Brand management 4 pillars of brand management:

1.

Market orientation:

The marketing concept lies at the core of brand management. Early on in the marketing literature, authors put forward brand management as the most apt system for implementing this concept (c.f. Keith, 1960). As a result, brand management became a wide spread system (Low and Fullerton, 1994). However, marketing concept has been criticized for over reliance on consumers and understatement of other factors. The concept of market orientation evolved as a response to that criticism. It introduced a broader understanding of the market and organization-wide integration and responsiveness to it (Kohli and Jaworksy, 1990).

2.

Consumer involvement: Brand concept is also likely to be influenced

by assumptions made about consumers. If consumers are assumed to be highly involved, making well though-out decisions, then brand concept orientation is likely to be functional. The impact of low involvement, however, is rather complex, as it can work in either direction. In general, consumers of limited motivation are believed to adopt cue-based decision tactics (Assael, 2004). With this in mind, Keller et al. (2002) suggest the following positioning strategies: brand performance associations and brand imagery associations. Brand performance associations highlight utilitarian attributes, calling for a functional brand concept. Brand imagery associations link a desired personality with the brand, implying a hedonic orientation.

3.

Strategic brand orientation:

The acquisition wave of the 1980s saw brands being valued 20 to 25 times more than their book values. This paved the way to strategic brand management in marketing (Kapferer, 2008) and to brand equity as its fundamental construct (Leone et al., 2006). The view of the brand as a strategic resource offered one of the key points of differentiation for companies (Wood, 2000), leading to the argument that a company should not only be marketoriented but also brand-oriented (Urde, 1999). However, not all BMAs identified here position brands as strategic assets to be nurtured and leveraged.

4.

Brand concept orientation:

In any brand management system, one of the key decisions is the selection of the brand concept (Kapferer, 2008). This involves the decision over which attributes (i.e. functional and hedonic) of the brand to emphasize and communicate to consumers. When a brand is represented with its functional attributes, product s physical features and utility value are emphasized. When hedonic benefits are pronounced, abstract associations are intended and intangible considerations take over (Keller, 2003). Therefore, brand concept can be

defined as the company-assigned meaning to the brand, derived from consumers functional or hedonic needs (Park et al., 1986).

Different approaches of brand management: 1. Transactional Approach: At the core of TA is the conceptualization
of brands as part of the product (Urde, 1999). Brands assume merely an identification role; they are not perceived as strategic assets (Louro and Cunha, 2001). Companies focus is on one-time transactions and economies-of-scale for profit maximization (Webster, 1992). TA in its purest form assumes that all the information necessary to complete the transaction is embedded in product related attributes, mainly in price (Webster, 1992).

2. Identity Approach:

IDA perceives brands as strategic assets that generate value for the firm (Louro and Cunha, 2001). Marketers main responsibility is to enhance this value by exploiting brand equity (Kapferer, 2008). To achieve that, a strong and unique brand identity is deemed necessary (Aaker, 1996; Kapferer, 2008). Within this perspective, brands are perceived as multi-dimensional constructs and managed as identity systems (Aaker, 1996; de Chernatony and Dall'Olmo Riley, 1998a, 1998b). Even though tangible attributes are still part of the brand, intangibles such as brand personality or corporate identity are markedly emphasized (de Chernatony and Dall'Olmo Riley, 1998a).

3. Image approach:

In the previous two approaches, companies can be considered predominantly input-oriented (de Chernatony and Dall'Olmo Riley, 1997). Within IMA, companies adopt an output-orientation by perceiving their brands as a cognitive construct in the minds of consumers (Heding et al., 2008). What emerges is that reality as perceived by consumers is superior to actual reality (Dobni and Zinkhan, 1990).

4. Relational Approach:

RA to brand management posits a long-term, dialogue-based, and interactive relationship between brands and consumers (Gummeson, 1994). In all the previous approaches, the common perspective is that a consumer is somebody to whom something is done (Vargo and Lusch, 2004) whereas RA perceives a consumer as somebody that something is done with. This constitutes a major departure since customers are considered as active participants rather than passive receivers of value. Consequently, the role of marketers is being redefined as they now focus on building relationships (Vargo and Lusch, 2004), and developing consumer experiences (Payne et al., 2008).