Brand Management

TEACHER / PROFESSOR

Prof Frank Goedertier, Professor of Marketing at Vlerick Business School (Programme Director)

Short Description of the course

BUILDING AND MANAGING BRANDS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Brands are finding it increasingly difficult to secure consumer loyalty when facing oversupply and mature markets. So, how can you make sure that your brand will stand out? You will face a number of diverse challenges: digitisation, information overload and social responsibility.

course Programme / detailed overview

Our academic knowledge of branding is continuously being enriched with practical experience from the marketplace. During the programme, B2B and B2C professionals from a variety of industrial sectors share their insights on successful branding projects.

The programme consists of 4 modules.

The first 2 modules focus more on strategic choices in terms of branding approaches. The last 2 modules discuss additional brand communication & management aspects that can be applied regardless of a specific strategic brand building choice made, but adapted may be advised to be applied differently taking that choice into account

Module 1: Building Brands

• How to build a strong brand
• How can you load a brand with specific values?
• What is the secret to creating a good brand identity?
• What is a brand life cycle and what is your role in this?
• How do you expand your brand through co-branding and brand extensions?

Module 2: Managing Brands

• How do you develop a positioning for corporate and product brands?
• How do you incorporate your business, brand and communication positioning?
• How would you translate your brand positioning into a concrete mix of media?
• Explore different Brand Religions and apply them to your products or services.

Module 3: Communicating Brands

• How do you draw up a communication plan?
• Which brand communication objectives can you pursue?
• What are the different traditional communication media? What are the pros and cons?
• How do you build your brand architecture?

Module 4: Branding in the digital age

• How do you manage your brand in an information-overloaded context?
• Is there a need for a new brand model in the digital age?
• How do you build up a brand using new media?
• What role does word-of-mouth play in promoting your brand?
• How should you proceed in creating a social media strategy for your brand?
• How to understand “Customers the day after tomorrow”?

TARGET students

• Everyone directly or indirectly involved in Brand Management
• Brand, Service or Marketing Managers in a (medium) large company or growing SME, striving to improve brand management
• Business Unit Managers in charge of strategic brand management
• Retail or Category Managers in distribution, looking to negotiate on an equal footing with manufacturers on the added value of brands
• Account Executives or Account Directors in an advertising or promotion agency
• Market Researchers or Marketing Consultants desiring to keep up with the current trends and support their customers effectively

Learning outcomes

• Analyse the different stages of your brand lifecycle
• Apply different brand perspectives to your own brand strategy
• Discover the concept of brand architecture
• Recognise future customer needs