Know-How Exchange : Branding

Hello arun -

I began my post-MBA career as a brand manager in consumer packaged goods (candy and cookies). You will find it a challenging and rewarding career! Plus, excellent experience for any business-related endeavors later in life.

I think your position as a client servicing executive will be a great way for you to get a picture of what is involved with brand management since many of the people you will be interacting with on the client side will be brand managers (or similar).

The number one thing I would do is - for each project - try to understand the brand's whole marketing picture, not just that advertising campaign. It will help you service the client better as well as get your brain to thinking about the big picture beyond an ad campaign.

Off the top of my head, here are some things the brand manager has to deal with and think about besides the creative side of an advertising campaign:

- The brand's positioning with respect to the target audience and the related marketing messages that will appeal to the audience.

- Distribution and placement issues, both at retail and distributor/wholesaler level. For example, making sure product forecasts are such that there is enough stock when a promotional program hits, specific needs of large individual retailers, desired shelf placement, any special product shipping needs (like moving chocolate in summer), etc.

- Kinds of and amount of collateral material. Questions that have to be answered and acted on: What kinds of sell sheets and "leave behinds" do the sales people need? How many to print? What in-store/point-of-purchase materials are going to be part of an advertising campaign? Any special packs or displays? If so, what are the printing specifications for packaging and displays? Again, how many are needed?

- Timing. What needs to be done when in order to bring the whole project together and roll out in the order planned? If there are several elements to a new product roll out, or advertising campaign, lead times have to be accounted for. Also, they have to decide "what," "when," and "how" with respect to the marketing message.

The brand manager deals with every internal department and external agencies to make sure the brand strategy gets carried out (purchasing, graphic design, manufacturing, Sr. Management and Board of Directors, accounting, market research, R&D, quality control, sales...and I am sure I missed something). So, any chance you have to better understand that whole process will put you one step closer to becoming a brand manager.

Hope this helps!
Bobette Kyle

being a brand manager does not equal branding.

as a brand manager you will be managing an existing and evolving brand. branding is about creating a brand and then passing it on (for efficient management) to a brand manager.

a brand is like love; it is the positive emotion, beyond reason, that connects your customers (consumers) with your products/services. branding is making that happen. there are ways, procedures, best practises but you still have to count on advise from more experienced ones, luck and personal skill a lot. if you really want it, you'll make it happen.

hope it will work for you.

hi Arun

great advice from Kyle, he has covered entire the spectrum of a Brand Manager's work in short (Kyle, i was a Brand Manager also).

first of all, i would suggest you to decide what part you enjoy in marketing. decide on what you really want to be. u mentioned ur desire to become a Brand Manager. why is that, pay??, status??, perks?? Falshy Lifestyle?? you can drive agency ppl to do things for you while sitting back?? are you aware of the various responsibilities of a BM? do you enjoy understanding consumer psyche and their behaviour. do have interest in finding out why a certain campaign is working for a certain product/brand and why another is not. i would ask you to critically think in line of these factors.

i agree with Kyle that a Brand Manager career is indeed Rewarding BUT also very Demanding. whatever it is i would strongly suggest you to think clearly why u want to be in a cetain position or career.

Now on where to make your next move to be a Brand Manager, you can try for an entry into Account/Client Service of advertising agencies, like Kyle mentioned. get into the entry level position and try to do good in the account/brand you will get. Account Executives are called the Shadow Brand Managers. so you will get a feel of what the brand managers do and how it is to do that. after certain time you can either switch to real Brand Manager job or stick to Ad agency job.

alternatively, i would ask u to look for openings in Trade Marketing and Distribution Management. companies like Frito Lays, Pepsi, BAT, P&G have this department, and this is different from Sales. this is not commission based and you have a sales team to look after. you will basically execute national marketing and promotional strategy in terms of sales, distribution, merchandising and promotional planning and execution in your respective territory/area. this will give a micro-exposure to brand/product management. based on this you can later switch to Brand Management.

hope this gives you some food for thought. BUT first decide first WHAT you want to be and WHY?? and whatever you decide, decide on things which you ENJOY doing.

keep us posted.

cheers!!