CONTEMPORARY BRAND MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example

The company’s brand portfolio comprises three major brands including: Adidas, Reebok and TaylorMade. Adidas market area includes sporting goods as well as the equipment industry. The chief segments of this industry include footwear for athletes, sports apparel, and also goods and equipment used for sporting. Other segments include equipment for: hunting, golf tennis, fishing, hiking, baseball, football, rollerblading, biking, snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding, skiing, and hockey, along with play scape and playground equipment.

The company’s key competitors include Nike and PUMA. Others are Red tape, New Balance Bata, and Liberty. Athletes together with sports enthusiasts comprise the Adidas customers (Keller 2007, pp. 33). According to Kotler and Dubois (1991, pp. 23) a brand refers to a collection of mental links, held by a given consumer, and which add to the perceived worth of a service/product. These links should be strong, unique, and positive. Alternately, a product refers to anything which can be presented to a market for acquisition, attention, or consumption and which might fulfil a need or a want.

The difference between a brand and a product is such that a brand is acknowledged with intangible values plus imagery, while a product is recognized with characteristics that are visible and very differentiating. Brand architecture strategy refers to the structure employed in organizing a company’s portfolio. It identifies the number and functions of brand names which the company utilises for its product range and also the target markets or target groups. Brand architectures are of various types including: product branding; house of brands; range branding; branded house; source branding; line branding; umbrella branding; endorsed branding and sub-brands.

Adidas has adopted the branded house strategy. This is whereby, the brand shifts from being a leading driver to a more dominant one (John & Larry 1997, pp. 48). Brand positioning and its relevance to branding According to Aaker (1992, pp.22), brand positioning involves locating the brand in the intellect or minds of customers in order to exploit the potential profits to the business. Brand positioning is comprised of the following components: Product class or market. This refers to a collection of products/services and brands that are perceived as alternatives to fulfil some precise consumer need.

Consumer segmentation. It describes consumer profiles that the brand will serve and what their needs are. Consumer segmentation can be accomplished in terms of geographical/physical location (i.e. region, urban/sub-urban, county size, seasons, climate, etc); demographic factors (i.e. age, education, sex, income, family size, religion, occupation, nationality and race); behavioural factors (i.e. loyalty status, benefits sought, purchase occasion, usage rate, user status, actual purchase and attitude to product) (Aaker 1992, pp.24). Perceptual mapping.

This refers to a graphic approach employed by marketers which tries to visually customer perceptions. It entails methods applied in the analysis and comprehension of how consumers perceive products. It includes the identification of product weaknesses; development and assessment of concepts; consumer perceptions’ tracking; and finally, unearthing group differences (Aaker 1992, pp.26). Brand benefits and attributes. The physical presence of a brand does not guarantee its position in mind of the target consumer.

For the product to gain entry into that