Five Best Practices
of Global Brand Management
Successful global brand management
is a balancing act between local level aspirations and international strategic
vision.
In a world of globalisation,
multinational companies and expanding online commercial and social
interactions, global brand management has evolved into a complex and ever
changing discipline. In a previous article I have outlined crucial factors for integrating brands in
mergers and acquisitions, the same principles can be applied in the domain of
global brand management. The key to success is consistency and harmonisation.
Organisations with international
brands in their portfolio have different approaches and systems for global
brand management, but the underlying principle is always to instill, build and
maintain consistency in the process.
Managing brands over time
Managing brands in today’s
inter-connected and complex business environment is challenging. Brands are
affected by heightened competition, regulations, supply chain and distribution
issues and manufacturing costs, while requiring constant advocacy and reputation
management. For companies to manage this plethora of internal and external
factors across multiple geographies, global brand management practices need to
be resilient, responsive, growth-oriented and future proof.
To ensure the intended impact of
driving growth and long-term profitability, global brand management practices
should exhibit the following defining characteristics:
Be adaptive and flexible
Brand management is not about rigid
enforcement of frameworks, rules and practices. Successful global brands are
managed by balancing ‘consistent brand guardrails’ with the ‘freedom to adapt
to leverage local growth opportunities’. Without the freedom to adapt to local
needs and leverage emerging opportunities, brands risk becoming obsolete and
irrelevant. Any form of brand adaptability, such as extensions, variants, and
diversification, should not dilute the core values of the brand and lead to a
loss of equity. Constantly evaluating a brand’s strategy against its
guardrails, vision and core mission ensures consistency in the global brand
promise across countries and regions. Philips, for example, made a big impact
in China, where its local business developed a soy milk maker to the delight of
consumers worried about food safety.
Leverage technology
The emergence of technology-enabled
solutions has fundamentally changed the practice of brand management.
Forward-thinking organisations have identified the benefits and scalability of
technology in brand management and have quickly adopted solutions. Unilever,
for example, has used the marketing software company Percolate to support its
global brand management practices. Customer Relationship Management (CRM),
identity, licensing and activation systems have all seen rapid advances in
terms of technological innovation and global scalability.
Use custodians
Ensuring consistency in brand
identity, strategy, marketing and activations should be the core role and
responsibility of at least one individual in an organisation. These people are
the brand custodians and their job is not to act like a cruel enforcer of rules
but to be a strategic guide and mentor who can advise local brand marketing
teams on strategic issues such as managing brand guidelines, ensuring
consistency in brand positioning, adapting or localising brand communications,
integrating local marketing strategies into the global brand strategy and
facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices between local and
global brand teams.
Align organisational structures
People can only work to their
fullest capacity when organisational structures are designed and aligned to
ensure this. Global, regional and local brand management functions should be
seamlessly integrated in an organisation. The global versus local issue of
local push-and-pull over strategic issues is well documented and observed in
management practices. The same tension can completely damage the execution of
the most effective brand management. Roles and responsibilities in brand
management structures should be clearly defined and overlaps reduced. The
challenge most global organisations face is the excessive number of individuals
responsible and involved, with no distinct demarcations between their roles and
responsibilities. Lean brand management functions are required for more
efficiency, accountability and effectiveness in management and implementation.
Serious global brand marketers need to ask themselves – “Brand management is in
itself complex, should my organisational structure increase or decrease this
complexity?” The answer should be obvious.
Be proactive
Global brand management needs to be
a proactive discipline rather than a reactive one. The evolution of technology,
social media, next generation customer relationship management tools, social
listening platforms, cultural and trend analysis, co-creation, crowd-funding
and disruptive innovation techniques have made it easier for brand marketers to
stay close to the consumer and become more accurate in spotting, predicting and
leveraging trends. Brand management practices need to be aligned to these new
and emerging tools and techniques and should be able to integrate them in key
phases of the function.
The benefits and strategic advantage
new and emerging techniques provide can only be realised when they are
integral, and not acting as point-in-time external inputs, into the process.
For example, if an organisation’s medium and long-term strategy is
innovation-driven brand building, then techniques like co-creation should be
integral to the brand management process right from the very beginning.
Brands become global through
excellence in brand building and implementation. Internationalising brands is
an immensely challenging process that requires constant adaptability and the
ability to scale up efficiently. Managing global brands should enhance the
dimensions of adaptability, growth and innovation. Organisations who are able
to do this have been able to master the act of balancing local level
aspirations with their brand’s global vision and strategy.
Martin Roll, Business and Brand Strategist, Founder of Martin Roll
Company (INSEAD MBA ‘99D) |
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/five-best-practices-of-global-brand-management-4136?utm_source=INSEAD+Knowledge&utm_campaign=89f107539f-6_Aug_banner8_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e079141ebb-89f107539f-249840429#0fj84jkj8k66YRsG.99
Read more at http://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/five-best-practices-of-global-brand-management-4136?utm_source=INSEAD+Knowledge&utm_campaign=89f107539f-6_Aug_banner8_6_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e079141ebb-89f107539f-249840429#0fj84jkj8k66YRsG.99
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