Brand Manager - Jack Of All Trades

Last week I visited my campus ASB after a good 3+ years - to generally give a talk on what I do... I thought a lot on how to simply communicate the so many things a Brand Manager does to a bunch of excited/curious/inquisitive students...They named the talk - Brand Manager - Jill of all Trades - considering I was a lady brand manager

I immediately thought of Tom Fishburne... I love his cartoon strips as they are superbly enjoyable and meaningful apart from being funny which they undoubtedly are and you would agree once you have a look at them ;)

So I am putting down bits and pieces of what I shared at ASB in the form of cartoons.... Marketing lovers would understand what I mean to say when I try and describe what a Brand Manager does through the cartoons below...Enjoy....

Clearly the brand is at the heart of all the functions as they all work towards ensuring that the Brand meets its top line and bottom line targets... The brand manager works with the team together to deliver this goal of the brand ensuring that the consumers love the brand!!!

This one is my fav - explosion of media vehicles - the consumer today can connect to a brand in a zillion ways unlike the past - the brand manager figures where his/her consumer is and which would be the best way of connecting with him to tell him/her about the brand and put across the selling story...

Following now is an awesome strip of cartoons by Tom which would help all of understand the Brand Manager and his role best....

Well to simply summarise the brand manager is a glue that works with the multiple functions in an organisation to deliver the objectives on the brand...

While doing this a good Brand Manager ensures the below:-

1. Has an extensive knowledge of who the consumer is and what he/she is looking for in the product/brand - the brand proposition should be consumer speak written by the brand manager not the other way round...

2. He communicates to the team in a language they understand - not the STP's and the 4 P's and the whole differentiation - that is for him to work on - not for his factory guy to understand

3. Explores the best way to reach his consumer - in a way that it meets the brand ROMI targets

4. Understands what excites his consumer and delivers meaningful differentiation

5. Promises and delivers the brand proposition not just in the ads but at every touch point of the brand that the consumer comes into contact with

6. Takes up a medium of reaching the consumer not because it is the newest thing but because it is relevant to the consumer 

7. Works collaboratively with all the functions with the objective of delivering maximum value to the consumer through that brand

And while I dont have something on his role on sustainability - it is his role to work in a way that the brand contributes to the benefit of the society and environment in any way possible.... Will talk about the importance of sustainability in another blog....