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Question 1

What makes a brand manager effective? (Cui, 2011)

main findings

Answer 1

• Brand manager human, relational and informational capital influences brand management capabilities and resultant brand performance
• Brand manager intangible capital has an indirect effect on brand performance via brand management capabilities

Question 2

6 challanges and opportunities for brands

Answer 2

1. Savvy boring customers
   
   • Difficult to persuade experienced consumers with traditional communications
2. Brand proliferation
   
   • Umbrella brands (Philips);
     
     • Pro: you only have 1 brand
     • Con: If 1 product scandal, other products are affected
3. Media fragmentation
   
   • more nontraditional forms of media (interactive, online)
   • Cause for increased expenditures
4. Increased costs
   
   • exsisting product support
5. Increased competition
   
   • More difficult to differentiate
     
     • Demand side: mature markets
     • Supply side: Brand extensions, globalization, discounters, private labels
6. Greater accountability
   
   • ​​Short-term performance orientation

Question 3

Value of a brand for manufacturers

Answer 3

1. Means of identification to simplify handling or tracing
2. Means of legally protecting unique features
3. Signal of quality level
   
   • (made by…)
4. Means of endowing products with unique associations
5. Source of competitive advantage (barriers of entry)
   
   • e.g. difficult to join the smartphone market
6. Source of financial returns
   
   • let people invest in your brand

Question 4

Provide a practical example of why Human capital important captial for a brand manager

Answer 4

With communication skills, a BM can communicate the brand’s relevant dimensions to appropriate publics, and manage firm personnel to be involved with brand elements (e.g. design, packaging)

Question 5

Which four parts of your value proposition are the fundamentals: They must always be answered?

Answer 5

• N Need
  
  • Along with your new, compelling and defensible.
• A Approach
  
  • To address that need with superior…
• B Benefits per costs
  
  • When compared to the…
• C Competition/alternative
  
  • And/or other alternatives
• Successful Value Propositions are quantitative and easy to understand and remember.
• We naturally create Value propositions in our everyday life. When translated to the business environment, they are remarkable rare.
• Remember: only your customers defines your value.

Question 6

Why does McDonalds invest in a green logo?

Answer 6

They have a image or proposition problem. People are becoming more and more aware about what they put in their mouth. So they want to convince consumers that McDonalds is healthier.

Colors have different meanings

• Red: Excitement, you alert people
• Green: healthy, natural

Question 7

Consumer-based brand equity

vs

Financial based brand equity

Answer 7

Consumer-based brand equity

• Build, sustain and leverage positive, strong, active, unique meanings of the brand.

Financial based brand equity

• To enable the brand to earn more in the short and long run.

Question 8

Product-driven brand philosophy

vs

People-driven brand philosophy

Answer 8

• product driven Companies produce products : inside –> outside
• people driven : People but brands : Oustide –> inside

Question 9

Organisational capital was not found to influence brand management capabilities

provide an explanation

Answer 9

Might be that although organisational policies set the guidelines, BM’s are not reliant upon them to fulfil their roles as they neither facilitate nor hinder their actions.

Question 10

What makes a brand manager effective? (Cui, 2011)

4 hypothised intangible assets that are critical to a brand manager’s performace (specific intangible capital elements)

Answer 10

• BM’s human capital — brand management skills, expertise, etc.
  
  • Elements such as decision making, teamwork, communication, and networking,
  • Necessary to create and communicate, manage,, and structure the brand
• BM’s relational capital — business acquaintances, relationships, connections, and networks (internal and external to the firm)
  
  • Needed to effectively communicate and collaborate with advertising agencies, regulators, and supply chain
• BM’s organisational capital — their knowledge of the firm’s brand management policies and procedures
  
  • Required to operate more effectively within the structure of the organisation — is hypothesised to positively influence brand management capabilities.. >> NOT SUPPORTED
• BM’s informational capital — their brand-related knowledge (knowledge of the brand’s customers, brand image, and performance,
  
  • Allowing the BM to create value in the marketplace for the firm by adjusting branding strategies and tactics to best meet market needs

Question 11

Some marketers failed to consider the changing market conditions and continued to operate with a “business as usual” attitude or were inappropriate in their response.

provide an example

Answer 11

5 years ago 80% of the consumers had a Nokia phone, now almost none. Now everyone has an Apple or a Samsung phone.

Question 12

Strategic Brand Management Process

Design and implement of marketing programs and activities to build, measure and manage brand equity

5 steps to achieve this

Answer 12

1. Identify and establish brand positioning and values
   
   • PoP’s, PoD’s, Brand mantra, Core brand values
2. Plan and implement brand marketing programs
   
   • Match brand elements, leverage of secondary associations >> Linking brand to entity that conveys meaning for consumers.
3. Measure and interpret brand performance
   
   • Brand value chain (to understand financial impact), Brand audits, brand tracking, brand equity management system (to provide info)
4. Grow and sustain brand equity
   
   • Manage brands within context of other brands, / categories / time / segments.
   • Brand-product matrix (Visualisation of al brands sold by firm), Brand portfolios and hieraechies, expansions strategies, brand reinforcement and revitalization.

Question 13

• Give two descriptions form executive directors of how brands have change form product-driven brand philosophy to peope-driven brand philosophy

Answer 13

• “It’s no longer 100% what the companies tell you about the brand – that has stain-fighting power or what have you – but it’s really about word of mouth, ratings and reviews”
  
  • Michelle Aleti, founder of Thinkwell Marketing.
• “A brand used to be what you said it was, and you were able to communicate that very efficiently. Today, brand are the sum total of what others say that you are”
  
  • Jeff Bedard executive director for Chase Sapphire at JPMorgan Chase.

Question 14

Give an example of the value of brand equity by branded versus non-branded lipstick

Answer 14

• Idea: People want to pay more for the brand than for the an unbranded product.
• Design: They showed lipstick with and without brandname. For different brands (Estée Lauder, Jade, Jil Sander, Revlon, Max Factor, Lancome)

Results:

• For Estée Lauder it had a positive effect. Consumers were willing to pay $2,73 more for the branded product.
• Negative effect for Jade. Consumers were willing to spent -$0.14 less for the branded product.

conclusion: brands matter

Question 15

Why is a brand important for consumers? (7)

Answer 15

1. Identification of source of product
2. Risk reducer (diverse kinds of risk)
3. Bond/pact with maker of product (consumers like to bound with brand)
4. Assignment of responsibility to product maker
5. Signal of quality
6. Search cost reducer (e.g. heuristic)
7. Symbolic device

Question 16

What is the purpose of the Brand Value Chain?

Answer 16

to better understand the financial impact of brand marketing

Question 17

Provide practical examples of why… is important captial for a brand manager

• Human capital
• Relational capital
• Organisational Capital
• Informational capital

Answer 17

• Human capital
  
  • With communication skills, a BM can communicate the brand’s relevant dimensions to appropriate publics, and manage firm personnel to be involved with brand elements (e.g. design, packaging)
• Relational capital
  
  • A BM’s relational capital with the brand’s supply chain partners can be leveraged to enhane the brand’s communication. Such as, obtaining higher levels of channel support to maintain a brabd’s positioning. (e.g. specialized displays in stores or co-promotions with channel partners)
• Organisational Capital (not supported)
  
  • A BM aware of policy in the decision-making process, allows him to effectively engage the necessay market research withi the firm, necessary for the approval.
• Informational capital
  
  • A BM’s understanding of the brand’s customers, combined with understanding of the brand’s positioning, allows the BM to create and communicate in a responsive manner.

Question 18

Give a succesful example of a value proposition

Answer 18

The iPad’s Retina Display is like the jump between DVD and Blu-ray. (need) Indeed, the new iPad’s value proposition is entirely centred on a huge resolution bump . The new Retina Display finally gives the iPad a feature that you can’t find anywhere else (competition). Few consumer computer monitors reach near the new iPad’s 2048 by 1536 resolution (approach). The screen is also far beyond the 1920 by 1080 resolution of HDTVs. Because of its high resolution, the Retina Display makes practically everything look better (Benefit), even merely browsing the web.

Question 19

(Managing CBBE paper, Keller)

How to measure qustomer based brand equity?

2 approaches

Answer 19

• Indirect approach
  
  • Measure brand awarness (recall & recognition)
  • Measure brand image (type favorability, and strenght of their relationships)
    
    • Congruence: extent to which brand associations are shared amongst consumers; can be measured by comparing the pattern of associations across consumers to determine which associations are common or distinctive
    • Competitve overlap: extent to which brand associati ons are linked to the product category (identification) and are (not) shared with other brands (uniqueness)
    • Leverage: extent to which associations (linked to the company, country of origin, etc.) become secondary associations for the brand
• Direct approach:
  
  • Directly measuring the effects of brand knowledge on consumer response to marketing for the brand,
    
    • Useful in determining the nature of the differential response that creates customer - based brand equity
      
      • can be done through experiments in which one group responds to an element in the marketing programme when it is (1) attributed to the brand under consideration , and another group responding to that same element when it is (2) attributed to a fictitious/unnamed version of the product)

Question 20

What is the distinction between a resource and a capability?

Answer 20

• Resources are stocks of available factors that are owned or controlled by the organisation
• Capabilities are an organisation’s capacity to deploy resources. Therefore, it is through the transformation of resources into capabilities that a firm is able to deliver substantial value.

Question 21

What is the Business Value chain?

Answer 21

Question 22

The 4 levels of a product (Levitt)

Answer 22

• Core benefit
  
  • The physical product (what’s it about) (ex. USB stick)
• Tangible product
  
  • The brand, label (design, packaging)
• Augmented products
  
  • Warranty, aftersales (reliability)
• Total product
  
  • Much more (extra meaning that consumer gives to the product)

Question 23

The 6 deadly sins of brand management:

Answer 23

Brand memeory loss:

• For old brands, as for old people, memory becomes an increasing issue. When a brand forgets what it is supposed to stand for, it runs into trouble. The most obvious case brand memory loss occurs when a venerable, long-standing brand tries to create a radical new identity, such as when coca cola tried to replace its original formula with New Coke. The results were disastrous.

Brand Egoism:

• Brand sometimes develop a tendence for over-estimating their own importance, and their own capacity. This is event when a brand believes it can support a market single-handedly, as polaroid did with the instant photography market. It also apparent when a brand enters a new market for which it is clearly ill-suited, such as Harley Davidson trying to enter the perfume market.

Brand deception:

• “Human kind cannot bear very much reality, neither can brands. Indeed, some brands see the whole marketing process as an act of covering up the reality of their product. In extreme cases, the trend towards brand fiction can lead to downright lies. In an age where markets are increasingly connected, via the Internet and other technologies, consumers can no longer be deceived.

Brand Fatigue:

• Some companies get bored with their own brands. You can see this happening to products which have been on the shelves for many years, collecting dust. When brand fatigue sets in creativity suffers, and so do sales.

Brand Paranoia:

• This is the opposite of brand ego and is most likely to occur when a brand faces increased competition. Typical symptoms include: a tendency to file lawsuits against rival companies, a willingness to reinvent the brand every six months, and a longing to imitate competitors.

Brand irrelevance:

• When a market radically evolves, the brands associated with it risk becoming irrelevant and obsolete. Brand managers must strive to maintain relevance by staying ahead of the category, as Canon is trying to do with digital photography. One more reason is a gap between creativity and strategy.

Question 24

Why will ‘going green’ work better for Coca Cola Life than it will work for McDonalds.

Answer 24

• Because Coca Cola life is a sub brand of Coca Cola, next to the regular, zero and light products.
• McDonalds want to change the whole brand image

Question 25

Why do Unilever and P&G want fewer brand? Why focus?

Answer 25

• Because if there is overlap between brands, you waste your money by competing with your own brand.
• With six different brands in margarine (butter), you have to allocate your investment in six brands, compared to when you only have 2 brands in margarine.

Question 26

Provide a practical example of why Relational capital important captial for a brand manager

Answer 26

A BM’s relational capital with the brand’s supply chain partners can be leveraged to enhane the brand’s communication. Such as, obtaining higher levels of channel support to maintain a brabd’s positioning. (e.g. specialized displays in stores or co-promotions with channel partners)

Question 27

Tangible versus Intangible assets

CocaCola example

Answer 27

• Idea: Do people like Coca Cola or Pepsi for the brand or for the taste?
• Design: Blind taste test: try Diet Coca Cola versus Diet Pepsi. Which one do you prefer? Identified taste test: try both (brand names revealed). Which one do you prefer?
• Results:
  
  • Blind taste test preference: Pepsi: 51%
    Coca Cola: 44%
    No preference: 5%
  • Identified taste test preference: Pepsi: 23%
    Coca Cola: 65%
    No preference: 12%

Conclusion: For Cola the brand is more important than the taste. CocaCola were thinking of changing the formula of the drink, to let it taste better. But, consumers were “angry” about that, because you do not touch CocaCola.

Question 28

Provide a practical example of why Informational capital important captial for a brand manager

Answer 28

A BM’s understanding of the brand’s customers, combined with understanding of the brand’s positioning, allows the BM to create and communicate in a responsive manner.

Question 29

explain with examples: “Positioning as an act is stress your identity”

Answer 29

Apple

• they were able to gain a high market share in a very difficult market. What did they do? Apple was something different, think different. It was almost like a rebel, different from the rest. They were able to conquer so much market share since they were against following the crowd.

Starbucks

• Starbucks became too big, it is not unique anymore. It is not a way to express your own feelings. You can get it on every corner of the street.

Question 30

Brand versus product

Answer 30

• Product:
  
  • Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want (Kotler)
    
    • Tangible
    • Can be copied
    • Can be outdated
    • Involves transactions (want to make $$)
• Brand:
  
  • Is a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it from other products designed to satisfy the same need.
    
    • ​Intangible
    • Unique
    • Potentially timeless
    • Forms basis of connections

A brand is a valued (in)tangible asset that needs to be handled carefully

Question 31

What are the judgement criteria for the crucial components of a value proposition?

• Need
• Approach
• Benefit
• Costs & Competition

Answer 31

• Need was clearly presented in a compelling presentation
  
  • Clearly identifiable client/customer need
  • Innovative, bold, and world-changing?
  • Clearly defined and supported; what is the critical issue?
• Approach will meet the need
  
  • Truly original concept?
  • Has technical feasibility been demonstrated?
  • Is there a path to commercialization?
• Benefits of this project are clear
  • Single most compelling benefit identified?
  • Competitive advantage
• Costs & Competition are clear
  
  • Risks inherent in the idea been identified and dealt with
  • Clear distinctive competence?
  • Feasibiloty based on evidence?

Question 32

Give an example of a failed brand vaulue proposition in comparison to a every-day life value proposion

Answer 32

Question 33

What is a value proposition?

Answer 33

Is a statement that includes your important customer and market:

• A promise of value to be
  
  • delivered (sending),
  • to be acknowledged (receiving)
  • and a belief from the customer that value will be experienced.

A value proposition can apply to an entire organization, or parts like customer accounts, products/services or brands.