Managing Brands (Pros and Cons of Brands)

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Introduction

We live in a world of capitalism and multinational brands dominate the consumer market. To the consumer, brands that have existed over many years represent quality, esteem, identity, trust and above all, a very reliable source of customer support and care. Companies try to promote their brand equity by vigorous advertisement campaigns. Targeted advertisements enhance the brand image and increase the competitive advantage by providing a Brand identity. Firms also use brand extension to increase their profitability by extending the power of their brand image to other product lines. While powerful brands use their brand equity and exercise their muscle power to dominate the market they are also having to face with increasing competition from store brands and retailers who promote their own products. Ultimately the focus of all brands is to improve customer equity. From the consumer perspective, the price for value proposition of brands has to be considered. A brief overview of some of the important factors pertaining to brands and how they shape or affect consumer behavior would help us better understand the pros and cons of brands.

Advantages of brands

As the renowned British advertisement giant David Ogilvy said, brands represent “the consumer’s idea of a product [or a service] “(Ogilvy, 2004). Brands provide product differentiation and therefore help the consumers get what they need. In order to maintain their market stronghold and to improve their competitive edge brands have to constantly innovate. This is very good for the consumers as they have wide variety of products to choose from. With their specialized resources brands can cater to evolving user demands. The marketing muscle of brands also enables ...

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4) Jeremiah McWilliams , (2011), Coco-Cola Spent more than $2.9 Billion on advertising in 2010, viewed Nov 11th 2011,

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