Brand Management

Brand Management

Introduction

Branding is one of the most important areas that nowadays organisations concentrate on as it has stirred the attention of the customers. Branding has created intense competition among organisations that are now focusing on improving their strategies of branding. However, effective branding is not an easy task and requires many strategies and planning but it holds a central important in today’s competitive market.

Lidl is a European food retailer that was founded by Josef Schwarz in Germany in the year 1973. The company serves 11,200 locations in almost 28 countries of Europe, Hong Kong and the United States. The total number of employees that the company has accounts for almost 315,000 employees and generating revenue of 89.869 billion (lidl.co.uk, 2021).

Task 1 – Building and managing brand over time.

a) Explain why and how branding has emerged in business practice.

Branding is the identity organisations form in the market that helps in the growth and development of the brand. Branding is becoming extremely competitive and intense that is not only being used by organisations but also education and hospitality sectors. Organisations are expanding their business through branding in not only their hometown but also globally. Branding must be unique and different from other organisations because it is how the organisation makes an impact on its customers and make a place in the competitive market. Unique branding with the help of logos and specific colours or symbols leads to recognition of the brand. Branding creates more opportunities by attracting more customers. Organisations can increase their brand value by appealing its customers with innovation and service (Davis, 2017).

Branding also helps to attract potential customers by branding strategies and attractive touch to the service provided. The customers who like the service or products of a brand refer to their friends and families and this can be a good way to increase the number of customers. This is why branding is important (brandingmag.com, 2021). When organisations pay attention to their branding, it helps them to increase their profit but at the same time, it helps to build a strong relationship with the customers. Working for a company whose customers love their products encourages the employees of the organisation and leads to work satisfaction to the employees. Advertising is one of the best and easy ways to spread awareness about the brand. In the world of social media, almost everybody spends most of their time on these social media handles, and therefore branding through advertisement through these platforms can help the organisation to attract a lot of attention (eggmarketingpr, 2021).

Branding is systematic and includes steps and logic to make it more effective and successful. There can be three phases of branding that are brand strategy, brand identity, and brand marketing. Brand strategy can be developed by first discovering the brand followed by realizing the competition and setting the target audience. The next two-step under the brand strategy is a brand voice and the brand message. Once the strategies are designed, brand identity is what makes the brand more visible and includes brand logo, colour or fonts, the design of the website, the content of the brand, and the advertisement of the brand.

Another thing that makes the identity of the brand unique is the packaging. It may seem small and non-vital but it makes a huge difference. Once the brand has the identity and strategy, It is time for the organisation to concentrate on brand marketing. Marketing can be done through the organisation's website, SEO, content, blogs, Social media, emails, and paid advertisement (freshsparks.com, 2020). Advertisement must be unique and creative as it will be the first impression customer will make of the organisation or the product. Branding is excessively dependent on these three phrases and lack in any one of these can result in poor branding. Organisations that fail to promote their brand successfully records lower profits. It is a proven fact that the more people see the name of the organisation or products, the more they feel like trying it. Besides, the first impression of the customers decides if they will be faithful towards the brand or may switch to other options.

b) Explain the importance of branding as a marketing tool for Lidl’s and then go on to evaluate how its brands may be managed successfully over time. Your answer should include coverage of brand equity and brand positioning and techniques.

Lidl is one of the United States' top food retailers that prioritize customer satisfaction. Almost all the strategies structured by Lidl revolve around its customers and focus on providing quality products with price. This is the secret of the organisation’s branding. Lidl understands how difficult it is to trust a brand with its quality and that is why the organisation launches a new campaign that focus not only the quality but also the price. The reason behind this is a simple realization that Lidl is famous for its quality but working on its price range can help to attract more customers than ever. The advertisement about the brand value is important to create an image of the organisation. Most of the time organisation’s position and competitive advantage helps the organisation to help attract the attention of the customers (careers, 2021). The hold that the organisation has in the market affects its branding largely.

People already form an idea of the product quality by knowing the name of the organisation and can say if the products of that particular organisation are good or bad. Lidl has already a good image in the market and the customers love the products of the company. Lidl believes that fulfilling customer's needs at the right time are the most striking aspect of branding. The marketing is successful only when the branding is done according to the demands of the customers and their general shopping habits. With the help of unique strategies and the position that the organisation holds, branding can increase sales. Customers must hear and see the name of the product the organisation everywhere. The marketing and advertising team of Lidl pay extra attention to the advertisement of their products and use updates platforms to attract more customers. The branding helps Lidl to increase the revenue of the company, strengthen the relationship between the company and its customers and also make a difference in the market (marketingweek, 2019). The branding of the products is done in a fast-paced and creative environment. Lidl’s team participates and present their viewpoints on the table to help make the decisions more accurate and suitable.

Lidl aims at improving the management to attain efficiency and improve the quality of the reaching vast number of people. Brand management plays a huge role in influencing the customers. The three important ways to manage the brand are to create brand equity, recognition, loyalty, and strategies. Lidl can make use of the basics to meet their target. Brand equity is known for its reputation among customers and in the market, the impression the brand makes to new customers, and how the customers perceive the experience of the brand. As far as Lidl is concerned, the organisation already has maintained its brand equity with the performance. Brand recognition is another method to manage the brand. Lidl has a unique font and identity in the market to make its product visible to the customers (lidl, 2021). Lidl is functioning since 1973 and therefore, the organisation is in the position to influence the customers. However, recruiting a brand manager can help Lidl to go deep into the problems and enhance the branding power to another level.

c) Analyse the key components of a successful brand strategy for building and managing brand equity for Lidl’s. You should apply appropriate examples of brand strategies used by other successful organisations to support your answer here.

While we know that branding is important for the growth of the company, it is difficult to understand what makes branding successful. Another important thing to remember is that only an expert in brand management can improve the quality of branding. This is why every organisation must have a brand manager. However, some of the important aspects for successful brand management are brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived brand quality, brand association, and proprietary assets. Lidl can use its position and power to develop the strategies of branding. Brand loyalty is how must the customers of a particular brand are loyal to the company. The only way to build brand loyalty is to make sure that the customers are happy and satisfied (Fogarty, 2019).

The company can use different strategies to satisfy its customers, for example, the quality of the product, discounts, and benefits that the organisation provides, and the customer service of the organisation. Brand awareness depends on the innovative techniques that the company uses to promote its products and spread awareness about them. The brand quality means or questions that why should customers buy the product? It is obvious that when it comes to buying, customers keep two things in mind that is the quality of the product and its price. The customers evaluate if the price is worth the quality of the product. Brand association is another important area where branding can be improved. The organisation makes associations with other brands to increase their brand value (Bailey and Selle, 2020). Associations between likewise brands for example a luxury brand can make an association with social groups like Louis Vuitton or Volvo cars. Proprietary assets are the areas where the organisations can build their competitive advantage by improving trademarks and relationships. These can benefit the organisation largely in their current business plans as well as in the long run.

The difference in branding strategies used by the different organisations makes the whole process more diverse in its outlook. It is commonly noticed that most organisations focus on quality and price when it comes to branding strategies. However, the main trick is to understand how and when to regulate these strategies depending upon the situation and demand of the customers. For example, Asda, the second-largest supermarket of the United States focus on offering its customers daily process at a low rate. This has created a price war and has raised the competition level for all other supermarkets. Asda believes that better plans can lead to flexibility. In the same way, Sainsbury also tends to focus on quality, innovation, and range for its customers to maintain a hold in the market and the customers (Steenkamp, 2017). The brand takes a step ahead by availing the facility of home deliveries to its customers. Along with that, the brand also appeals to the customers with its sustainability approach. The strategy of lowering the price is somewhat similar as compared to other organisation, however, what differs is the quality they provide that make the organisation different from one another.

d) Provide suggestions of how the Lidl brand can be extended, reinforce, and revitalised.

Lidl is an old and reputed brand that has excelled at providing its customers satisfactory experience and happiness for shopping. Lidl rewards its customers for their loyalty towards the brand through quality products, discounts, and other benefits. However, at times the brand may feel lost and stagnant and may look for other innovative ideas and strategies to grasp the attention of its customers. Lidl can expand its branding, reinforce and revitalize the branding strategies. Lidl can expand its branding globally by making international associations and relationships. Lidl can run a survey to understand the demands of international customers, and their lifestyles and marketing habits. Extending the brand internationally can be risky but a thorough understanding of the target area can reduce the risk. Extending the brand will include many important decisions to be taken, risks, and challenges to be faced (businessjargons, 2021). In such a situation, having a brand manager is extremely important. Brand managers help to forecast the threats and ways to deal with them. A brand manager can prevent the company to take bad decisions and experience loss.

Reinforcing the branding of the company means maintaining the equity of the brand that can be done brand awareness and image. Lidl has a well-established name in the market and therefore the only thing Lidl needs to do to spread awareness of the new products or services is to wisely choose the mode of advertisement and upgrade the use of innovation. Lidl has the potential to reinforce its strategies if the company focuses on improving its existing strategies along with incorporating new ideas and techniques. Maintaining the authenticity of the products is an excellent way to stand out from the rest of the competitors.

Revitalisation is yet another effective way to achieve the top position in the list of successful organisations. Brand revitalisation is important to maintain brand relevance, globalisation, and competition (businessjargons, 2021). Revitalisation requires the brand to keep up with the legal issues, mergers, and acquisitions and upgrade in technology. It requires the brand to transform its strategies to attain efficiency and smooth functioning. Competition is everywhere and to ignore is foolishness. Lidl's one of the most important steps can be analysing its competitive advantage and strategize effective policies to remain ahead of its competitors. Lidl can make amendments in all three fields to become an all-rounder and balance different areas of its weakness to excel in its performance level.

Task 2 - Brand portfolio and hierarchy management

For each of the following models of managing a brand portfolio, identify an organisation that follows each of the models with a critical analysis of each model and also of the differences between the models:

a) House of brands: P&G is one of the best examples that follow the house of brands model. P&G has several different ranges of products under it such as tide, pantene, vicks, Olay, Duracell, Pringles and so on. The main advantages of this model are if one brand face challenges, it does not affect the others. Also the chances to attracting more customers is more with this model as it is distributed among different niches. However, with advantages come disadvantages. In the house of brands models, profit is not directly associated to the parent brand (Raval and Srinivasan, 2019).

b) Branded house: A best-suited example of a branded house model is the Virgin Island. The services that the brand provides are Virgin money, Virgin Media, Virgin trains, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Megastore and many more. The best thing about this model is that the company’s equity plays a huge role in it. A branded house model makes it easier for companies to spread awareness about their brands. The customer gets to understand the parent brand by seeing the new brand. This help the customer to feel more privileged to be able to use different kinds of services of their most loved and preferred brand. However, it may lead to a complete failure of the brand and all its services if any one part or service is affected (Junior, 2018). A loss in one service may lead the customers to abandon every service provided by the main brand.

c) Hybrid: While taking about a hybrid model, Volkswagen occupies the top place by providing services using both house of brands and branded house models. Volkswagen’s brand portfolio includes cars like Audi, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducatt and Porsche. The main advantage of using the blend of both house of brands and branded house is that every product is recognised and represented individually yet the revenue goes under one head. Loss faced in any one brand will not affect other brands. However, the disadvantages are that the parent brand will not be recognised. It may lead to management problems and equal attention is needed to make sure all the brands function smoothly. The organisations following this model of brand portfolio has to invest more time and energy at maintain all the brands that work under it (Shahriar et al., 2018).

The difference between house of brands model, branded house model and the hybrid model of brand portfolio is extremely simple and understandable. House of brands means an established organisation that has many different brands working under it. It is just like an established and reputed supermarket that sells products of different brands as well. For example, P&G is an established brand and other brands like Tide, Pringles and others work under the roof of P&G. Branded house on the other hand is one brand that launches or provide other services using its name. For example, Google is a search engine but Google has other services such as Gmail, Google drive, Google maps and many more. Lastly, hybrid model of brand portfolio incorporate the use of both the branded house and the house of brands (Zelenskaya and Elkanova, 2020).

Task 3 - Brand leveraged/extended domestically and internationally

1. Critically evaluate how each of the following techniques may be used to leverage and extend brands, in the context of Lidl or any other organisation of your choice.

• Brand extension

• Stretching/vertical extension

• Line Extension

Brand extension can be a good idea for an organisation to increase brand awareness and attract potential customers. Including a new product or using an established brand's name can be extremely beneficial to draw the attention of the customers toward the organisation. One of the most important things that help in the brand extension is the brand equity that Lidl already has for a very long time. Lidl's performance in the national market has been impressive, however; the company can still improve its performance with the help of a brand extension. Launching a new product or service by a reputed brand can excite the customers and draw them towards the company. Lidl can spread awareness of its new services or product to improve its position in the national market as well as gain a place in the international market (Shang et al., 2017).

Vertical extension of the brand is yet another powerful option to leverage the brand of a company. Since Lidl is an established brand and has customers from different parts of the world; commonly, the company includes both rich and middle-class customers. Vertical extension of a brand can satisfy the needs of all its customers. Vertical extension of a brand means having products for everyone in every range and quality. This is a great way for customers to feel that the company cares about them and their needs. It can increase the sales of the company by providing variety to the customers. Lidl values its customers and can take a step ahead to extend the brand vertically. Including more variety can also strengthen the trust of the customers and help them to reward the company through being loyal to them (Pontes, 2018).

Lidl can have a wide scope to extend the line of branding, for example, launching a new product using its top best existing brands. Since Lidl is a food retailer, there are huge options of line extension of a brand. This will not only provide the customers with varieties of products but also varieties in the same product only of better quality. When customers shop for a particular product and see varieties in the products, the customers are pleased and feel engrossed in shopping with the particular brand. One example of line extension can be diet coke that is a copy of parent coke but only with only a new specialty (Chung and Lee, 2017).

B) Evaluate how the Lidl or your chosen organisation’s brand could be managed collaboratively and in partnership both at a domestic and at a global level.

Collaboration helps brands to create more awareness about their products by reaching out larger number of people. It does not mean that only the weaker brands go for collaborations because even two reputed and well-established brands collaborate. Collaboration is also done due to customer’s demand, as they want to see the merger between two most favorite brands. Collaborations are held both nationally as well as internationally. Lidl can manage its brand and can improve the performance of its branding through collaborations with other brands of similar business both in its hometown and globally. For example, Lidl’s collaboration with international food retailing brands can be one of the steps to increase the brand awareness. Collaborations in food retailing industry are not a common factor especially in the same area or hometown (Luo, and Bu, 2018).

However, collaboration with an individual food brand can serve the purpose for example McDonald’s has collaborated with coco cola. In the same way, if Lidl can collaborate with other organic food retailers, it will help in spreading awareness of both the companies by using each other’s customers. This will not only help create awareness about the collaboration of the two companies but also the policies of both the companies. Eating healthy while maintaining the taste can encourage customers to buy from them.

Successful collaboration heavily depends on the goals and policies of the collaborative companies. In addition, how the companies approach their individual customers also affects the success or failure of collaboration. Lidl can collaborate with social media platforms to spread awareness about its brand overseas. International collaboration can lead to increased revenue if the successfully attracts the attention of the customers. Social media is used all over the world and therefore collaborations with social media handles can be a great idea to increase the brand awareness. Partnership is also a good idea however, since it is legal, it can lead to certain risk of failure and poor response. For example, dysfunction of one partner will affect the other (Pohl, 2020). For a start, Lidl must prefer collaborating with other international brands such as Amazon and social media handles such as Instagram or Facebook rather than focusing on partnerships. Lidl can extend its hand to partnerships with the same brands it has collaborated with to maintain and strengthen healthy relationship. Partnership with brands internationally can also be risky if it is a start up but can be really helpful if it is a recognized brand.

Task 4 - Evaluate techniques for measuring and managing brand value over time

Using specific organisational examples, provide a critical evaluation of the various techniques used for measuring and managing brand value to developing a strong and enduring brand for each of the following:

1. Brand value

2. Brand awareness

3. Consumer attitudes

4. Purchasing intent

Evaluating if the strategies being used for the development of brand value is worth the time is challenging. To find out the result or the effectiveness of the strategy can be difficult to understand but is helpful to measure the growth and the correct direction. Various techniques can be used to measure and manage the brand value and help the company to take better decisions. The two important aspect of growth of brands are its awareness and uniqueness. Measuring these two aspects is the secret to finding the root cause of failure in brand awareness. Brand measurement includes identification of brand metrics, methodology and cadence. It is based upon these that the strategies are developed. Brand measurement evaluates the outlook, appearance, approach, strengths, beliefs and trust of the company (brandata, 2021). Some of the best ways to measure the brand is to create individual objectives and methodology, a thorough study or analysis of the brand and finally, an upgrade in the strategies can help to measure the brand.

The brand objectives must focus on brand value or the brand quality, brand awareness, positive customer’s attitude. Brand methodology can measure the customer’s attitude by focusing on measurement mechanism, modelling and questionnaire development. Questionnaire can draw information on all the factors of measuring the brand. Budgeting and scheduling are also a part of brand methodology. Another important way to measure the brand is to run an analysis of the brand. This can give insights to the main problems, weakness and advantages of the brand (Tajvidi et al., 2017). Based on the survey or the study, upgrade in the strategies can be made. Upgrading the strategies will only be effective if proper problems or weakness are revealed. The strategies are used to enhance the strengths of the company to improve the performance. Using the strengths is one of the most efficient ways to grow as it displays company’s authenticity.

Purchasing intent and consumer’s attitude are closely related to each other and affect the company’s brand greatly. Organisations like Lidl, Tesco, Amazon, and others design their brand strategies based on the purchasing intent and make changes based on the consumer’s attitude. The brand methodology to measure the brand is one areas that is dominated by purchasing intent and customer’s attitude. The above-mentioned organisations understand their customer’s buying habits and their expectations and demands that helps them to offer their customers what they need (Paul, 2019). As far as brand value and brand awareness is concerned, the technique that can be used to measure the brand is to analyze the objectives of the company. The objectives of the brand can meet the target of improving brand value and brand awareness. Organisations like Lidl and Tesco change their targets as required to meet the challenges and improve the brand value and performance.

Conclusion

Brand of a company is its identity and to spread awareness to attract customers is its only way to grow. Branding does not means just advertising about the brand but it includes strategic plans and steps to develop the brand equity gradually. The whole process of maintain a brand are brand strategy, brand identity, and brand marketing. Branding can also be improved through collaborations and partnership however, collaboration is considered less risky than partnership. It cannot be denied that one of the most important part of branding is advertisement as it attracts large number of customers and through which they make their first impression of the brand or company.

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