Brand Management as a Lucrative Career Option

By Ronmi Bora

Brand Management as a career

“Branding is how you tell your story”. Branding is a means to distinguish the goods of one product from those of another and has been around for centuries. The word, brand is derived from the word brandr which means “to burn,” as brands were and still are the means by which livestock owners mark their animals to identify them. 

A brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, 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 “, according to the American Marketing Association (AMA).  In technical terms, a brand is born whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product.  A key to creating a brand as per AMA definition, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package, design, or other characteristic that identifies or distinguishes a product from others. These different components of a brand are termed as brand elements. 

For example, consider the variety of brand name strategies. Companies like General Electric and Samsung are seen using their names for essentially all their products. On the other hand, some manufacturers assign new individual brand names for the new products such as Procter & Gamble’s Tide, Pampers, Pantene product brands etc. 

Branding is all about creating differences in the market. It is something that resides in the minds of consumers. So, what motivated branding? The original motivation was for craftsmen and others to identify the fruits of their labours so that customers could easily recognise them. It can also be traced back to ancient pottery and stonemason’s marks, which were applied to handcrafted goods to identify their source. 

Establishment of Brand Management Standards: 1946 to 1985 – After World War II, with the increasing demand for high-quality brands led to an explosion of sales. Demand for national brands soared, fuelled by a burst of new products and a receptive and growing middle class. Firm after firm during this time period adopted the brand management system. In the brand management system, a brand manager took “ownership” of a brand. A brand manager was responsible for his or her brand, as well as identifying new business opportunities. From manufacturing, the sales development, personnel, legal and to public relations, the brand manager is typically assisted internally while also externally he can gain assistance from advertising agencies, research suppliers and public relations agencies. 

Key skills of a successful brand manager

A successful brand manager has to be a versatile jack-of-all-trades. For example, a marketing manager at Gillette once identified the following factors for being a successful brand manager: 

• Dedication to the brand, reflected in an effort to do what was best for the business
• Ability to assess a situation and see alternative solutions
• Talent for generating creative ideas and a willingness to be open to others’ ideas
• Ability to make decisions in a highly ambiguous environment
• Ability to move projects through the organisation
• Good communication skills
• High energy level
• Capacity for handling many tasks simultaneously

Educational qualification and experience required

Individuals aspiring to make a career in brand management ideally should hold a Masters/MBA degree in Brand Management, Marketing Management or Product Management. You will come across courses like Diploma in Brand Management, Professional Certificate in Brand Management. Some reputed institutes like SP Jainoffers luxury management as one the specialisations. Additionally, there are various fellowship programmes available in leading universities overseas. 

To be able to show past success in marketing campaigns and proven ability to coordinate team efforts, Brand managers need about three to four years of work experience to meet the expectations for almost all positions in the marketing field. Those employed as brand managers can pursue relevant specialised degrees to reinforce any required skills for career enhancement. A brand manager should have working knowledge of finance, market research, marketing theories, marketing communication, and consumer behaviour.  It is recommended for aspirants to have some basic knowledge of IT to operate well in the digital media environment in modern marketing. However, a background in IT is usually not required. 

Certification in brand or product management is offered by a number of international and national organisations. Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM), is worth considering, which offers training courses and seminars with a certification exam. Emergence of new marketing disciplines like search engine marketing, mobile search and social media marketing will lead to rapid demand in career in the field of Brand Management. Although for executive and managerial positions competition is high comparatively, however applicants with extensive experience in branding campaigns, leadership qualities and industry background should definitely have a competitive advantage. 

Professional career and growth

Most branding firms are organised structurally around a management consulting hierarchy for strategists; for creatives, the structure resembles an ad agency with an executive creative director at the head and designers of various levels below. If you are skilled as both a thinker and a creative person, you may start in a branding firm as a project coordinator or manager – it’s a lot of the research, analytic, information related tasks. 

The national average salary for a Brand Manager is Rs 1,408,444 in India (as per Glassdoor). After about 20 years in Brand management, many people move on to other positions. To attract higher salary package, one can look at enhancing ones skills in Product Marketing, Marketing Management, and Strategic Marketing. Related work experience can strongly influence chances of higher income for this job.

Market trends

While my association with Dy Works, leading brand strategy and brand design firm based out of Mumbai, I learnt that for creating successful brands, it is important to learn how culture shapes behaviour. Culture is what helps us understand why yoghurt has failed in a country where the default lunch dessert is dahi-cheeni (yoghurt with sugar). 

With advent of social media and online marketing, scenario has changed tremendously. Take for example, market leaders such as online retailer brand Amazon and search engine Google which are constantly innovating their business focus, logos and designs through a customer-centric approach. 

Brand managers are required in a wide range of industries. In the past, this job function was limited to a select group of large companies. With more and more companies recognising the need for brand enhancement as a major marketing strategy, the trend has seen a positive turn for brand management professionals. Brand managers must be able to analyse needs and requirements of their target consumers; develop and reinforce relationships with these customers and create successful strategies to satisfy those needs with their company’s product. More than mere marketers, brand managers are integral to boosting market share. The campaigns to convey product name and its superiority over other products serve dual roles of elevating the business’s profile, while multiplying sales. Brand managers are often called upon to correlate their marketing strategies with product sales performance. 

Thus, a career in Brand Management looks promising with so many companies looking for young, creative enthusiasts to build their brand and take it forward by many leaps and bounds. 

About the Author:

Ronmi Bora holds a Double Masters, MBA  (Marketing & Strategy) from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand – XLRI and MCom (Management) from The University of Mumbai.  She completed her Bachelor of Commerce in Banking & Insurance from HR College of Commerce & Economics, University of Mumbai. A marketing professional, Ronmi is a poet at heart, traveller, dancer and a passionate writer having published with several media houses.