HOW TO DEVELOP A BRANDING STRATEGY?

How to Brand new products?

A firm has three main choices:

1. Develop new brand elements for the new product2. Apply some of its existing brand elements3. Use a combination of new and existing brand elements

Branding Decisions

ALTERNATIVE BRANDING STRATEGIES

Three general strategies are popular:

• Individual or separate family brand name• Corporate umbrella or company brand name• Sub-brand name

1Individual or separate family brand nameAdvantage of individual or separate family brand name isthat if a product fails, the company has not tied itsreputation to it.Procter & Gamble has several individual brands in different product categories

2Corporate umbrella or company brand nameDevelopment costs are lower with umbrella namesbecause there is no need to run “name” research orspend heavily on advertising to create recognition.

Tata, LG, Samsung and many other companies usecorporate brand names as an umbrella brand

3Sub-brand nameSub-brands combine two or more of the corporate brands,family brand or individual product brand names.

Durable-goods makers such as Honda, Sony andHewlett-Packard use sub-brands for their products

HOUSE OF BRANDS & A BRANDED HOUSE

These two branding strategies represent two ends of abrand relationship continuum

• Use of individual or separate family brand names has been referred to as a house of brands strategy• Use of an umbrella corporate or company brand name has been referred to as a branded house strategy

Brand Portfolios

The brand portfolio is the set of all brandsand brand lines in a particular firm offersfor sale in a particular category or segment.Brand can play a number of specific roles

as a part of a portfolio:

1FLANKERSFlanker or “fighter” brands are positioned with respect tocompetitors’ brands so that more important flagship brandscan retain their desired positioning.

2CASH COWSSome brands may be kept around despite dwindling salesbecause they manage to maintain their profitability with virtually no marketing support.

3LOW-END ENTRY LEVELThe role of a low-priced brand is to attractcustomers to the brand portfolio

Audi A3 – Audi’s low-end model

4HIGH-END PRESTIGEThe role of a high-priced brand is to addprestige and credibility to the entire portfolio

Maruti Kizashi – Maruti’s high-end model

HUL has one of the most complex product and brand portfoliosand this illustrates the concept of “house of brands”

Brand Extensions

When a firm uses an established brand tointroduce a new product, the product iscalled a brand extension. It has two categories:

1.Line Extension2.Category Extension

Advantages of brand extensions:1. Improved odds of new-product success2. Positive feedback effects

Disadvantages of brand extensions:1. Brand dilution2. Questioning the brand integrity

Presentation created by-Rohit, NSIT Delhi

During an internship by-

Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknowwww.IIMInternship.com