Top 27 Strategic Brand Management Interview Questions You Must Prepare 19.Mar.2024

Dell may be credited with making a high-tech product like the PC into an appliance. The main reasons can be attributed to

  1. On the consumer front, its interface empowering users and directing to end user strategy.
  2. Its excellent supply chain management strength cutting its work-in-process to negligible compared to competition.

Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image in target consumers mind.

The following are the steps taken to participate in an event like exhibition or trade show:

  • Identifying the participation of target audience and know-how of the events
  • Negotiate stall rates with the organizing partner and finalize
  • Evaluate the feasibility of internal events budget to justify the participation
  • Prepare a blue print highlighting the outcomes and measurable objectives out of participating in this event
  • Getting a formal approval from the authorities to sign off
  • Prepare the marketing collaterals and negotiating the contract with vendors sourcing it
  • Creating checklists of all the items to be sent to the organizing event spot/place/location
  • Allocate required manpower to support the company’s stall
  • Working out the logistics plan on a whole
  • Train the employees in customer service skills to enhance the maximum footfalls in the stall
  • Collect the customer’s information like name, address, phone number, email id etc. for CRM
  • Measure and monitor the effectiveness of the event using simple feedback surveys
  • Document the happenings during the event partipation to overcome the gaps for future events in order to get the maximum out of it.
  • Last but least, showcase the events participation with help of media planning for wider reach by means of product review, press release both online and offline etc.

The following are the various tools used to communicate with the target audience:

  • Company newsletters
  • Journal article
  • Conference
  • Trade shows
  • Exhibitions
  • Product brochure
  • Word of mouth
  • Direct mail
  • Internet
  • TV
  • Local/regional/national newspaper
  • Magazine
  • Radio etc.

When two brands come together to create greater value to the customer then it is called Co-branding. Coke and McDonald’s have done that globally, while Dettol and ICICI Prudential are doing in India.

Using online media for Marcom activities is to ensure the maximum reach of the target audience at lower costs and results in increased consumer engagement. And also, it is easy to monitor and measure the results of online media usage. Internet is considered to be the one of the most effective tool in today’s competitive business world.

Cost of brand building Vs Benefit of branding. The point to note is that branding cost is an immediate process whereas the benefits are always long-term goals. If viewed from a long term image building prospective. It is always profitable to go in for brand building. We may lose out to cheaper labor nations unless we do something to brand our software development skills. Branding a nation is not a new and impossible proposition.

Brand Extension: Where a company uses its existing brand name to launch new products in other categories.
Line Extension: It is a type of brand extension. Line extension trap should be avoided to extend brand in products hurting the consumer’s regard for a company.
Example of both the above in a single category - "Will Sports" is an example of a brand extension to launch a new line of products.

The major areas of concern for a company

  1. To brand or not
  2. Cost and benefit of developing brand equity
  3. Brand strategy
  4. Brand repositioning

Negative impact of brand management portrays a Turf mentality among brand managers leading to cannibalization of a few brands and Sub optimal utilization of resources.

The following are the type of vendors to deal with Marcom activities:

  • Web designing company
  • Creative agency
  • Printing press vendor
  • Advertising agency
  • Public relation agency
  • Digital media partners etc.

The components of brand positioning are :

  • Target audience
  • Category/Industry/Market
  • Unique selling proposition .

One of the main responsibilities of a Marcom person is to ensure the organization and product/brand image to be good in front of the eyes of the consumers. On a timely basis, PR should be used to create awareness to the public in relation to the events happening in the company such as new product launch, product relaunch, sponsoring consumer events, participation in trade shows and exhibitions etc.

Brand positioning is a process in which marketers would like to occupy the rational space in the minds of the target customers against competition.
The following are the basis for positioning a brand:

  • Target audience
  • Frame of reference
  • Point of differentiation
  • Reasons.

Private brand is a brand created by a reseller of a product or a service. The brand owned by a manufacturer for example - Lux of HLL.
National brand is a brand having evolutionary lives. Coke started as a private brand. predominant in the US. But today it is a global brand. SO much so that the other name for globalization is coca colonization, according to some critics of the phenomenon.

A brand is the set of product or service attributes imbibed in the consumer’s mind in the form of a name, symbol, logo, design and trademark. The importance of brand management is:

  • Product differentiation from competitors
  • Building corporate image
  • Creating bundle of benefits for different product categories
  • Attract and retain the most loyal customers .

Marcom is an acronym for “Marketing Communication”. It is a kind of promotional tool using different media like print, radio, television, direct mail, internet to reach target audience for creating awareness about any product/service in the market place.

A brand has to be communicated to specific target consumers. Integrated multiple channel brand strategy uses a number of channels utility for this purpose. Care should be taken to have uniformity or consistency in messages along with subtle fine—tuning depending on the specific segment targeted.

The major responsibilities of a brand manager are:

  • To oversee the overall performance of the brand and will be a single point of contact for overall profitability of the brand on a whole.
  • To involve from budgeting to product development inclusive of pricing, packaging, promotion to enhance brand image of the company.
  • To design market research studies with MR agencies and utilize the results to take better business decisions regarding market assessment of the company’s products.
  • To be involved with ad agencies to coordinate advertising, event management and marketing communication activities.
  • And also, be familiar to handle overseas operations and willing to travel overseas in short notice.

The value of Brand Equity is based on the extent to which it has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality. Strong brand associations and other assets such as patent, trademark and channel relationships. As the name suggests it is more than just a brand name. It is the total of all endeavors that go in creating the image of the brand among consumers. There are various methods of evaluating brand equity. Brand name is only the vocalized part of the brand.

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. For example, Coke, Nestle and Microsoft are well renowned brands. In technical speaking whenever a marketer creates a name logo symbol he or she has created a brand.

While brand is a name, term, symbol, design or logo, product is of an identifiable generic nature object.

  • My strengths are good communication, analytical and client servicing skills and flexibility to any kind of environment.
  • My weakness is diversified concentration.
  • I position as a brand by means of catering to the mass market (Flexibility) with assortment of product categories (diversified concentration) across geographies (flexibility) with high quality product standards to the consumers.

The potential for brand management will help the company to promote its image in the society, differentiate its offerings from competitors, devise marketing communication activities, protect its product features legally etc.

The various responsibilities of a person working in Marcom are as follows:

  • Crafting an effective communication messages to the target audience and implementing the same using different media starting from Internet to newsletter.
  • Media management and measurement
  • Liaison with creative agency
  • Designing marketing collaterals
  • Sourcing vendors and vendor management
  • Managing market research assignments
  • Web content and corporate website management
  • Training & Development
  • Organizing conferences and other product launch events
  • Active participation in exhibitions/tradeshows and
  • Meeting public relations requirements.

The events play the following role in Marcom:

  • The communication messages are circulated to the mass people irrespective of segments i.e. wide reach
  • Lower costs
  • Increases corporate and brand image
  • In-depth insights about target audience
  • Global exposure for the new products/services.

@Coca Cola, @Microsoft. @IBM. @GE. @Intel. @NOKIA. @Disney, @McDonalds. @Marlboro, 1@Mercedes.

  • Reach
  • Frequency
  • Increase in sales
  • Improving the company image
  • Brand and advertising awareness
  • Cost per thousand
  • Change in market share etc.