Strategic Brand Management: Building a Brand : Case Studio Tendance

Abstract

Today the fashion market is saturated with a great variety of brands. Therefore, consumers can compare quality, prices, availability, and choose those brands, which deliver the best value to them. It is quite difficult for a new company to gain attention of customers because many of them already have their preferences and even loyalty to some specific brands. What should an unknown company do in order to attract attention? How can it convince potential customers at least to try something new? This thesis is aimed at creating a brand strategy that will be possible to implement for becoming a competitive brand in the fashion market. Development research was chosen as the most appropriate research method for this thesis. The material was gathered from books, magazines and internet sources. The empirical part is based on the theoretical part. The data was collected through interviews and sessions with the owners of the company, and statistical information found in the internet. A brand programme was suggested in accordance with the data analysis results. The theoretical part of the thesis consists of two chapters. The first chapter covers the questions of brands and branding. Thus, it gives information about strong and strategic brands, determines difficulties that may occur during a brand building process, and specifies branding in fashion industry. The next chapter focuses on building brand equity. It includes the description of brand elements, the overview of brand equity models, marketing programmes and the ways of leveraging secondary brand associations. The practical application of the theoretical background is reflected in Chapter 4. This part of the thesis presents market situation analysis for the case company, suggests various sources of brand equity, offers possible brand positioning and brand strategies. Conclusions and recommendations may be found in Chapter 5.