Melodies in Marketing

To me, Brand Management is such a big term that can mean a lot of different things - depending on the context and whose point of view is being expressed. This is a common effect of Nominalizations; we often must ask ‘how so?’ in order to be on the same wavelength. Nonetheless, I would like to explore a little of what I have come to learn about it. By all means, please leave comments on what it means to you.

In the world of consumer goods, Neil McElroy of Proctor & Gamble wrote a 3-page memo to senior management in 1931, outlining his vision of how a business should run and manage multiple brands (Full story here). This development was similar to Sloan’s multi-divisional structuring of GM, but it expanded on how brands should be financed, staffed, and operated like independent subsidiaries. While the concept makes clear sense today, the degree of brand independence allowed will largely be based on the brand’s perceived maturity and potential in the marketplace.

That is an ideal scenario though. One friend who worked in a multi-brand firm, complained that the owner didn’t give one brand (in a far different product category: alcohol), the dedicated financial support and independence it needed to successfully live. It had a lot of potential; some well-compensated and brilliant leaders with vast industry experience were brought on board. But the owner liked to meddle with its purse, product design, manufacturing, and market strategy. He couldn’t give up control, and the result was random chaos and frustration with folks already having invested so much time and energy with the brand.

That story made me first think about how Al & Laura Ries talked about the importance of divergence in The Origin of Brands. New product categories need new brand names because effective market positioning demands it (for most consumer products that is). The alcohol carried the parent company brand name for 2 years where it experienced limited sales, then finally got its own name. Secondly, the story made me reflect on another book: The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen. Some radical innovations can’t achieve market success within the same industry and customer base as the parent company. They need new markets, operational independence, dedicated capital, adequate staffing, and preferably a different geographic headquarters. Lastly, this is all similar to Jack Welch’s organizational structuring of General Electric and its SBUs: widely diversified brands across multiple industries, yet bound together by a common management philosophy of empowerment, team membership, mentoring, and leading with the heart.

So the pervasive theme from that perspective hearkens back to Sloan’s “Decentralization with Coordinated Control”. If we look at the latter half of that statement, we’ll come to the intersecting avenues of new product development, brand analysis, portfolio management, and product innovation & technology strategies. You’re probably thinking: No more big words! Well, all of these avenues have some common themes like: What should we create? How are we doing? What should we let go? How should we allocate our capital across new projects and existing brands?

An excellent historical model for analyzing brands is the famous Growth-Share matrix developed by Bruce Henderson for the Boston Consulting Group in 1970. Complemented with Michael Porter’s contributions to strategic analysis among various other models, we have a lot of tools at our disposal. But I would think that in our day and age, with the proliferation of so many brands combined with the long-tail effect, the changing demographic landscape, and the rise of psychographic segmentation, analysis has become a lot more difficult and great data harder to come by. What do you think?

The last areas of Brand Management that I see relevant to completing the picture relate to development, growth, maintenance, and retirement. While I could expand on each of these subjects, I will spare you some mental time & energy, and close the subject with what I consider to be probably the most important act of all: Listening to customers, prospects, partners, suppliers, and employees. Lewis Green, Christina Kerley, and Robert G. Cooper are some proud proponents of it.

So Brand Management is a big tricky affair depending on how you look at it. Your perspectives and thoughts would be much appreciated. Oh, and Thanks for listening!

Share with: