Brand Management Fundamentals

Brand managers plan, develop, and direct the marketing efforts for a particular brand or product. It is not uncommon for a brand manager to be responsible for coordinating activities of specialists in production, sales, advertising, promotion, research and development, marketing research, purchasing, distribution, package development, and finance. Brand managers are therefore seen as the key people behind the success of any brand or product. They are responsible for improving the value of their brands or products, which in turn generates profitable returns for the company and shareholders.

Brand management is more than a marketing job. Brand managers are responsible for the overall performance of their brands, which includes managing and developing their brands P&L (Profit and Loss), image and positioning in relation to their competitors. They are the key persons to plan, develop and implement marketing initiatives and activities for their brands or products.

Brand managers lead market research efforts to understand customers' perception and behavior and formulate effective marketing strategies to ensure their brands receive maximum visibility and perform better than their competitors.

Brand managers are also required to be creative and be updated with latest marketing trends as the job also involves coordinating events, marketing projects and advertisement campaigns for their brands or products.

Brand managers work with a wide network of people such as advertising and media professionals, contractors and sales agents as well as their own internal marketing team members. As such they have to exhibit strong leadership abilities, good communication and social skills, strong analytical skills and the ability to multi task.

In today's real-world situations, brand managers should see themselves charged with the