“What exactly do you do? I hear you talking about multitude of things. Is all of that, your job?”- exasperated, my mother asks me, one fine day. She had been noticing me, for a few days now, given that working from home had become the new normal.
“Ma, you know I’m a brand manager. Let’s start with learning a little on what do you think a brand is?” I asked my mother.
“Any product which is famous, gets used by many people, has something unique, has a promise of certain quality and therefore sustains its presence over a period; is a brand”. — Mom answers, without giving it a real thought and here I start the process of decoding her answer in my mind.
Me: “Ma, why don’t you name a few brands for me that you remember from your childhood?”
“Which category?” she asks. “Any, that you like.”, I reply.
Mom: “Bajaj - in scooters category, Lakme - in cosmetics, Lux - in soaps, also, Pears and Dove that came later and yeah Sarvana Bhavan - in the food chains. That too is a brand, right? It has expanded across countries. I think that’s a brand too. Then yeah, Levi’s, came in somewhere in nineties. So, these are the brands that I can recall, that have been there for a while.”
Me: “Ok ,this is good. Now, why don’t you tell me, what you remember about these brands?”
Mom: “Bajaj- It was our first scooter when we got married, it had this beautiful “Hamara Bajaj” ad. Lakme- It is the cosmetics brand with a “reasonable cost and good quality”. Lux- It is a soap brand which often has the famous female celebrities in its advertisements. Dove is the one with moisture in it. It’s ads show how a certain part of the soap bar is cream so that your skin doesn’t dry up. Sarwana bhawan - I got introduced to it, when we visited Chennai long back and now, we get the same taste here in the Delhi outlet. The exact same taste, isn’t that amazing? And yeah, Levi’s was such a good solution to the perpetually tearing pants, problem!
“But why have you started taking my interview?” She says, seeming a little confused!
At this point, my husband sitting close by, feels the urge to chip in. “Should I tell you my favorite brands?”, he asks. “Ok, go on!” I reply and here starts the millennial consumer with his new age choices and love for Amazon, HDFC bank and OnePlus. My mom gets curious and asks what makes these his favorite but also questions whether Amazon and HDFC bank are service providers rather or brands?
Husband:
“Amazon is the one stop solution to most of my requirements. It has everything available, I get deliveries within a day because of my prime membership. I get to watch movies, web series, I get to read books, from my prime library, on the kindle app and the list is endless. All this, at a steal cost of only thousand bucks a year. It has become my obvious go-to. I don’t even remember, when did I last visit, any other e-com portal. Not just that, customer service! Well, I’d rather call it “delightful customer- experience”, such hassle-free returns and refunds policy. I don’t even need to actively check for refunds — that’s the trust, I’ve developed.
HDFC bank — You know I’m a tech savvy person. Thanks to the brilliant net banking interface, all my transactions have been made hassle free. I don’t feel the need to visit the bank. My premium credit card service even offers me an exclusive hotline. I don’t have to go through an IVR. The service ensures they pick up my call within 2 bells as the phone rings and they solve all my problems over the call. Additionally, I also get reward points. I have their forex card, they’ll be my first choice for my home loan, whenever I need one. I’m surely going to give them a good customer lifetime value.
And One plus — This is the phone that converted me back to android after 6 years of iPhone loyalty. It was a new brand in the market but won over the masses with its superior functionality at a competitive price. It had set up an experience store around my office premises and a 15 days hoarding ad. I got to read the functionality over the hoarding and experience it first hand at its experience store and I was convinced!”
“Wow guys, you both have summed up my work. Ma, now you see, what I do?”- I exclaim with joy, only to look at a perplexed look on my mother’s face. “Well, let me explain!”
So, brand management encompasses the entire life cycle of a product from the idea stage to time product reaches the point of sale. Let’s break it down into steps:
1. What is a consumer need that is unfulfilled? What is the product that can answer it? What is the product benefit?
Levi’s was solving “tearing pants” problem with its rugged jeans that were made to bear the wear & tear. Dove was solving the dry skin problem with it’s moisture content. Amazon was providing the convenience of shopping from home at most competitive prices, with a hassle free experience.
2. How will the identified product be manufactured?
Levi’s will need a textile plant.
Dove will need a soap manufacturing line in a plant.
3. What will be the profitability of operations?
One needs to work the entire cost structure & price sensitivity for the product in market to understand profitability
4. What will the product be called? Who will it talk to? Who will use the product?It can be named after the founder like in case of Levi’s or anything that resonates with the functionality of the brand
It speaks to an identified target group who will buy/use the product.
5. Who will be the competition for this product?
Direct competition for Dove -All soaps
Indirect competition for Dove- Moisturizing creams.
6. Which markets will it sell in?
Where does my core consumer group reside, where are my chances to succeed, the highest. Sarvana Bhavan started with Chennai, expanded in India and then across many countries, looking at the demand.
7. How will the manufactured product be serviced to market?
At convenience stores or grocers, modern trade stores, in case of dove, lux; through an entire sales & distribution system.
Plant->Distributor-> Retailer-> Consumer
8. Why will the retailer stock this product?
Consumer pull/awareness created by the TV ads/other media channels
Competitive retailer margins,
Promotion at the point of sale to build visibility & offtakes.
9. How will the product be marketed to the consumer?- communication like the lux ad with celebrities you remembered or Hamara Bajaj jingle for Bajaj scooters or the experience centre & hoardings by onePlus
10. What is the key message?
The key message, in case of Dove, was about the dry skin & how 1/4th cream component solves it. So the key message can be about the functionality of the product or the emotional need it is answering.
11. Why will the consumer stick to your product?
Solution you offer, experience you provide, trust you build, love you build.
The loyalty my husband had built for amazon & hdfc bank because of his hassle-free experience & brilliant features was a perfect example of what makes your consumer stick to your product.
12. How do you speak to your TG / identifying the media strategy?
Depending upon how mass your product is you choose to put your creative unit(ad) on TV — which has the maximum reach and is also expensive(in absolute) but efficient for cost/contact if your TG is wide. Or you choose to put it on digital, if you want local reach so that you can target by geography or demographics. Or you choose radio/ hoardings / social media platforms etc depending upon the objective
13. When does a product become a brand?
Picking from the quote by my mom — Any product which is famous(has scale), gets used by many people(has a loyal consumer base), has something unique(product benefit), has a promise of certain quality(reason to believe) and therefore sustains its presence over a period; is a brand.
Or the more classic definition- Brand:
1. Solves a problem
2. In a unique way
3. Reaches a certain scale- in volume
4. By building a loyal consumer base
5. Among its target group
6. By being readily available for consumer
7. And communicating on its key message on the right media channel
“You do all of this? Like everything?” — My mom is still as amazed as she was in the beginning of the conversation. Only, now, it’s with a little more hint of satisfaction. “Well, let’s just say, I manage stakeholders and assumingly, do that pretty well!” I reply, gleefully! 😉
P.S- there are functional experts to handle each of the parts like consumer insights & research, media, supply chain & operations, sales & distribution, finance, legal but the brand manager is the custodian of the brand who must own it, define it, nurture it and grow it because she’s the closest to it.
P.P.S- I do all this 😉 for an energy drink & a soft drink brand. Hope, you all enjoyed the article.
Disclaimer- This is not a paid promotion for any brand and article has been published with best research and intent in mind, to explain concepts in a simple way. The author is not responsible for any mistake, if made, unintentionally.
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