Brief 3 | Branding

Brand management:
is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product.

A good brand name should:
* be protected (or at least protectable) under trademark law
* be easy to pronounce
* be easy to remember
* be easy to recognize
* be easy to translate into all languages in the markets where the brand will be used
* attract attention
* suggest product benefits (e.g.: Easy-Off) or suggest usage (note the tradeoff with strong trademark protection)
* suggest the company or product image
* distinguish the product's positioning relative to the competition.
* be attractive
* stand out among a group of other brands



Brandin Types:
- A "fighting brand" is a brand created specifically to counter a competitive threat.
- When a company's name is used as a product brand name, this is referred to as corporate branding
- When one brand name is used for several related products, this is referred to as family branding
- When all a company's products are given different brand names, this is referred to as individual branding
- When a company uses the brand equity associated with an existing brand name to introduce a new product or product line, this is referred to as "brand leveraging"
- When large retailers buy products in bulk from manufacturers and put their own brand name on them, this is called private branding, store brand, white labelling, private label or own brand

source: wikipedia/encarta