Branding and Product Management
Core concepts
A brand is a name, symbol, or design that identifies and differentiates. Candidates must know brand equity (the added value a brand name confers), brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty as its components. Understand brand architecture - house of brands, branded house, endorsed brands - and the product life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline) with its pricing and promotion shifts.
Product management covers the product hierarchy (core benefit, actual product, augmented product), the product mix (width and depth), and the new product development process: idea generation, screening, concept testing, business analysis, development, test marketing, commercialization. Know the difference between a product line extension, brand extension, multibrand, and new brand.
Traps in questions
- Equating brand equity with brand awareness alone; equity is multi-dimensional.
- Confusing line extension (same brand, new variant in the category) with brand extension (same brand, new category).
- Assuming price skimming fits all launches; it suits innovative, low-elasticity products, while penetration pricing suits share-building.
- Skipping concept testing and confusing it with test marketing (concept testing precedes development; test marketing follows).
Worked example
A skincare brand launches a new serum under the same name - a line extension. Launching a shampoo under the same name is a brand extension. Launching the shampoo under a new name is a multibrand strategy.
Rule of thumb: Test the concept before you build; test the market before you scale.