Q.

Brand Portfolio: The Brand Portfolio refers to an umbrella under which all the brands or brand lines of a
particular firm functions to serve the needs of different market segments. In simple words, brand portfolio
encompasses all the brands offered by a single firm for sale to cater the needs of different groups of people.
Brand portfolio is generally created because each brand has certain boundary, beyond which it cannot fulfil all the
needs of different market segments.
The advantage of having the Brand Portfolio is that management can keep a check on all the brands as a whole and
frame the policies with a broader perspective. Also, the resources can be allocated to the specific brand that needs the
most.
• Flanker Brand: A Flanker Brand also known as a Fighter Brand is a new product launched in a market by the
company in the same category wherein an established brand is already positioned. This is primarily done to increase
the market share as well as to cater to the need of all the segments of customers.
• Cash Cow Brand: A cash cow brand is that product in the brand portfolio that has reached the maturity level in the
product life cycle but is able to bring in profits necessary for its survival.
• Low-End Entry Level Brand: A low Entry Brand in a brand portfolio includes the product which is offered at a
cheaper price. The low priced product is added to the portfolio to ensure purchase at least once, thereby bringing the
customer into the brand family.
• High-End Prestige Brand: A High-End Prestige Brand in the brand portfolio is the product offered at a high price
with the intention of creating a sense of prestige in the minds of customers.

Q. Media Execution: Media execution is strategizing at the digital tactic level, tracking, analytics, bidding
techniques, audience identification, optimization, creative trafficking, tagging, pacing, and all other aspects of
deploying a successful digital campaign.

Media execution is reactive to how the current state of advertising technology, privacy, regulation, and the global
environment might affect an advertiser’s ability to place, track, target, report, and most importantly perform on an
individual media buy. The internet and the plethora of ad buying platforms are a complex web of ever-changing parts
that require the full attention of a media execution team while a campaign is in flight.

Why is Media Execution Needed?

Creating a plan is only as valuable as its ability to be put into motion. Businesses always have multiple objectives to
manage, from sales to marketing to, of course, advertising. That’s where ad ops comes in. Ad ops teams play the role
of Atlas, holding up the world of operations. Not only are they in charge of understanding which plans are ideal for
business success, but they also must identify the best ways to put those plans into motion.

However, even the strongest teams can flounder when projects outnumber the ad ops team’s bandwidth. Overzealous
multitasking is an easy way to lose sight of preconceived plans. Setting up a media execution strategy, including the
time of execution and which team will be in charge, prevents businesses from squandering the chance to use an
optimal media opportunity.

Media Buying: Media buying is researching, strategizing, negotiating, and placing a media buy. This activity is the
same across traditional media and digital media.
Q. Advertising agencies: Advertising agencies are responsible for initiating, managing, and implementing paid
marketing communications. In addition, some agencies have diversified into other types of marketing
communications, including public relations, sales promotion, interactive media, and direct marketing. Agencies
typically consist of four departments: account management, a creative division, a research group, and a media
planning department. Those in account management act as liaisons between the client and the agency, ensuring that
client needs are communicated to the agency and that agency recommendations are clearly understood by the client.
Account managers also manage the flow of work within the agency, making sure that projects proceed according to
schedule. The creative department is where advertisements are conceived, developed, and produced. Artists, writers,
and producers work together to craft a message that meets agency and client objectives. In this department, slogans,
jingles, and logos are developed. The research department gathers and processes data about the target market and
consumers. This information provides a foundation for the work of the creative department and account management.
Media planning personnel specialize in selecting and placing advertisements in print and broadcast media.

Q. What Is a Brand?:The term brand refers to a business and marketing concept that helps people identify a
particular company, product, or individual. Brands are intangible, which means you can't actually touch or see them.
As such, they help shape people's perceptions of companies, their products, or individuals. Brands commonly use
identifying markers to help create brand identities within the marketplace. They provide enormous value to the
company or individual, giving them a competitive edge over others in the same industry. As such, many entities seek
legal protection for their brands by obtaining trademarks.

A brand is considered to be one of the most valuable and important assets for a company. In fact, many companies
are often referred to by their brand, which means they are often inseparable, becoming one and the same. Coca-Cola
is a great example, where the popular soft drink became synonymous with the company itself. This means it carries a
tremendous monetary value, affecting both the bottom line and, for public companies, shareholder value.

Q. Types of Brands-

The type of brand used depends on the particular entity using it. The following are some of the most common forms
of brands:

• Corporate Brands: Corporate branding is a way for companies to market themselves in order to give
themselves an edge against their competition. They make a series of important decisions in order to
accomplish this, such as pricing, mission, target market, and values.
• Personal Brands: As mentioned above, branding isn't just for companies anymore. People use tools like
social media to build their own personas, thereby boosting their brands. This includes regular social media
posts, sharing images and videos, and conducting meet-and-greets.
• Product Brands: This type of branding, which is also known as merchandise branding, involves marketing
one particular product. Branding a product requires market research and choosing the proper target market.
• Service Brands: This kind of branding applies to services, which often requires some creativity, as you can't
actually show services in a physical way.
Q. Service Brand: Service brand is a brand that creates services that have no significant tangible aspects to them.
Marketers believe it is not just naming a service but there is something more in it. Branding begins with giving an
identity to the service beyond the one it has within the trade cycles.

• Characteristics of Service Brand –

i. Intangibility: Service brand cannot generally be seen or touched unlike product brand and hence it becomes
far more challenging to attach meaning to an intangible service offering.
ii. Commoditization: Sustainable points of difference based on unique benefits are especially rare in service
categories
iii. Complexity: To battle the commodity problem, service brands often seek to differentiate themselves by
adding complexity to their core offering
iv. Inconsistency: A service brand is by definition an “experience-based” brand which illuminates what may be
the key challenge: there is almost no way to replicate the exact same experience each time for each customer.
• Advantage of Branding Services – It provides corporate identity and recognition. – It offers a powerful tool for
relationship building. – It helps to create an image of quality. – Boost brand identity – Market penetration becomes
easy. – It helps the customers to develop value perceptions.
• Service Branding vs. branding a product – Products are made where services are delivered. – Products are used
where services are experienced. – Products are tangible where services are emotional. E.g.- Banks, Telecom Providers
etc.

Q. Brand Positioning: Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that
it occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind.
Types of Positioning
1. Attributes Positioning- Based on attributes. Ex Vivo V5 2. Benefits positioning: Sensodyne Toothpaste
3. Usage occasion positioning: Himalaya face cream 4. Competitor positioning: Colgate vs Close-Up
5. Product class positioning: Amul Ice-cream 6. Quality positioning: Bangur cement ‘ Sasta nahi, sabse accha’ 7.
Price Positioning: Hyundai Eon.

POSITIONING ERRORS:
Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers’ have a blurred and unclear idea of the brand. Over
positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers’ have too limited a awareness of the brand. Confused
positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers’ have a confused opinion of the brand. Too many benefits are
being positioned.
Double/ doubtful Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers’ do not accept the claims of a brand. Irrelevant
positioning- When the positioned benefit has no relevance to the customer.

Q. Definition of Advertising: A paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by
an identified sponsor intended to promote or sell a business’s product or service.
Advertising management is
• Heavily focused on the analysis, planning, implementation, control and decision-making activities of the advertiser.
• The focal point is to develop an advertising program for the advertiser (identified sponsor).
• For multilayered products, multiple advertising programs have to be formulated.
• The institutions involved in the process of advertising are - The Advertising agency, media and organizations which
deal in marketing research.
• Advertising plays the role of disseminating information and education to the targeted customers.
• Advertising keeps the targeted customer informed about the developments in the product/group by the
manufacturer/marketer.
Q. Legal aspects of advertising: Unfortunately despite several laws meant to protect consumers against such unfair
trade practices, false and misleading advertisements continue to exploit the consumer. A number of institutions are
involved in regulating advertising.

Q. Advertising appropriation: Advertising Appropriation refers to the total amount of money that an organization
keeps aside strictly for marketing or advertising at a particular period of time. Since appropriation in itself is a sum of
money allocated officially or set apart for a particular use, advertising appropriation is marketing budget for a specific
period. Oftentimes, corporate organizations designated a sum of money for a wide range of official purposes.
Advertisement is one of the core areas organizations budget for. Based on the advertising policy or marketing strategy
that a company uses, a certain amount of money is earmarked for advertising at a certain period of time.

Advertising Appropriation Method

Different organizations use different advertising approaches, the advertising approach used determines the advertising
budget earmarked for a particular period. The advertising appropriation methods or approaches are outlined below;

• Adaptive management approach: this type of appropriation is based on assumptions, revenue and profits
that a company is likely to earn are estimated and used in the appropriation of funds.
• Cost-effective approach:this is dependent on a company's trust in marketing and not based on cogent
marketing goals that the company wants to achieve. It is regarded as an unreliable approach.
• RIO method: this approach seeks to balance advertising volume and profits realized from advertising.
• Goal method: based on a specific goal that a company wants to accomplish.
• Competitive parity method: marketing or advertising budgets are set based on the marking goals and
strategy that other competitors have.
• Interest of income approach: advertising budget is based on the percentage of the profit a company makes
from sales.
Q. Define advertising. Discuss the types and importance of advertising in promoting a brand.
Ans: A paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor
intended to promote or sell a business’s product or service. Advertising is a promotional activity which aims to sell a
product or service to a target audience. It is one of the oldest forms of marketing which attempts to influence the
actions of its target audience to either buy, sell, or do something specific.
Types of advertising
Print Advertising: Print advertising is one of the primarily used advertising methods by small enterprises before the
origin of digital advertising. Print advertising comprises of all sorts of advertising included in brochures, directories,
newspapers, and magazines, flyers and posters, etc. At today’s point of time, the revenue from print ads is falling
down due to its much higher cost in comparison to digital and social advertising.
Broadcast Advertising: Broadcast advertising is a type of mass-market communication that employs the use of
television and radio for sharing promotional messages. This sort of advertising is a risky investment taking into
consideration that how easy is it for customers to skip add or change the channel completely. Also, broadcast
advertising is a very costly process for businesses.. Public service announcements, local spot advertising, national
spot advertising, and network spots are all forms of broadcast advertising.
Direct Mail Advertising: Direct mail advertising refers to all forms of advertising which are delivered personally to a
person via the mail. Here, a message is written and sent directly to customers for persuading them towards your
product or services. It is a cost-effective and personal form of advertising where you can choose the audience and
plan the timings which suit your business.

Mobile Advertising: Mobile advertising is a form of digital advertising where only mobile devices are used for
serving the ads to the audience. Kindles, iPad, and other portable electronic devices having internet connectivity.
Mobile advertising excessively uses social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and
LinkedIn. This type of advertising is currently gaining large importance as a means of reaching out to new customers.

Importance of advertising

Product Introduction and Awareness: Advertising plays a key role in introducing new products and create wide
awareness in the market. It serves as a means for communicating every detail regarding the product by business to
customers. Advertising informs about product availability, price, utility, and features to the audience thereby
promoting the sale of the new product.

Differentiating Products from Competitors: Advertisement of the product helps a lot in creating its distinct image
and differentiating it from competitors. It highlights how a product is superior, has more benefits, and is more
effective than the similar products available in the market. When customers get to know about the uniqueness of brand
products, they easily get attracted towards it and make purchase decisions.

Increase the Sale: Every organization strives to raise its sale for earning better profits. They run advertisements of
their products or services to reach and attract a mass audience from the market. When more people came to know
about the product, this results in more purchases which ultimately raises the overall sales volume.

Builds The Brand Goodwill: Advertising leads to enhance the brand value in the market by ensuring customers of
quality products. The company talks about the genuineness and quality of its range of products in its advertising
message which leaves a positive impression on the public.

Facilitates Mass Production: Advertisement helps businesses in bringing down their cost of production via
facilitating mass production. It creates a high demand for brand products by publicizing them on large scale. When
goods are in high demand then business focuses on mass production thereby lowering the per-unit cost of the product.

Boost Employee’s Morale: It enables in raising the morale of employees working within the organization. Employees
deployed in the sales department feel happy when they interact with the public who is well aware of their brand. The
task to sell products become much easier when a wide-level advertisement is done to publicize the brand.

Generates Employment: The creation of employment opportunities is another important role played by
advertisement. There are a large no. of people who are engaged in writing, designing, and issuing advertisements in
the market.
Q. Discuss the methods of Ad evaluation that may be adopted by an ad agency?

Ans: Methods of AD – evaluation

1. Pre-testing methods
2. Post-testing methods

Methods of Pre-Testing

1. Checklist method: Used to check effectiveness of ad copy.

2. Consumer Jury Method: This method involves the exposure of alternative advertisements to a sample of jury or
prospects. This test is designed for learning from a typical group of customers.
3. Sales Area Test: In this method the ad is run in a test markets and then results are ascertained. Positive and
encouraging outcome helps to extrapolate in a larger area.
4. Questionnaire Method: This method involves a questionnaire comprising of the draft ofthe ad and some relevant
questions to a set of target customers or ad experts.
5. Recall Test: Under this method the ad copies are shown to a group of prospects. After few minutes they are asked to
recall and reproduce them.
6. Reaction Test: It’s a test which is techno-mechanical in nature. Facial expressions and tendency to concentrate or
evade the ad are recorded and observed /analyzed to predict the outcome.
7. Readability Test: This test involves exposing the ad to a group of respondents drawn from economic and
geographical backgrounds. This ensures that the readability of the respondents is different. The method is used to
judge the level of effectiveness when the ad is read.
8. Eye Movement test: Eye movement is recorded using eye-observation camera when ad is shown to the respondent.
Used to record the attention value.

Methods of Post-Testing

Recall Tests: The most popular post-tests are the brand recall test. These essentially check on the recall levels of the
ads, its content, and the brand advertised. These are of two types
a. Aided Recall: In this method individuals are shown advertisements in which the brand name has been marked and
they are asked to tell which product is advertised.
b. Unaided recall: It involves asking the respondents if they have seen the publication by showing them only its cover
and not inside ads contained in it. The types are
• DAR: Day-After-Recall - If brand recall test is done within a day after the ad is released in media, then it is called
the day after recall test. Usually it checks for unaided and aided recall, messages recall, and whether the message
recall is ‘specific’ or ‘vague’.
• TPT: Total Prime Time - Here, the viewer’s television viewing time is researched. This test just measure the
awareness part of the ads i.e. Only one half of effectiveness of the ad. But it does not tell anything about how far it has
been effective in convincing or persuading the consumer.
Q. four major types of marketing facilitators: advertising agencies, market research firms, transportation
firms, and warehousing firms.

Advertising agencies: Advertising agencies are responsible for initiating, managing, and implementing paid
marketing communications. In addition, some agencies have diversified into other types of marketing
communications, including public relations, sales promotion, interactive media, and direct marketing. Agencies
typically consist of four departments: account management, a creative division, a research group, and a media
planning department. Those in account management act as liaisons between the client and the agency, ensuring that
client needs are communicated to the agency and that agency recommendations are clearly understood by the client.
Account managers also manage the flow of work within the agency, making sure that projects proceed according to
schedule. The creative department is where advertisements are conceived, developed, and produced. Artists, writers,
and producers work together to craft a message that meets agency and client objectives. In this department, slogans,
jingles, and logos are developed. The research department gathers and processes data about the target market and
consumers. This information provides a foundation for the work of the creative department and account management.
Media planning personnel specialize in selecting and placing advertisements in print and broadcast media.

Market research firms: Market research firms gather and analyze data about customers, competitors,
distributors, and other actors and forces in the marketplace. A large portion of the work performed by most
market research firms is commissioned by specific companies for particular purposes. However, some firms
also routinely collect a wide spectrum of data and then attempt to sell some or all of it to companies that may
benefit from such information. For example, the A.C. Nielsen Co. in the United States specializes in supplying
marketing data about consumer television viewing habits, and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), has an
extensive database regarding consumer supermarket purchases.
Marketing research may be quantitative, qualitative, or a combination of both. Quantitative research is numerically
oriented, requires significant attention to the measurement of market phenomena, and often involves statistical
analysis. For example, when a restaurant asks its customers to rate different aspects of its service on a scale from 1
(good) to 10 (poor), this provides quantitative information that may be analyzed statistically.

Transportation firms: Transportation firms assist marketers in moving products from one point in a channel to the
next. An important matter of negotiation between companies working together in a channel is whether the sender or
receiver of goods is responsible for transportation. Movement of products usually involves significant cost, risk,
and time management. Thus, when firms consider a transportation option, they carefully weigh its dependability
and price, frequency of operation, and accessibility. A firm that has its own transportation capabilities is known as
a private carrier. There are also contract carriers, which are independent transportation firms that can be hired by
companies on a long- or short-term basis. A common carrier provides services to any and all companies between
predetermined points on a scheduled basis. The U.S. Postal Service is a common carrier, as are FedEx and the Amtrak
railway system.

Warehousing firms: Because products are not usually sold or shipped as soon as they are produced or delivered,
firms require storage facilities. Two types of warehouses meet this need: storage warehouses hold goods for longer
periods of time, and distribution warehouses serve as way stations for goods as they pass from one location to the
next. Like the other marketing functions, warehouses can be wholly owned by firms, or space can be rented as needed.
Although companies have more control over wholly owned facilities, warehouses of this sort can tie up capital and
firm resources. Operations within warehouses usually require inspecting goods, tracking inventories, repackaging
goods, shipping, and invoicing.
Q. Create an Advertising Campaign in 10 Steps

If you’re not sure where to start with your advertising campaigns, here comes our checklist for successful campaign
planning.

1. Define the goals: The first step you should take is to define your marketing goals for the campaign. This will form
the basis for your next steps. When doing so, you should always make sure that a goal is SMART, meaning that it
meets the following attributes: Keep these goals visible to all team members involved in the campaign, and at the end
of the campaign, check to see if you have actually achieved the goals you set.

2. Determine the target group: After you have defined the goals of your campaign, it’s time to determine your target
group. Depending on the goals you’ve set, very different target groups may come into play here.

Target Audience Analysis: What Is It? How to Do It?: Everyone wears shoes, but not everywhere wears heels. If you
sell designer pumps, you will want to know how to market to target the people who want your specific shoes. Target
audience analysis is how to do that.

Digital & Marketing Strategy: If you are launching a new product, your existing customers may be your target
audience. If you want to open up a new market or increase your brand awareness, a completely new target group may
also be of interest to you.

3. Plan the budget: The next step is to set the budget for your campaign. Here you are probably a bit limited, as
marketing departments often have to work with a pre-allocated budget. However, within this financial planning, it can
still be useful to consider how important the specific advertising campaign is compared to other campaigns during the
year and how much more or less budget should therefore be allocated to it.

4. Determine the media mix: The channels should be used to reach the predefined target group? In marketing, this
step is also called media planning. The following channels are among the best-known measures in the media
mix:Social media ads, for example on Facebook or Instagram. Influencer marketing,Out-of-home advertising,Content
marketing,TV or radio advertising,Digital advertising,An advertisement in print magazines or newspapers

5. Define the campaign period: Also important to your campaign is setting a timeline. This project plan should
record when you start your campaign and how long it will be active before you evaluate the individual measures. If
you’re planning a Christmas sale, it makes little sense to let the associated campaign run into January. And if you are
promoting a specific event, such as a concert, you should also start your campaign just in time for the release of the
tickets.

6. Create the campaign plan: After you have determined the goals as well as the budget, the time period, and the
media mix, the next step is to create a comprehensive campaign plan. In this document, you summarize all predefined
points once again holistically and thus create a plan in which all relevant information can be found at a glance.

7. Design the creative content: Now it’s time for your creativity! Your campaign plan is created and you can fully
focus on implementing the content that is part of your campaign. This can be texts for the website, scripts for video
spots, but also graphics for the visual design of the ads, or photoshoots for ad motifs.

8. Implementing the advertising campaign: Finally, it comes to the concrete implementation of the campaigns. This
means posting ads, publishing information, and placing ads on the defined channels.

9. Optimize the campaign: During the active phase of the marketing campaign, you should constantly check the
performance of the marketing action. If the actual state of communication does not yet correspond to the desired goal,
all is far from lost.

10. Create a final reporting: In the final step, you should create a comprehensive report on the performance of your
advertising campaign at the end of your campaign. This presentation should cover all issues related to the performance
of the campaign and provide a clear reference to the objective set at the beginning. If the goal was customer retention,
then the information in the reporting should show how many customers were retained by the campaign, such as
signing up for a loyalty program with an email address.
Q. Brand Hierarchy importance-

A brand hierarchy is a means of summarizing the branding strategy by displaying the number and nature of common
and distinctive brand elements across the firm’s products, revealing the explicit ordering of brand elements.
A brand hierarchy is based on the realization that a product can be branded in different ways depending on how
many new and existing brand elements are used and how they are combined for any one product.
Brand hierarchy—from top to bottom—might be as follows:
• Corporate (or company) brand (e.g., General Motors) • Range brand (e.g., Chevrolet) • Individual brand (e.g..
Lumina) • Modifier (designating item or model) (e.g., Ultra)

Brand hierarchy (a.k.a brand architecture) refers to the organization of brand elements as an attempt to
use corporate brand equity to increase brand recognition. It summarizes the branding strategy by grouping
the company’s products and services accordingly to their similarities and differences.
The structure of products and services does not have to be complex. In fact, the simpler and more organized
the brand hierarchy is, the better.

In essence, the brand hierarchy is an important but commonly overlooked strategic factor within an
organization. Unfortunately, it is often worked on in the later stages of brand creation when products are
already existing in the market. This is less cost-effective and may result in the need for rebranding in the
future.

The reasons why companies need to organize their product and service brand hierarchy include the
following:

Good sales are the result of good communication with consumers

When it comes to the understanding of your business’ offerings and brand purpose, it is essential that you
don’t confuse your target consumers. This situation will either put in favor, the price-based decisions or
repel potential buyers and direct them to your competitors instead. To monitor your customer’s knowledge
and understanding of your brand, you can refer to your website analytics, customer phone surveys, social
media polls, and consumer behavior maps.
To stand out from your competitors

Developing a brand hierarchy can provide a helpful background when formulating new brand strategies. It
clarifies what exactly the brand stands for, what the brand sells, as well as why certain brand products or
services were launched. Hence, companies need to revise their line of products and services and their
relation to one another, their sales funnels, upsells and cross-sells. Such preliminary research can lead to
the maximization of growth, profit, and customer loyalty.

Preventing main and sub-brands from competing with each other

Companies may experience cases where a sub-product meets unexpected popularity. The lack of structure
can cause an overshadowing of the primary products, which of course, was initially aimed by the brand to
be commonly sold and advertised. With the right brand hierarchy, the competition between main and sub-
brands or products can be prevented.

Brand hierarchy disorganization can threaten future business plans

The careful planning of a marketing strategy is one of the most important aspects of every business. To
grow and succeed in the industry, companies must allocate their budgets to the right resources, determine
their priorities, and avoid unnecessary expenses. One of the best ways they can do this is by organizing a
well-structured brand hierarchy in order to gain a better vision of their company.
4 Types of Product and Service Brand Hierarchies

1) Umbrella or Branded House (aka Master Brand)

In this brand hierarchy, the firm is the brand. All products and sub-products are linked to it, and all of the
brand messages express the company’s value proposition in a single, unified voice. Due to its simplicity and
ease of management, this hierarchy is often used by small businesses.

Examples: FedEx, Virgin, and Harley Davidson.

2) Product or House of Brands

This hierarchy focuses on creating and building independent sub-products and brands, where each sub-
brand is treated as a separate brand. Meanwhile, the main parent brand stays in the background, and its
name remains included in the back of all packaging.

This model typically applies the core strengths and infrastructure of the parent corporation to a variety of
markets through one house brand. This allows each brand to establish a distinct value and meaning towards
its target customers. Since the house of brands structure will require a larger number of resources to help
develop and sustain it, it is one that is not often used by smaller businesses.

Examples: Yum! Brands, Unilever or P&G.

3) Endorsed strategy

Individual brands are connected to the parent brand; however, the main figure is neither central nor
hidden. It’s an efficient model for less proficient sub-brands because they can still profit from the main
brand.

Examples: Facebook and Marriott.

4) Hybrid brands

This model combines the possibilities of all the different structures, meaning that companies are able to
apply elements from each of the previously mentioned brand hierarchies.

Hybrid brands is a structure that is often utilized once a brand acquires other brands through mergers and
acquisitions, and if these new brands do not fit within the current brand structure. It tends to work best for
large conglomerates that have the necessary resources to manage complex brand relationships.

Examples: Amazon, Microsoft, and Coca Cola

Q. Brand Positioning Importance for branding.

Ans: Brand positioning is a process of getting your brand out there and establishing it as something worth
thinking about. It’s not a matter of what you do, but rather how you do it. This may sound a little bit abstract,
so let me put it into an example.

Take two hypothetical sunglasses brands: Company A and Company B. Both companies provide protective
eyewear and offer lenses with different prescription strengths. However, the frames of brand A are made of
steel, whereas the frames of brand B are made of titanium, which is extremely lightweight and flexible.

Titanium frames will return to their original shape even after being bent — and it’s more than just an
interesting characteristic. This is the rationale explaining why brand B is the manufacturer of the safest,
most durable glasses on the market. And this is precisely what separates them from the rest.

Why is brand positioning important?

Every business has a brand, but is it by default or by design? You can either work proactively on your positioning or let
others do it for you. Then, however, you have zero control over the results. Brand positioning matters for a couple of
reasons.

• It allows you to differentiate your brand. A company's brand is its identity. That is why knowing what makes
your business unique is crucial to capturing the attention of those interested enough to take action. Brand positioning
creates clarity around who you serve. It also explains to your target audience why you are the best company for them
and what sets your products or services apart.

• It helps you justify your pricing strategy. The positioning of the brand can be used to justify a pricing strategy.
In other words, when the price of the products is high because of the quality and exclusivity, and the brand positioning
emphasizes these factors, the cost automatically becomes reasonable in the eyes of the customers. This also applies to
products on the more affordable side.

• It makes your brand more creative. Although quite a few brands offer products and services that are very
similar to the same target market and audience, they differ and are uniquely based on their brand positioning. That is
why a good positioning can make or break your brand. A creative, innovative strategy combined with strong execution
will leave customers coming back for more!

A few tips on how to position your brand in the market:

• Be unique. The importance of being unique cannot be overstated. You can't just try following someone else’s road
map because they're already established with their audience; if people want something similar to Apple, they just go
and buy Apple. So if a brand looks exactly like its competitors, it will not stand out against its offerings.

• Be relevant. First and foremost, the brand must be appealing to customers. It doesn't matter how credible or how
unique the brand is; if it’s not relevant, it doesn't even get to the consideration stage. Be sure those features that
distinguish you from the competitors are important to the customers. Identify what matters most to your clients and
position your brand around it.

• Be consistent. You can change your positioning but you must find a general direction for your brand. People won't
know what your brand stands for if you keep changing it. So make sure that whatever you are doing is going to help
build your brand over time. Think about what you want it to represent five or even 10 years from now.

• Be credible. Some brands tend to overdo the truth, which doesn’t really help establish trust between them and their
audience. Make sure that everything you say about your company is believable and will connect with customers on an
emotional level, or else they won't trust what it says. Everything has to fit with what is important to your client.

All in all, it’s not enough to just have a great product or service. You need an engaging customer experience across all
of your channels for that advantage you're trying so hard to achieve to really shine through and be noticed by your
customers. Positioning is more of a daily commitment than a one-time event. But despite all the difficulty and
commitment behind it, the results are well worth the work.
Q. Discuss the financial aspects of brands with suitable examples?

In today's business environment, Brand managers need to be knowledgeable about the financial dimensions of their
jobs as well as the marketing portion. Brand managers assume the role of mini-CEOs in that they have complete profit
and loss responsibility for their Brands. In such cases, the brand manager must be familiar with all aspects of business,
including operations management, human resources, and soon. However, besides the analyses marketing managers
perform to better understand customers ,competitors, and the rest of the external market environment, several other
analyses related to the financial aspects of the brand's performance are also necessary. As a result, to be part of a firm's
overall decision making, brand managers must understand the financial implications of their decisions. Financial
decision making is closely related to brand strategy. The ultimate objective of brand managers is profitability, whether
or not the short-term objective in the marketing plan is oriented toward share or profits.

Two key kinds of information are important to marketing decision making and strategy development. First, if the
brand manager is to have profit and loss responsibility or set short- and long-term profit objectives, he or she must
have a good understanding of how profits are computed. As any financially oriented manager knows, computing
profits is not a straight forward issue. There is no such concept as the bottom line; in fact there are at least three ways
to calculate the "profitability" of a brand. The second kind of information that is critical to a brand manager's
understanding of financial performance is relevant if there is .a brand line or many brand variants (e.g., different sizes,
colors) because it analyzes the performance of different brand variant.

The financial analyses described can be used in a variety of ways. One way to use either profitability or sales analyses
is for planning purposes. Profitability needs to be reported in a marketing plan. In addition, analysis of the relative
sales performances of different brand variants can lead to a new marketing strategy or the pruning of a brand line.
These analyses can also be used ex post, or after the planning period, and at specific intervals within the planning
period. Such a use of financial analyses would be for control purposes. Obviously, it is important to measure how the
company has done or how it is doing the latter being particularly important for making adjustments during the
execution of the plan. A detailed look at several kinds of financial analyses that is important for brand management is
ascertained. Besides the sales and profitability analyses just mentioned, we describe a strategic approach to control
that explicitly links "financial to marketing analysis. We also discuss capital budgeting from a marketing perspective