Strategic Brand Management

About

Few would deny the importance of brands as valuable assets and a potential source of sustainable competitive advantage. Nestlé bought Rowntree (KitKat, After Eight…) for almost three times its stock market value and 26 times its earnings. This value is created by the place occupied by the brands in the minds of customers: brand awareness, image, trust and reputation - all built up over many years - are the best guarantee of future cash flows. As one commentator puts it: ‘products are created in the factory. Brands are created in the mind.’ Brands provide a short-cut for customers when making a purchasing decision, seeking to avoid risk and obtain value for money. Brands provide a relevant, exciting experience. Brands connote a certain lifestyle, set of values or attitude. Brands can become objects of affection or desire - ‘Lovemarks’, even. Buying a brand is an integral part of an individual’s quest for identity and meaning. It could be argued that brands create value by providing consumers with content, a form of belief system and powerful stories that embody these beliefs and values.

Course leader

SPIER Peter, SKEMA Business School, Franc

Target group

Master students (and Bachelor students in their final year) as well as recent graduates and young professionals who wish to acquire new knowledge in specific areas

Course aim

Students will learn how companies manage ‘brand equity’ - clearly a major strategic issue - but also to reflect on how the use of different frameworks for understanding brands impacts the way they are managed. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to strategic brand management, covering such areas as the building of brand equity, brand identity, brand extension, brand portfolios etc. in national, regional and global markets. More than that, however, the course explores the importance of sense and meaning in the creation of value as well as the degree to which this is rooted in a specific social and cultural context. In doing so, it raises important questions about the role of marketing and consumption in modern society.

Fee info