Brand Management

Developing a career in brand management is one of a multitude of career paths you can choose follow if you are interested in working in marketing. In recent years, business owners and managers have become aware of the impressive role that marketing plays in an organization. Marketing a brand effectively ensures its characteristics and benefits are conveyed in a way that is attractive, not only to consumers and prospective clients, but also to stakeholders.

The function performed by a brand manager can differ depending on the field in which the company specializes, so the name given to the role will vary accordingly; it is not uncommon for the role to be listed as product manager or marketing manager. A career in brand management implies supervising the way in which all the products and services delivered by a particular brand are marketed.

The importance that your role as a brand manager will play within the organization depends greatly on the size of the organization and the range of brands it controls. Companies that have tens of different brands (Unilever, for instance) offer an exciting and challenging career in brand management; you may find that you are given a good degree of responsibility over the branch of brands you are managing.

On the other hand, in business organizations that have a small number of important brands, a brand manager may be much more focused on marketing the brand efficiently within a certain age group or sector of society. If you are interested in developing a career in brand management, you will probably be excited to know that you can do so locally or globally. As an international manager your main focus will be on operations rather than on strategy.

Your daily tasks will include ensuring the distribution network is efficient; that each sales point receives the correct number of products at the correct time, and that you are producing a sufficient quantity of a certain product.

The role of a local brand manager is more strategic; they usually concentrate on protecting brand equity and developing products that can then be replicated on a global scale. Local brand managers need to have excellent executive skills as they are in charge of the daily execution of the global brand plans they cover, making sure they are tailored towards local consumers.

Over the last few years, business organizations have started to pay a lot of attention to their brands and have established tight guidelines related to what can be done with a brand, and what is off limits. This ensures the global reputation and perception of the brand is not damaged or altered negatively in any way.

Anyone interested in pursuing a career in brand management should be well aware of the fact that all positions will be related to a particular product, and not necessarily to a particular function. Needless to say, the role provides an excellent opportunity to gain an in depth knowledge of a certain product and a certain category that can be extremely valuable if you then plan to undertake a career shift.

Brand managers, independent of the position they occupy, are extremely brand-oriented, focused on detail, and will always try to learn more about the product they are in charge of and the category it belongs to. More often than not, their insight and specific knowledge is highly valued in other areas of the company such as finance or manufacturing.

A career in brand management involves ensuring the market share of a specific brand not only grows over time, but does so in the most profitable way for the organization.