Hard sell: Brand managers are responsible for developing catchy advertisements to increase brand visibility

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 present and future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favourable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product. The value of the brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates for the manufacturer. This results from a combination of increased sales and increased price.

What do i have to do?

Success in consumer products — which is where most brand management careers are found — is all about marketing, often by promoting a brand name. In the packaged goods sector, the competition is fierce for shelf-space, so package design, marketing, and customer satisfaction are key elements. In brand management, you’ll be responsible for managing all of these elements as they relate to the brand to which you’re assigned.

The job involves:

• Monitoring the competitive landscape in the category within which your brand competes.

• Developing strategies to exploit market opportunities.

• Executing those strategies with the help of a cross-functional team.

• Delivering the sales volume, market share, and profit projections for the business.

A recurring challenge for brand managers is to build a consistent brand while keeping its message fresh and relevant. Brand identities may also lose resonance with their target market through demographic evolution. Repositioning a brand (sometimes called re-branding), may cost some past brand equity, and can confuse the target market, but ideally, a brand can be repositioned while retaining existing brand equity for leverage.

As a senior brand manager you will play an instrumental role in developing effective marketing strategies to drive business growth and maximise profitability. You will develop an annual business plan that comprises macro-economic trends, market assessment, competitive review, brand performance analysis based on volume, revenue, gross margins and expenditure.

You will also be in charge of all aspects of brand and marketing mix as well as ensure the effective implementation of marketing strategies in accordance with the overall business objective. In addition, you will guide local and overseas agencies in developing various advertising campaigns to increase brand visibility.

What should I study?

While there are no specific courses in brand management, an MBA programme specialising in marketing includes modules on brand management.

Alternatively, you could qualify in communication management and advertising.

If you are aspiring to be a brand manager, you need to be a go-getter, an extrovert, aware of latest market trends and have a dynamic personality.

What next?

With intensifying market competition and brand wars, brand management has become immensely important.

Graduates work in a broad spectrum of positions, ranging from brand management to consulting, market research and advertising strategy.

They are employed in such diverse fields as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), e-commerce, financial service providers, advertising, media, marketing, marketing research, brand consultancy, direct marketing, public relations, event and entertainment marketing and social and developmental communication and the automotive industry.

One could start off as a product/brand manager, market researcher, media planner, advertising strategist, category manager, management trainee, etc.

where to study

• Indian Institutes of Management, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow and Indore.
• Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA), Ahmedabad.
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.
• SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai.
• Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune.