Brand Management was first introduced during the 1950s, but did not come to the fore until the 1980s and 1990s. Branding is a feature of marketing activity not only for consumer goods but also for non-consumer goods.
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), brand is a "name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of all these, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition." It is derived from the old Norse word `brandr' which means `to burn'. The art of marketing is the art of `Brand Building'. If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. Then price is everything and the low-cost producer is the only winner.
Branding a product means that the customer requirements have been understood and responded to properly. Time to time, the brand name has to be revised to meet the rapidly changing world of threats and opportunities. Furthermore, the changing consumer trends, competitor activity, legislation, economic trends or technology developments that might have an impact on a brand image also need to be considered. The main objective of any brand should be to differentiate itself at all costs from other brands of the same product. To differentiate a brand even the branding gurus are using the term power brand or super brand with respect to products with a greater power of attention than others. The drawback of branding is that the brand which does not provide anything is considered to be a just a commodity and, hence, instead of helping the consumer to choose, complicates the purchase. |
