
Coke. These brand names are imbibed in our vocabulary to represent
the product itself, which is the basic goal of brand management
!
Brand management is a vital component
of marketing that is applied to a product with the aim of
increasing its apparent value to the customer, thereby ensuring
and increasing the product’s brand equity.“It
is about culturing and decorating a product so that it carves
a permanent niche in the consumers’ mind. Brand manage
ment is also about furnishing innovative and effective strategies
and marketing techniques necessary to sustain the product
during fierce market competition,” explains brand management
consultant,Vishal Kunjanani.
BRAND MANAGEMENT IN INDIA
The past fifteen years
have witnessed a majority of big Indian organisations shift
their focus from ‘selling and distribution’ to
‘product development and brand building’. Increasingly,
the concept of brand manage ment goes beyond the marketing
purview, attracting definitions like ‘cultural accessory’
and ‘personal philosophy’.
With the Indian market embracing liberalisation, customers
are exposed to infinite choices as innumerable international
organisations hanker to promote their products. Here, the
price and quality of products assumes principal importance.
It becomes crucial to determine the right product price and
target the apt consumer segment.These form two of the main
functions of brand management .
“Branding is about having
a perspective, viewpoint or a promise about what the brand
owner wishes to achieve in a category, and then aligning all
aspects of the business toward achieving this objective. For
example, Zara, a fast growing global retail brand , promises
to bring out new designs at affordable prices every three
weeks, while the industry standard is 36 weeks.To keep this
promise, Zara has to hire more designers than other brands
, and choose colours at the last moment, since colour-fashion
changes every week! Similarly, a company that stands for innovation
must win more patents for innovation (like IBM or 3M) than
any other company in its category,” explains Kiran Khalap,
MD and Brand Manager, Chlorophyll Brand and Communications
Consultancy Pvt Ltd.
Other key functions in brand
management include planning synchronised launch and delivery
of brand messages; pro-actively cultivating brand understanding
via training, assets and marketing tools; and setting up systems
and tools for monitoring and assessing the brand ’s
health, so that the resulting insights can be used to sustain
brand positioning as also to evolve brand strategy and identity.
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
Says Furrokh Ragina,
Brand Manager,‘Culture and Relocations’,“It
starts with the conceptualization of a new product, teamed
with an extensive marketing plan that’s aimed at a typical
consumer segment. A market survey is conducted in advance
to assess consumer reactions. Next, we establish brand identity
by effectively communicating to the consumers how the brand
would comply with their requirements. This process is corroborated
with assertive promotions and campaigning using various media
and nonmedia platforms.”
Brand management calls for planning,
developing, and directing marketing efforts. This includes
refining the brand’s quintessence, identifying competitors
and potential threats within the category, recognizing marketing
opportunities, revamping marketing strategies (new ad-campaigns,
development of new products, developing new brand vision)
and effectively communicating the USPs of the related brand
to the targeted consumer segment.
Brands could be of various types
- product or a product range (cars/ soft-drink or all varieties
of a toothpaste); services (solution providing agencies);
organizations (NGOs); person (celebrities, politicians); group
(pop bands); events (Olympics, the World Cup); and geography
(tourist spots). Brand management is applied for various categories
of brands including premium or economy; fighting (brand created
to counter competitive threat); corporate (brand using the
company’s name); family (one brand name used for several
related products); individual (various products of one company
given different brand names); private / store / label (brands
bought by retailers in bulk from manufacturers and put their
own labels on them); manufacturer’s (known as national
brands); and co-branding (two or more brands working together
to market their products).
BRAND MANAGEMENT, IS
IT FOR YOU?
Highly motivated individuals
who are effective communicators, with vision and an inclination
toward accepting broad responsibilities would do well in this
challenging field. If you fancy travel, have entrepreneurial
leanings and thrive on constant change, you’d fit right
in! Brand management is a dynamic profession with virtually
zero scope for stagnation. Positions available in the field
of brand management would include brand manager, product manager
and product development manager.Those aiming at product management
should be result-oriented and creative, with skills in market
research and analysis, sales forecasting and promotional planning.
Adds Khalap,“When we refer
to ‘brand managers’, we usually refer to the marketing
people in consumer goods or durables because branding, as
a discipline, started with consumer goods. It is only now
that there’s a growing understanding that the discipline
is different for services and corporates.The brand manager
of a company is more like the CEO. In fact, brand managers
of the greatest brands (Apple, Google, Nike) continue to be
the CEOs and founders.”
Professional qualifications you
would need would include graduation and preferably an MBA
with specialisation in marketing (including modules on brand
management).This, coupled with field experience, would come
second to none! Those with qualifications in communication
management and advertising as also with experience in marketing
or market research could enter this field. As a fresher, you’d
begin as part of the sales team and after sustained good performance,
promoted to assist the brand/ product manager, and finally
the brand manager. Graphic designers too have scope in this
field as they are often needed by brand owners to create the
brand designs that best reflect what the brand stands for.
THE SCOPE OF BRAND MANAGEMENT
IN INDIA
As Indian markets become
increasingly competitive, brand management has become a crucial
commercial discipline, resulting in an escalating demand for
effective brand managers. Remunerations in this field are
good, with career and compensation advancement based on achievement.
Salaries of brand managers vary as per organisation. Starters’
salary could range between Rs 10,000 -15,000. Those with experience
in the FMCG industry could earn Rs 30,000 upwards.
Institutes that offer appropriate
training required in this field include Rajendra Prasad Institute
of Communication and Management Narsee Monjee Institute of
Management Studies Samsika Academy of Brand Management (Mumbai)
IIM (Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore) Symbiosis
Institute of Management Studies (Pune) Xavier Institute of
Management and Enterpreneurship MP Birla Institute of Management
(Bangalore).
|
Branding Business
