Branding matters

GODREJ, Britannia, Nike, Adidas, CocaCola, Pepsi, Titan and Tata...what are they if not BRANDS. A brand identifiesgoods and services of sellers, and differentiates them from those of thecompetitors. It is not just confined to a product, a nation can be a brandtoo, for example France, that is identified with wine and Switzerland withwatches. The brand is considered to be the promise of the value one receives.According to the Woodland marketing manager, Vikas Bagga, brands once createdand sustained guide the fortune of its promoters and all others who are directlyor indirectly responsible for nurturing a particular brand.StandardChartered marketing and e-commerce head Akshay Kumar says that branding is allabout creating ''differentiation''. "A brand must communicate," he says. Whiletalking about the importance of a brand for a business to survive, Swarn Bajaj,head of marketing, Spice Telecom, Punjab, says, "A brand is the identity of thebusiness. Even in a competitive and ever-changing business environment, it isthe brand that establishes a relationship with the customer. Strong brands helpa company to maintain the market share." "For instance, in mobile servicestoday when all operators have similar product features, same tariffs, the samevalue-added services, the key differentiator from a customer''s point of view isthe brand. Hence branding becomes important with regard to being able to grasp apart of the ''mind share'' of the customer," he adds.Brand management is anorganisational system where personnel is responsible for all marketingstrategies and activities associated with a brand or products. According toBagga, brand management is a specialised function that revolves around creatingand nurturing a successful brand or set of brands with a view to enhancing itsimage, recall and longevity in a given (presumably) acutely competitiveenvironment, which is influenced by innumerable environmental andnon-environmental variables.To build a strong brand for their products,personnel referred to as brand or product managers are responsible formanagement decisions such as long-term business strategy, pricing, productdevelopment direction and, in some cases, profit and loss responsibility.The quest forcompany growth makes brand managers the most valuable. A brand manager''sposition is developed around responsibility for the product or a small family ofproducts. Notably, the designations — brand manager, product manager andmarketing manager are often used to describe the same function. Brand managersare concerned with market research and development, packaging, manufacturing,sales and distribution, communications and business analysis, and forecasting.Forecasting means not only keeping track of sales trends of one''s product, butanticipating responses to marketing campaigns and product launches or changes.The forecasts are used to determine production levels. Then, managers decide howto increase the market share, the markets and demographic groups to be targettedand the type of advertising and special promotions touse.Withthe realisation that strong brands together with persuasive marketing programmesdrive the shareholder value and that companies can no longer make pioneeringdecisions without understanding how to market a product, the branding arena isthrowing up immense opportunities to aspirants in the field. Positions in thebrand management category are found in a variety of industries that producedifferent goods that include food items, soaps, soft drinks, tobacco, drugs,cosmetics and liquor. Service sector such as banks, insurance agencies,advertising agencies, television channels and newspaper organisations toorequire brand managers. Bajaj says, "Marketing is an evergreen option. Itis usually the brand managers who go on to head organisations. The optionsavailable in the field are: advertising, public relations, market researchcompanies and corporates." Besides, you can be into affiliate marketing. Forinstance working with a major company that involves brands like Nike, Disney,Pepsi or L''Oreal, chances are that you''ll do a lot of cross-promotion, oraffiliate marketing. Public relations executives write public releases to localand national publications and develop ideas that increase their brandrecognition. Also, many consulting firms now hire industry or functionalexperts that focus on marketing issues. These firms need people with expertisein areas of branding, market research, continuous relationship marketing,pricing strategy and business-to-business marketing.The most common route for entry-level positions is amasters degree or diploma in business administration. Some firms do hireundergraduates depending upon the kind of skills they possess. The otherroute to enter the brand arena is to have a sales or communications/advertisingbackground. The aspirants should be analytical and creative in approachwith excellent communication and marketing skills. They should be highlymotivated and result-oriented individuals. Brand management is taught aspart of management courses. To pursue it as a career you should be a managementgraduate.