Introduction

A brand is pretty much like a human being. Life of a brand is very much correlated with that of human beings. Brands take birth, have their heydays and eventually die. There is therefore a need to nurture brands like human beings. Managers need to play for long-term stakes because short-term thinking kills brands. Brand-managers often pursue short-term results, whereas managing brands as assets calls for longer-term strategy.

A brand is a sellers promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services consistently to the buyers. The best brand conveys a warranty of quality. A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers to differentiate them from those of competitors. Brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyrights, which have expiration dates. But a brand is an even more complex symbol. A brand brings to mind certain attributes which must be translated into functional and emotional benefits. The brand also says something about the producers values, represent a certain culture and project a personality. Ultimately its the brand which suggests the kind of consumer who buys and uses the product. Brands vary in the amount of power and value they have in the market place. At one extreme are brands that are not known by most buyers. Then there are brands for which buyers have a fairly high degree of brand awareness. Beyond this are brands with a high degree of brand acceptability. Then there are brands that enjoy a high degree of brand preference. Finally there are brands that command high degree of brand loyalty.

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About the Author:

Ms.Deepthi Sankar is Lecturer, MBA, at West Fort Higher Education Trust, Calicut University