2 Key words in brand
management
This chapter introduces the reader to key words often used in brand management; it
does not offer an extensive step-by-step description of the reasoning behind branding
as such. Where the seven chapters about different approaches to brand management
focus on how the field of brand management has evolved over time and aim at facil-
itating a thorough understanding of the different approaches, rather, the idea in this
chapter is to give the reader an overview of key terms to be familiar with when
understanding what brand management is all about on a daily managerial basis.
This chapter hence provides a list of key words that readers will often stumble
upon when reading brand management texts in general. Some of the key words
will be elaborated on in the approach chapters while some of them will not be elab-
orated further in this book. These key words are provided with references to
recommended supplementary reading.
Brand
The brand is and has been defined in many different ways over the years,
depending on the perspective from which the brand is perceived. Often that
depends on the academic background of the author/originator of the different defi-
nitions. In the classical definition, the brand is linked to the identification of a
product and the differentiation from its competitors, through the use of a certain
name, logo, design or other visual signs and symbols. The American Marketing
Association (AMA) defined the brand in 1960 as:
A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them which is
intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers
and to differentiate them from those of competitors.Other more recent definitions of branding also include internal and organizational
processes. Many brand management books today feature extremely broad defini-
tions, because they aim at covering all the different aspects and facets of the brand
and how it has developed over time.
This book is all about understanding the core of different brand perspectives and
their implications. The seven approaches offer seven quite different understandings