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Moving from strategic management to “brands,” this chapter reviews major brand management concepts and theoretical frameworks such as brand knowledge and brand equity, discusses how these concepts and frameworks might apply to media products in the context of a changing marketplace, and provides examples of brand management practices in media industries. By now we know that business activities such as stra- tegic planning are essential for gaining competitive advantages, but why is brand management important? What has changed in our media environment that makes a traditional consumer goods management tool and construct applicable to media products?
In principle, the most essential driver for a branding strategy is the ele- ment of “competition” in a market. When consumers are faced with choices in products, they need a way to identify the one that will best sat- isfy their needs, so suppliers must create identities for their offerings to avoid confusion and reach the target consumers in the marketplace. The tremendous proliferation of media outlets and the continuous fragmen- tation of audiences during the last two decades have created an increas- ingly competitive media marketplace. The same element of “competition” that propelled the introduction of branding practices in consumer goods industries is now facilitating the application of brand management in many media industries as media firms race to establish clear and memo- rable brand images in a growingly complicated marketplace filled with infinite content offered by broadcasters, cablecasters, Internet, telcos, and DBS. In fact, the branding process is consistent with the “experience good” characteristic of media products: It is difficult for consumers to es- timate the quality of a new media product such as movies or television se- ries before they actually experience it. In order to avoid risks (e.g., money and time) related to purchasing and consuming these products, consum- ers may depend on brands and their associated images and expectations as one of the initial decision factors (Chang, 2004).
	
WHAT IS BRANDING?

Fundamentally, a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, package design, or combination of these elements intended to identify and distinguish a product or service from its competitors. A “brand” is different from a “product” because, although it is designed to satisfy the same basic need as an unbranded product, it also adds certain rational, tangible and/or emotional, intangible attributes to a product so it is perceived to be dif- ferent from an unbranded product in its expected performance and ben- efits. In essence, these brand-related elements are supposed to communicate thoughts and feelings that enhance the value of a product beyond its product category and basic functional value. For instance, the brand New York Times represents a certain level of news reporting and editorial quality that distinguishes it from its competitors.
Why are brands valuable? Keller (1998) succinctly listed a number of reasons why brands matter to both consumers and producers. He sug- gested that brands help consumers identify the source of a product, as- sign responsibility to product makers, reduce risk and search cost, signal quality, form relationships between consumers and product makers, and serve as a symbolic device. Brands also provide producers a means of identification to simplify handling or tracing, a way to legally protect unique features, a tool to signal “quality” levels, a means to endow prod- ucts with special associations, and a source of competitive advantages and thus the final financial returns. All of these benefits are applicable in the context of media products. For example, the brand name “PBS” is strongly associated with the images of “trust” and “quality” in the mind of television audiences (Chan-Olmsted & Y. Kim, 2002). The brand name “Discovery” has been used by its corporate owner in the introduction of various new cable channels and even retail learning products.
There are various strategic aspects that a firm can pursue to engage competitors: marketing, production, financial, technological, and man- agerial. Whereas the topics in strategic management discussed in earlier chapters mainly dealt with managerial competition strategies, the de- velopment and maintenance of brands are traditionally a part of a mar- keting program. Because a brand is built over time, branding is also a continuous process of marketing activities that should be designed to reflect the changing life cycle of a product and its environment. Various marketing researchers have tried to explain the nature of brands and branding activities. Donahue (1995) suggested that a valuable brand has to be relevant and distinctive and brand-building activities may in- clude demonstrations, seminars, shows, effective service material, pub- lic relations, advertising, direct marketing, and promotions that extend positioning. Murphy (1987) indicated that branding consists of the de- velopment and maintenance of sets of product attributes and values that are coherent, appropriate, distinctive, protectable, and appealing to consumers. Cowley (1991) also stated that sources of added value in branding include a guarantee of authenticity, the promise of perfor- mance, the value of reassurance, and the transformation of experience (the subjective experience of using a brand, and differentiation or brand personality). The value of authenticity and promise of positive experi- ence seem to be especially important for media content providers in an increasingly crowded marketplace. In fact, Davis (1995) suggested that brand management should be viewed as a strategic management pro- cess to maximize the long-term value of a brand. The role of branding is often misunderstood by companies that have not had a traditional mar- keting focus. Many companies hire senior-level packaged goods mar- keters and expect quick fixes (Bissell, 1998). Branding is seen simply as a new “design and control” function to quickly clean up corporate iden- tity and wrap an existing product or service into a nice, neat package. Bissell reiterated the importance of management commitment in treat- ing branding as part of a firm’s fundamental strategic process and daily tactical operations.
On the surface, the branding and brand management notions ap- pear to be less applicable to media industries due to many media prod- ucts’ intangible, nonpreservable nature, the possibility of group consumption, the selection of a content product based on the merits of individual units (e.g., movies), the lack of actual purchasing action (and risk) for advertising-supported content products, and the absence of easily identifiable product logos. In addition, prior to the 1990s, most media markets were relatively uncompetitive; media products were based on distinct technologies consumed in separate markets with distinctive consumer behaviors (McDowell, 2006). Nevertheless, the landscape of media industries has changed dramatically. We now have a converging media marketplace enabled by digital technologies and new network conduits such as the Internet; the potential for pro- viding additional new media services; and a fragmented, multitasking audience. These environmental developments present an unprece- dented need for differentiation using all possible means. With varying degrees, branding or brand management can enhance a media con- sumer’s association, perception, and expectation of a media product. For example, a radio station that has established a family-friendly brand may increase its chance of being selected by a certain segment of the audience. And a signature local news program can easily become a proprietary brand asset for a TV station.
Although branding offers media firms opportunities for differentia- tion, the aforementioned media characteristics still present some chal- lenges in this process. In addition, there are general obstacles associated with the branding approach. For example, the essence of branding as de- veloping something of value often conflicts with the current accounting system, which treats a brand as an expense rather than asset. The neces- sary long-term orientation of brand building also conflicts with the gen- erally high personnel turnover in businesses. Finally, the integrated nature of brand building (i.e., the involvement of production, sales, mar- keting, etc.) often conflicts with the reality of a segmented organizational structure and single-dimension advertising focuses (Kapferer, 1992).

BRAND MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

Brand management has become a major subfield within the marketing discipline over the years, infusing it with various theoretical constructs and analytical frameworks. Many of these conceptual building blocks are useful for analyzing media products and thus are reviewed next.

Brand Identity

Brand identity encompasses two dimensions: one that indicates the out- ward expression of a brand, including the tangible elements such as names, symbols, logos, slogans, and packaging that can be used to rec- ognize a brand; and the other that symbolizes the brand’s differentiated characteristics, including the unique set of associations that represent what the brand stands for and would do for customers. The process is the linking of differentiated features and attributes of a product or ser- vice to anticipated perceived benefits based on customers’ values and be- liefs. In a way, brand identity is like clothing to a product in that it can set one apart in a crowd as well as say something about the person who chooses the brand. It is important to note that brand identity is some- thing that is formulated and worked on by the firm, whereas another relevant concept, brand image, is based on consumer perception (i.e., formulated by the consumer). In other words, image is the result of how consumers interpret the brand identity put forth by a firm, amid noises and personal circumstances. Time can also change the identity of a brand as it gradually acquires other meanings from associations with things that are both intended and unintended by its firm.
So how does a firm successfully develop a brand identity for a prod- uct? Kapferer (1992) suggested that brand identities should be formu- lated on the basis of three qualities: durability, coherence, and realism (as opposed to idealism or opportunism). Keller (1998) listed five criteria in choosing brand elements to form a brand identity: memorability, meaningfulness, transferability (both culturally and geographically), adaptability, and protectability (both legally and competitively). Cable networks offer some excellent examples of establishing and modifying a media brand over time. For example, Discovery Communications Inc.’s TLC channel began as an education network that offered foreign-lan- guage instruction, an SAT review course, and other adult personal-en- richment series with the name of “The Learning Channel” (Eastman, 1993). With the success of its reality-based series such as Trading Spaces and its continuous programming transformation to this particular genre, it is now renamed as “TLC” with a “Life Unscripted” slogan and logo. Finally, a firm may look to various sources to define a brand’s identity. Kapferer also suggested some sources of identities: (a) the ac- tual product or service through which the brand may display its uniqueness (e.g., NASA Television), (b) a brand name through which the brand may convey its characteristics (e.g., The Cartoon Network), (c) brand characters and symbols through which the brand may represent its traits and features in the etymological sense (e.g., PBS and its logo), (d) trademarks and logos through which a brand may reflect its person- ality and value (e.g., Playboy TV Networks), (e) geographical and his- torical roots through which a brand may paint its individuality and competence (e.g., BBC America cable channel), and (f) advertising through which a brand may develop or reinvent identities as conceived by its firm (e.g., TLC cable channel).

Brand Knowledge: Awareness, Association, and Image

Although a brand identity may be the strategic goal for a brand, the re- sultant brand image of what actually resides in the minds of consumers about the brand could be very different from that goal. According to Keller (1998), such a discrepancy is due to the differential brand knowl- edge structures of individual consumers as reflected by the levels of brand awareness and brand image (i.e., the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations) of that product.
Creating “brand awareness” is often considered the first step of branding. Brand awareness can be defined as the degree to which a tar- get audience is able to identify a brand among others and even recall its promise. As a typical measure of marketing communications effective- ness, awareness may be assessed unaidedly or aidedly (i.e., when a brand name is recognized among others that are listed or identified). Conceptually, brand awareness is hierarchical. Keller (1993) suggested that brand awareness consists of brand recognition, which communi- cates consumers’ ability to verify prior exposure to the brand when given the brand as a cue, and brand recall, which relates consumers’ ability to retrieve the brand from memory when given cues such as ben- efits, usage/purchase situations, or product categories. Another related concept is “top-of-the-mind” awareness, which denotes the highest level of brand awareness for a brand because the brand is the first to come to mind when consumers recall a brand relating to a certain qual- ity. It is evident that brand awareness is fundamental to a brand’s suc- cess. For example, by increasing the brand awareness of HBO On Demand (a video-on-demand programming service offered by HBO), HBO raises the potential that an audience might include this service in his or her viewing consideration list. By increasing the brand awareness of Movielink.Com (a broadband movie download service), Movielink
 
raises the probability that an audience might choose this service because it is perceived to be more established and familiar. This power of aware- ness is especially significant for new media products that consumers have not experienced or have no prior knowledge to relate to. Finally, by increasing the brand awareness of Bravo Cable Network, its owner, NBC, would have an easier time cultivating the associations that make up Bravo’s brand image.
As indicated previously, brand image rests in the consumers’ minds and is developed through brand associations. Consequently, brand im- age may be defined as a unique set of associations within the target cus- tomers’ minds that characterizes what the brand stands for and implies the brand’s promise to them. For users of the brand, the image is also in- fluenced by their experience with the brand. For nonusers, the image is largely shaped by their impressions of the brand amid personal beliefs and attitudes. Keller (1998) identified three main types of brand associa- tions with increasing abstraction: attributes (product related or nonproduct related such as price and usage imagery), benefits (func- tional, symbolic, or experiential), and attitudes formed on the basis of beliefs about a product’s attributes and benefits. Note that a brand im- age is influenced not only by the types of associations but also by the strength, uniqueness, and favorability of the associations (Keller, 1998). For instance, Fox News has established relatively strong and unique brand associations based on certain attributes and benefits (e.g., conser- vative commentaries such as the O’Reilly Factor program). The value of its brand image, however, is largely dependent on an audience seg- ment’s favorability or desirability toward those associations.