Introduction to the Concept of Brand Management

Brand

DefinitionAccording to AMA (American Marketing

Association), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”

Meaning & Evolution of Brands

• Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another.

• In fact, the word Brand is derived from the Old Norse word Brandr; which means “to burn”, as brands were and still are the means by which owners of livestock mark (burn mark) their animals to identify them.

• According to AMA (American Marketing Association), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

Meaning & Evolution of Brands

• According to AMA, the key to create a brand, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other characteristic that identifies a product and distinguishes it from others.

• The different components of a brand that identify and differentiate it are brand elements.

• In fact, many practicing managers refer to a brand as more than that – as something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the market place.

Meaning & Evolution of Brands

Consider the variety of brand name strategies:• Some companies like General Electric and Samsung, use their

names for essentially all their products.• Other manufacturers assign new products individual brand

names that are unrelated to company name, like Cadbury’s -Dairy Milk, 5-Star, Éclairs and also Procter and Gamble’s- Tide, Pampers, Pantene etc.

• Retailers create their own brand names- Big Bazaar, RG Kasat etc..

• Some companies have brand names based on people’s names, like- Porsche automobiles, McDonald’s, Ford etc..

• Names of places such as- El Paso deodorant, British Airways, etc..

Meaning & Evolution of Brands

• Names based on animals like- Dove soap, Greyhound buses, Kingfisher Airlines etc..

• In the category of “other” we find Apple computers, Shell petroleum etc..

• Based on important features/attributes- Flair Writo-Meter, Die-Hard auto batteries, etc..

• Other names that sound scientific, natural or prestigious like- Intel microprocessors, Lexus automobiles, & Compaq computers.

• Not just names but other brand elements like logos and symbols also can be based on people, places, things, & abstract images.

• In creating a brand, marketers have many choices about the number and nature of the brand elements they use to identify their products.

Role & Advantages of Brand

Role of Brand for Consumers:• Brand helps in identification of source of product• Brand assigns the responsibility to product maker• Brand reduces risk• It reduces search cost• It gives- promise, bond, or pact with maker of

product• It is a symbolic device• It is a signal of quality

Role & Advantages of Brand

Role of Brand for Manufactures:• Brand plays means of identification to simplify

handling or tracing• It is the means of legally protecting unique features• It is a signal of quality level to satisfy customers• It is a means of endow (award) products with unique

associations• It is a source of competitive advantage• It is a source of financial returns

Product Vs Brand

Product• A Product is anything we can offer to a market for attention,

acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want.

• Thus, a product may be a physical good like a cereal, laptops, or automobile; a service such as an airline, bank, or insurance company; a retail outlet like a department store, specialty store, or supermarket; a person such as a political figure, a film star, or a professional sports man; an organization like a non profit, trade organization, or arts group; a place including a city, state or country; or even an idea like a political or social cause.

• The above stated is very broad definition of product.

Product Vs Brand

ProductWe can define 5 levels of meaning for a product:

(This is explained with an example of a Car)

1. The Core Benefit Level (Mode of transportation)

2. The Generic Product Level (Comfort and better mileage)

3. The Expected Product Level (Good looks, AC, Power Steering, Power Windows etc..)

4. The Augmented Product Level (Built in Refrigerator, LCD Display Screen, ABS etc..)

5. The Potential Product Level (Automatic drive, GPRS facility, compatible for wide body parts etc..)

Product Vs BrandBrand

• Harvard’s Ted Levitt has argued that “the new competition is not between what companies produce in their factories but between what they add to their factory output in the form of packing, services, advertising, customer advice, financing, delivery arrangements, warehousing, and other things that people value.

• A Brand is therefore more than a product, because it can have dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need.

• What distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers’ perceptions and feelings about the product’s attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand.

Product Vs Brand

Brand

Extending our previous example, a branded product may be a physical good like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal, Dell laptops, Ford automobiles; a service such as Kingfisher Airlines, ICICI Bank, LIC Life Insurance; a store like Food basket, Reliance Fresh, or Big Bazaar; a person like Rahul Gandhi, Amitab Bachan, or Sachin Tendulkar; a place like the city of Bangalore, Newyork, or London; an organization such as the Reliance, Infosys, Wipro; or an idea like corporate responsibility, free trade, or freedom of speech.

Product Vs Brand

Brand

• The reality is that the most valuable assets many firms have may not be tangible ones, such as plants, equipments, and real estate, but intangible assets such as management skills, marketing, financial, and operations expertise, and most important is the brands themselves.

• This values was recognized by John Stuart, CEO of Quaker Oats from 1922 to 1956 who famously said, “If this company were to split up I would give you the property, plant and equipment and I would take the brands and the trademarks and I would fare better than you”.

Branding

• Meaning• Branding creates mental structures and helps consumers

organize their knowledge about products and services.

• In a way it clarifies the consumers decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm.

• The key to branding is that consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category.

Creation of Brands

• To brand a product it is necessary to teach consumers “who” the product is – by giving it a name.

• The brand elements will help to identity the brand.

• Firms should communicate what the product does and why consumer should care.

• Marketer should give ‘label’ and meaning to the brand so that consumer may recognize the brand and understand the relevance of the brand to their needs.

Everything can be Branded

• Can everything be brand?• Yes, branding can be done to- physical goods, services, retail

stores, online businesses, people, organizations, places, and ideas etc.

• Physical goods (products like Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Nescafe, Sony, etc)

• Services (services like- just dial, VRL, Kingfisher Airlines, Professional couriers, etc)

• Retail stores (like- Big Bazaar, Wal-Mart, Reliance fresh, etc)

• Online businesses (make my trip, e-bay, Google etc)

Everything can be Branded

• People (like- Sharukh Khan, Amithab Bachan, Narayan Murthy, Barak Obama, etc)

• Organizations (like- Infosys, IBM, Luftansa Airways, BEC, BEC-DOMS)

• Places & Geographic Locations (like- New York, Las Vegas, Bangalore, etc)

• Ideas & Causes (like- AIDS ribbons, World Wild Life Fund, etc)

Strategic Brand Management Process

MeaningStrategic Brand Management involves the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity.

Strategic Brand Management Process

Steps in Brand Management Process1. Identifying and establishing brand positioning

2. Planning and implementing brand marketing programs

3. Measuring and interpreting brand performance

4. Growing and sustaining brand equity

Strategic Brand Management Process

1. Identify and Establish Brand Positioning & Values“Act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct & valued place in target customer’s mind”

• Mental Maps (visual depiction of different associations linked to the brand in the minds of consumers).

• Core Brand Associations (associations like attributes & benefits that best characterize a brand)

• Points-of-difference (a brand has over its competitors)• Points-of-Parity (alleviating/improving the concerns or

disadvantages)• Brand mantra (what a brand represents- brand essence or

core brand promise)

Strategic Brand Management Process

2. Planning and Implementing Brand Marketing ProgramsBuilding brand equity requires creating a brand that consumers are sufficiently aware of and with which they have strong, favorable, and unique brand associations.

• Mixing and matching of brand elements (such as brand names, URLs, logos, symbols, characters, packaging, and slogans etc)

• Integrating brand marketing activities (choosing suitable marketing activities & integrate the brand in all activities)

• Leveraging secondary association (Influencing the secondary entity which is associated with the brand to build a better brand equity)

Strategic Brand Management Process

3. Measuring & Interpreting Brand Performance• Brand Audit (It is a comprehensive examination of a brand to

assess its health, uncover its sources of equity, and suggest ways to improve that equity).

• Brand Value Chain (It means to trace the value creation process of brands)

• Brand Equity Measurement System (It is a set of research programs designed to provide timely, accurate, & actionable information for marketers so that they can make the best possible tactical decisions in the short run and the best strategic decisions in the long run to manage their brand profitability)

• Brand Tracking (It is also similar kind of method like brand equity measurement system)

Strategic Brand Management Process

4. Growing & Sustaining Brand Equity• Brand-Product Matrix (graphical representation of all the brand

& the products sold by the firm)• Brand Portfolios & Hierarchies (portfolio- means set of all

brands & brand line offered & hierarchy- means the number & nature of common & distinctive brand components across firm’s products)

• Brand Expansion Strategies (managing brand equity over geographic boundaries, cultures, and market segments)

• Brand Reinforcement & Revitalization (managing brand equity over time by continuously checking consumers’ responses to marketing activities)

Strong Indian Brands(Case Study)

Customer Based Brand Equity

• Meaning• CBBE is the differential effect that brand knowledge has on

consumer response to the marketing of that brand.• A brand has positive CBBE when consumers react more

favorably to a product & its marketing activities compared with an unnamed or falsely named version of the same product.

• Positive CBBE also means that the customers are less sensitive to price increases, withdrawal of advertising support etc.

Customer Based Brand Equity

• Model of CBBE• CBBE model provides a unique point of view as to what brand

equity is & how it should best be built, measured, & managed.• The basic premise of CBBE model is that the power of brand

lies in what customers have learned, felt, seen, and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences over time.

• The simplest way to illustrate what it means by CBBE is to consider one of the typical results of product sampling or comparison tests.

• Ex: In blind tests, two groups of consumers sample a product. One group knows which brand it is, other does not. The two groups have different opinions despite consuming the same product.

Customer Based Brand Equity

• In many of CBBE tests conducted, it is found that consumers’ perceptions of product performance are highly dependent on their impressions of the brand that goes along with it.

• In other words, clothes may seem to fit better, a car may seem to drive more smoothly, the wait in a bank line may seem shorter, and so on, depending on the particular brand.

• This differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to marketing of that brand is known as Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE).

Customer Based Brand Equity

• Sources• Customer-based brand equity occurs when the consumer has a

high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and holds some strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in memory.

• In some cases, brand awareness alone is enough to create favorable consumer response.

• In most of the cases, the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations play a critical role in determining the differential response that makes up brand equity.

• Establishing a positive brand image in consumer memory- strong, favorable, and unique brand associations- goes hand-in-hand with creating brand awareness to build CBBE.

Customer Based Brand Equity

Brand Awareness:• It relates to Brand Recognition & Brand Recall.• Advantages:- Learning advantages, consideration advantages,

choice advantages.• Establishing Brand Awareness: In abstract, creating brand

awareness means increasing the familiarity of the brand through repeated exposures.

• More a consumer “experiences” the brand by seeing it, hearing it, or thinking about it, the more likely he or she is to strongly register the brand by seeing it, hearing it, or thinking about it, the more likely he or she is to strongly register the brand in memory.

Customer Based Brand EquityBrand Image:

• Creating positive brand image takes marketing programs that link strong, favorable, and unique associations to the brand in memory.

• Consumers can form brand associations in a variety of ways other than marketing activities: from direct experience; through information from other commercial or from sources like Consumer Reports or other media vehicles; from work of mouth; and by assumptions or inferences consumers make about the brand itself, its name, logo, or by assumptions or identification with a company, country, channel of distribution, or person, place, or event.

Brand Equity

Meaning & Sources

Customers’ subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its objectively perceived value.

Three key drivers of brand equity are

1. Customer brand awareness,

2. Customer brand attitudes,

3. Customer perception of brand ethics.

Brand Equity

To begin with, we can divide all definitions available on brand equity into following categories:

1. Cost Based;

2. Price-based; and

3. Consumer-based (CBBE).

Brand Equity Definitions

Brand Equity

Cost-based Price-based Consumer-based

•Historical cost method•Replacement cost method•Market value method•Discounted cash flow method•Brand contribution method•Inter-brand method

•Price premium method•Market Share Equalization method•Price-Premium at Indifference

•Brand Image Method (Strong, favorable & unique brand associations)•Brand Awareness (Brand recall & Brand recognition)

Steps in Building Brands

CBBE model looks at building a brand as a sequence of steps, The steps are as follows:

1. Ensure identification of the brand with customers and an association of the brand in customers’ mind with a specific product class or customer need.

2. Firmly establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations with certain properties.

3. Elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identification and brand meaning.

4. Convert brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand.

Steps in Building Brands

The four steps represent a set of fundamental question that customers invariably ask about brands:

1. Who are you? (brand identity)

2. What are you? (brand meaning)

3. What about you? What do I think or fell about you? (brand response)

4. What about you and me? What kind of association and how much of a connection would I like to have with you? (brand relationships)

Brand Building Block-Resonance• To provide some structure, six building blocks are established

in a pyramid.• The left side blocks represent a more “rational route” to brand

building and the right side blocks represent a more “rational route” to brand building.

Resonance

Judgments Feelings

Performance Imagery

Salience1. IdentityWho are you?

2. MeaningWhat are you?

3. ResponseWhat about you?

4. RelationshipsWhat about you & me?

Deep, broadBrand Awareness

Points of parityAnd difference

Positive Accessible reactions

Intense Active loyalty

Salience, Judgments, Feelings, Performance, Imagery, Resonance

• Brand Salience: It measures awareness of the brand. Ex: how often & how easily the brand is evoked (call to mind) under various situations or circumstances.

• Brand Performance: It describes how well the product or service meets customers’ more functional needs. Ex: Reliability, Durability, Serviceability etc.

• Brand Imagery: It depends on the extrinsic properties of the product or service, including the ways in which the brand attempts to meets customers’ psychological or social needs.

• Brand Judgments: These are customers’ personal opinions about and evaluations of the brand. Ex: quality, credibility, consideration, superiority.

Salience, Judgments, Feelings, Performance, Imagery, Resonance

• Brand Feelings: These are customers’ emotional responses and reactions to the brand. Important brand-building feelings are- warmth, fun, excitement, security, social approval, & self-respect.

• Brand Resonance: It describes the nature of this relationship and the extent to which customers feel that they are “in sync” with the brand. Ex: Harley-Davidson, Apple, Dell laptops etc.

Brand Resonance dimensions - Customer Loyalty, Customer Attachment, Customer Community, & Customer Engagement.

Brand Building Implications

• The CBBE model not only provides a road map & guidance for brand building, but it also provides yardstick to measure its progress.

• The CBBE model reinforces a number of important branding principles, 5 of them are particularly noteworthy.

1. Customers Own Brands

2. Don’t Take Shortcuts with Brands

3. Brands Should Have a Duality

4. Brands Should Have Richness

5. Brand Resonance Provides Important Focus

Brand Building ImplicationsImportant Branding Principles:

• Customers Own Brands (strength of the brand is the way consumers think, feel, & act with respect to that brand)

• Don’t Take Shortcuts with Brands (there are not shortcuts to build brands)

• Brands Should Have a Duality (it should appeal to both head and the heart)

• Brands Should Have Richness (it should have brand depth to build strong consumer bonds)

• Brand Resonance Provides Important Focus (marketers use brand resonance as a goal to reach & means to interpret their brand-related marketing activities.

David Aaker’s Brand Equity Model

Brand Equity

PerceivedValue

Brand Awareness

PerceivedQuality

BrandAssociations

OtherProprietary

Brand Assets

Reduced Marketing costsTrade Leverage (influence)Create awareness etc.

Anchor to which other can be attachedFamiliarity likingSignal of substance/ commitment

Reason-to-buyDifferentiate / positionPrice the brandBuild extensions

Help process / retrieve informationDifferentiate / positionReason-to-buyCreate positive attitude / feelingsExtensions

Competitive Advantage

Provides value toCustomer by Enhancing customer’s:•Interpretation/ processingOf information•Confidence in the purchaseDecision•Use satisfaction

Provides value to firm By enhancing:•Efficiency & effectivenessOf marketing programs•Brand loyalty•Prices / margins•Brand extensions•Trade leverage•Competitive advantage

David Aaker’s Ten Guidelines for Building Strong Brands

1. Brand identity: (have an identity)

2. Value proposition: (emotional, symbolic, functional benefits)

3. Brand position: (proper positioning)

4. Execution: (execute communication programs)

5. Consistency over time: (consistent identity, position & execution)

6. Brand system: (exploit brand features and services)

7. Brand leverage: (extent brands & co-brands)

8. Tracking brand equity: (track- brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, & especially brand associations)

9. Brand responsibility: (have someone in-charge of the brand)

10. Invest in brands: (continue investing in brands & building them)

Brand Identity

• Meaning of Brand Identity• Brand Identity is defined as the sum of the brand expressed as

a product, organization, person, & symbol.

• Brand as Product: It deals with the acceptance of the brand as a product itself. Ex: Dalda, Nirma.

• Brand as Organization: It emphasizes that a brand is successful among other things because of organizational values it upholds. Ex: Tata- Indica, Salt etc.

• Brand as Person: It deals with the question “what happens to the brand when its becomes a person?” Ex: Demin talc (masculine), Sunsilk shampoo (feminine).

• Brand as Symbol: It deals with heritage and what the brand stand for. Ex: Nokia (hands shake).

Need for Identity & Positioning

• The brand identity represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customer from the organization members.

• It helps to establish a relationship between the brand and the customer by generating a value proposition involving functional, emotional, or self-expressive benefits.

• By positioning the brand occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customers’ minds.

• Positioning helps to create brand identity.

Dimensions of Brand Identity

The four dimensions of brand equity are:• The brand-as-product (product scope, product attributes,

quality/value, uses, users, country of origin)

• The brand-as-organization (organizational attributes, local versus global)

• The brand-as-person (brand personality, brand-customer relationship)

• The brand-as-symbol (visual imagery/metaphors and brand heritage)

Brand Identity PrismKapferer’s Brand Identity Prism

Picture of Sender

Picture of Recipient

Personality

Culture

Self-image

Physique

Relationship

Reflection

Brand Identity Prism

• Brand Identity Elements:1. Physique is the basis of the brand (The physique of Philips is

‘technology & reliability, while Tata, is ‘trust’)2. Personality is what happens to a brand when it becomes a

person (Mortein mosquito repellent)3. Culture symbolizes the organization, its country-of-origin

(Dabur & Zandu evoke Indian brands)4. Relationship is the handshake between the consumer & the

organization (Relationship of Saffola edible oil is that of ‘Safety’).

5. Reflection is the consumers’ perception of what the brand stands for (Pepsi as a brand- reflects young values)

6. Self Image is what the consumer thinks of himself (benz owner is telling himself that since he is one the best, privileged, influential person, as he owns the best car in the world)

Brand Positioning

Meaning• Brand positioning is the heart of marketing strategy. • It is the ‘act of designing the company’s offer and image so that

it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customers’ minds.

• Good brand positioning helps to guide marketing strategy by clarifying what a brand is all about, how it is unique and how it is similar to competitive brands, and why consumers should purchase and use it.

• As the name implies, positioning means finding the proper “location” in the minds of a group of consumers or market segment, so that they think about a product or service in the “right” or desired way to maximize potential benefit to the firm.

Point of Parity & Point of Difference

The proper positioning requires establishing the correct points of difference and points of parity associations.

1. Points of Difference Associations

2. Points of Parity Associations

Points of Difference (PODs)

• Points of difference (PODs) are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.

• The classification can be either functional, performance-related, or abstract, imagery-related.

• The concept of PODs has much in common with several other well-known marketing concepts (USP) and (SCA)

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP)- Offering a distinctive or unique product benefit. PODs are much related to USPs.

• Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)- It is some what broader than PODs and are based on business practices. Ex: HR policies, process patenting etc..

Points of Parity (POPs)

• On the other hand, POPs are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be share with other brands.

• There are two types of POPS: Category POPs & Competitive POPs.

• Category POPs: It represents minimally at the generic product level & are most likely at the expected product level. Ex: A Bank will not be considered a “Bank” truly unless it offers a range of saving plans, deposit boxes, DD, ATMs, & other such services. These may change over a period of time based on many factors- technological, legal, consumer trends etc..

• Competitive POPs: It firm should cover & provide all general benefits which competitors are providing but may not be specialized in the same area. Achieve advantages in some other areas, where brand should be in strong & unbeatable competitive position.

Positioning Guidelines

• The concepts of points of difference and points of parity can be invaluable tools to guide positioning.

• The two key issues in arriving at the optimal competitive brand positioning are:

1. Defining & communicating the competitive frame of reference

2. Choosing and establishing points of parity and points of difference.

3. Updating positioning over time

Positioning Guidelines

1. Defining & communicating the competitive frame of reference

• A starting point in defining a competitive frame of reference for a brand positioning is to determine category membership (with which set of products does the brand compete?)

• The product’s category membership tells consumers about the goals they might achieve by using a product or service.

• Sometimes consumers know a brand’s category membership but may not be convinced the brand is a true, valid member of the category. Ex: Consumers may be aware that Sony produces computers, but they may not be certain whether Sony computers are in the same “class” as Dell, HP, & Lenovo. Similarly for passenger car segments as well.

Positioning Guidelines

2. Choosing and establishing points of parity and points of difference.

• The two important considerations in choosing PODs are that consumers find the POD desirable & that firm can deliver the same.

• Desirability criteria: (relevance, distinctiveness, believability)• Deliverability criteria: (feasibility, communicability,

sustainability)• One challenge for marketers is that many of the attributes or

benefits that make up the POPs or PODs are negatively correlated. Ex: it might be difficult to position a brand as “inexpensive” and at the same time assert that it is “of highest quality”.

Positioning Guidelines

Examples of Negatively Correlated Attributes:• Low price vs. high quality• Taste vs. low calories• Nutritious vs. good tasting• Efficacious vs. mild• Powerful vs. safe• Strong vs. refined etc..

Strategies to Overcome Negative Correlated Attributes:

1. Separate the Attributes2. Leverage Equity of Another Entity3. Redefine the Relationship

Positioning Guidelines

3. Updating Positioning over Time• With established brands, competitive forces often dictate shifts

in positioning strategy over time.• LADDERING- PODs helps initial to position but latter it

becomes necessary to deepen the meaning associated with the brand positioning. This can be done by following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory (higher-level needs become relevant once lower-level needs have been satisfied).

• REACTING- Competitive actions are often directed at eliminating points of difference to make them points of parity or to strengthen or establish points of difference.

• Here the strategies suggested are- Do nothing, Go on the defensive, & Go on the offensive.

Brand Value

• Definition

Core Brand Values

• Core Brand Associations: These are abstract association (attributes and benefits) that characterize the 5 to 10 most important aspects or dimensions of a brand.

• Ex: In response to a Nike brand probe, consumers listed Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, whom we could call “top athletes”.

• A Mental Map survey reveled the core brand associations of MTV- fun & entertaining, young, hip & cool, popular, interactive, live & immediate, lifestyle, music, informative, trusting, leader, modern, popular etc..

Brand Mantras• Brand Mantra is an articulation (expression) of the “heart and

soul” of the brand, a short, three- to- five word phrase that captures the undeniable essence or spirit of the brand positioning.

• It’s similar to “brand essence” or “core brand promise”, and its purpose is to ensure that all employees and external marketing partners understand what the brand most fundamentally is to represent to consumers, so they can adjust their actions accordingly.

• Ex: McDonald’s brand philosophy of “Food, Folks, and Fun” nicely captures its brand essence and core brand promise.

• Nike- Authentic, Athletic, & Performance.• Disney- Fun, Family, & Entertainment.• Maggie Noodle- Swad-bhi, health-bhi, aur khushiya-bhi.

Internal Branding

• Brand mantras point out the importance of internal branding- making sure that members of the organizations are properly aligned with the brand and what it represents.

• Positioning the brand internally is equally important when compared to building & managing the brand equity with customers.

• Especially for service companies, it’s critical that all employees have to up-to-date and deep understanding of the brand.

• Ex: Disney holds seminars on the “Disney Style” of creativity, service, and loyalty for employees from other companies.

• It also helps to motivate the employees & also attract customers. Ex: Intel ran an ad campaign showcasing its own employees as heros.

Brand Audits

• Brand Audit is a comprehensive examination of a brand to discover its sources of brand equity.

• To learn what consumers know about brands and products so that the company can make informed strategic positioning decisions, marketers should first conduct a brand audit to profile consumer knowledge structures.