Brand Recall

I believe that Brand Management as a responsibility should come under the marketing organization. Brand Management and strategizing for the brand has to be led by the Marketing organization both in terms of the thinking and the execution. However, I believe that Brand is not a Marketing Responsibility.

The position ‘Brand Manager’ is one of the most aptly named positions ever. Coming from the Kapferer school of thought it is impossible to believe that a brand can be owned by anyone other than the consumer!

Let us try to put things in perspective.

Brand owner
The entity that has put money behind the brand is the actual owner of the brand in terms of the brand value, the brand asset value and the monetization that the brand brings along with it. This means that the brand is an asset and at any point if the brand has to be liquidated, the brand owner get the cash. However the price of this ‘asset’ is never fixed. It changes on a daily basis and is as volatile as the stock market.

Where does the brand reside?
Though the brand owner has put in money behind the brand as an asset to grow it in value, the brand does not reside with him. The brand is always in the consumer’s mind. I am taking reference from Al Ries and Jack Trout. In the book POSITIONING, they have used the term Cherchez le creneaux – French for the term ‘Find the hole and fix it’. Published first in 1981, the book captures the essence of brand management in simple terms and in just the phrase ‘Find the hole and fix it’. The explanation for this term is to find the hole in the consumer’s mind for the brand and fix it. It is difficult and is a time consuming process, however, that exactly is where the brand resides and thrives. So if you end up placing your brand in the wrong position, then try how much ever, the consumer will not be able to accept you or your brand.

So who is this Brand Manager?
A brand manager’s only job (apart from the operational issues that one goes through) is to ensure that the brand stands for the values that the brand owner wants – in the consumer’s mind. The medium, the communication or any other tool used notwithstanding, it is important that the brand manager keeps the message, finds the position in the consumer’s mind and fixes the brand in it. It involves many years of painful work to ensure that.

So, whose responsibility is the brand?
Is it the brand owner, the brand manager or the rest of the organization? I believe that it is a bit straightforward. In many ways, Brand has a higher level of importance compared to Marketing. It is only after you get the brand strategy fall into place can you take up a marketing strategy which will execute it.

For instance let us assume that the brand stands for innovation, freshness and responsive. Is it the job only of the Marketing organization to exhibit these adjectives for the brand to achieve salience?

Alternatively, every department (production, distribution, sales, marketing, finance, administration et al) lives and breathes these adjectives. Don’t these qualities fit every department and every employee of the organization? So by each department and employee living these attributes, do you think the brand will gain in salience?

There is a concept called ‘Moment Of Truth’. Every touch point, conversation, meeting of a consumer (or any stakeholder) with the brand (could be the product, service, office, receptionist, salesperson, telemarketer or any front end of the brand as an animate or inanimate entity) is a moment of truth. So if you are travelling in a Boeing plane, you have just had a MOT with Boeing. If the air conditioner in your room is Carrier, then you just had a MOT with Carrier. If you just met a sales person from Mercedes Benz, you just had a MOT with Mercedes Benz. If you were watching an F1 race on your Sony TV, using Airtel DTH through Huawei Set Top Box and Ferrari lost the race, then you just had an MOT with F1, Sony, Airtel, Huawei and believe me… Ferrari.

And you as a consumer, are most welcome to make your own views about each of the brands. So if the reception is not good, you can curse Airtel or Huawei. If the race is marred by people throwing bottles into the race track, you can curse F1. If your TV power chord fails and you can’t see the race, you can curse Sony and if Ferrari loses the race, you can curse Ferrari. You – the consumer – are the KING.

Now, my argument is:

The responsibility of the brand lies in every employee and every entity which provides a Moment Of Truth for the brand with the consumer.

So… Brand is NOT JUST a Marketing responsibility.

The job of the Brand Manager (who happens to be working in the Marketing Department) is just to steer the brand by doing the right set of things and guiding the rest of the employees in doing the right set of things. This would result in the BRAND doing the right set of things which results in a great Moment of Truth and hence the perfect ‘POSITION’ in the consumer’s mind.

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