Preface

In a market economy with a highly developed competitive environment, it is natural to maximize the utility of resources. Overconsumption, as the desired state of the economy of growth, puts enormous pressure on production and thus on securing sufficient resources of a diverse nature. Here, seemingly endless growth meets the limitations of the physical world. The application of the principles of sustainability is thus one of the basic determinants of the long-term survival of market economies or even entire ecosystems as we know them today.

In view of these facts, it is possible to assess the issue of sustainable development, sustainability, and a low-carbon economy as extremely topical, even key, for all industries as well as for any entities using resources of a physical nature.

From the point of view of comprehensive brand management, the issue of the sustainable industry takes on a whole new dimension. It is a well-known fact that the issue of brand development in the traditional world has been known to companies for decades. Managers have acquired a set of skills to build a brand, but this set of skills is not final but rather evolving. Beginning with the era of production marketing management from the time of Henry Ford, when demand far exceeded supply and the available product was equal to market success, to today's times of hyper supply and hyper information, the number of variables necessary for active management of business activities, especially brand management, has multiplied to almost innumerable dimensions.

The rapid rise of mass communication media in the second half of the 20th century fundamentally changed the established principles of business practice in many areas. Before the onset of the media era, the brand of corporate entities was difficult to develop; subsequently, however, it was easier to manage. For decades, procedures for building a brand have been refined. Years of proven and effective brand-building tools have managed to offer solutions in difficult situations. However, the time has changed, the flow of information has accelerated, and the nature of information has adapted to the time. The Internet has changed the way we look at brands. What was once private is now public. What was once local is now global. What was once fleeting is now permanent. And what was once credible is now unreliable. These changes can be explained by the fact that Internet technology has directed human interactions. Understanding the unique relationship between technology and online culture is key to understanding how to manage brands while developing a comprehensive corporate reputation. Failure is certain for those managers who use offline techniques to solve online problems. Instead, it is essential to understand the cultural and technical differences between the online and the offline world to effectively protect and enhance the intangible assets of a business entity.

The combination of baseline factors in the form of the transition to a sustainable economy in the age of accelerated digitization creates a completely new, hitherto unknown, market environment. The number of variables necessary for successful brand management in this new, semi-online environment is almost limitless. This book explores key topics in the field of brand management at a time when companies are increasingly reaching for responsible and sustainable approaches, as well as being forced to digitize many business processes.

This book discusses several issues of marketing management within the limits of marketing communication. Starting from the issue of Internet marketing, describing the starting points for a better understanding of the digital ecosystem, the book continues with a look at the transition from offline to online from the point of view of marketing strategies in the process of building brand equity. Followed by a systematic review of standardization versus adaptation of brand elements in international markets, the book ends with chapters devoted to reflection on the topic of living the brand. The book itself creates the opportunity to seek qualitative knowledge for future in-depth research into the accelerated digitalization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, or simply put, the transition from offline to online.

> **Dr. František Pollák** University of Economics in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

#### **Dr. Peter Markovič**

**1**

Section 1

Introduction

University of Economics in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

Section 1 Introduction

#### **Chapter 1**

## Introductory Chapter: Brand Management as Part of Corporate Identity

*František Pollák*

#### **1. Introduction**

#### **1.1 Brand Management**

Brand Management is a process based on a predefined philosophy and is a manifestation of the vision and mission of an enterprise that it applies almost in all steps toward the public. As a term, it is materialized in both the philosophy and business strategy of the enterprise, as well as the corporate culture, behavior, and general design of the whole company. There is often mistaken incorporation of Brand Management into Marketing Communications, while this is exactly the opposite - Marketing Communication is one of the major components of Brand Management.

In today's effective enterprises, the process of Brand Management is heavily intertwined with the process of building a Corporate Identity. With the Corporate Identity must be a thoughtful and timeless business standard that governs the company. Every enterprise is unique in its search for identity, and its unchangeable features can become a significant competitive advantage. A high-quality Corporate Identity has an external effect on customers as well as an internal one within the business, where it increases efficiency, motivates employees, and gives them a sense of belonging.

A company's identity expressed through its products plays a significant role in the way an enterprise presents itself to the wider environment. Using visual means, the enterprise expresses its values and goals. For all entities, whether they are profitable or nonprofit organizations, it is important to make them more visible and distinct. Markets should know that the organization exists, remember its name, and know what it is doing. The process of creating a memorable brand is always individual and seeks to be exceptional and different. There is no uniform template that fits into two different businesses [1]. It should always be tailor-made as much as possible for a particular subject. Creating a brand should be a systematic process beginning with the very beginning of the enterprise itself.

However, this process is often neglected today and mistakenly considered irrelevant. The formation of corporate identity and brand management derived from it, is a professional practice governed by market laws. Creating an identity often ends when assigning and creating a brand. Thus, brand management is a process

within one of the subsystems of Corporate Identity, but it occupies an important position within the ecosystem of business processes.

Corporate Identity can be divided into four subsystems:


Using these four elements of Corporate Identity, an enterprise creates and strengthens its market position, which it then interprets internally and externally based on its knowledge, ideas, and attitudes (**Figure 1**). An image interpreted in this way is spoken of as a Corporate Image, this is gradually reflected in the products of the given enterprise (**Figure 2**).

Another basic issue that needs to be mentioned in the introduction to brand management is effective targeting, if the enterprise wants to be as successful as possible in business, the management of the company should know as accurately as possible, what segment the company is operating.

The success of a business is dependent on a clear definition of the target group those we want to reach out to with the product [2]. It is necessary to realize how important it is to drive a targeted approach. It is not possible to address everyone in the same way, and therefore market segmentation is the best solution.

Outlines three main parts and six targeted marketing steps that are shown in the following figure developed based on the scheme from Kotler and Keller in Pollák and Markovič (**Figure 3**) [3].

For targeted marketing, instead of a broad-based marketing program, emphasis is placed on partial tailoring market approaches to the requirements of the target customers, while the ultimate form of targeted marketing is tailor-made marketing [4]. This is the main difference between the targeted and bulk market approach, which is currently being addressed by very few companies. After identifying the market segments, one or more appropriate ones need to be selected and prepared for the marketing and communication mix as well as the product itself, according to the needs of the target consumers.


#### **Figure 1.**

*Corporate identity and its subsystems.*

*Introductory Chapter: Brand Management as Part of Corporate Identity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108039*

#### **Figure 2.**

*Relationship between corporate identity and corporate image.*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Six steps of market segmentation, targeting, and positioning.*

Each successful market strategy must be based on a thorough analysis of the current state, a survey of market opportunities, their segmentation, targeting, and finally, based on the correct placement of the right product. If the brand management process includes all the mentioned steps, as well as considers the fundamentals of market trends based on customer needs, and devotes thorough pre-preparation to the strategy, the company is on its way to being successful. What's more, the company as a market unit and its products are more likely to thrive in the marketplace than they would be in a haphazard sequence of procedures and reckless experimentation. The dynamic and turbulent market requires a purposeful and prudent approach.

#### **Acknowledgment**

The authors of the chapter would also like to thank the students who over the years participated in the processing of the creation of content for the presented chapter.

*Brand Management*

### **Author details**

František Pollák1,2

1 Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czechia

2 Faculty of Business Management, University of Economics in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

\*Address all correspondence to: frank.pollak@acuityeng.com

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Introductory Chapter: Brand Management as Part of Corporate Identity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108039*

#### **References**

[1] Horný S. Vizuální komunikace firem. Prague: VŠE; 2004

[2] Vysekalová J, Mikeš J. Jak dělat reklamu. 3rd. ed. Prague: Grada Publishing; 2010

[3] Pollák F, Markovič P. Customer age as a determinant of preferences for information sources- empirical analysis of a case from Central Europe. Economics and Sociology. 2022;**15**(2):296-311

[4] Jurková J, Ferencová M. Marketingový manažment. 1st. ed. Prešov: Prešov University in Prešov, Faculty of Management; 2010

Section 2
