Roland Berger and marketing magazine absatzwirtschaft conduct study on successful brand management using the winners of the brand awards given by absatzwirtschaft from 2001 to 2009.

What principles govern the success of a brand? How should a new brand be introduced? What should be considered during a brand relaunch? And what's the best way to expand a brand into a new category?

The answers to these questions can be found in a study entitled "Brand excellence – 10 Years of the Brand Awards: Learn from the best!" The study presents case studies on the winners of the brand awards given by absatzwirtschaft from 2001 to 2009. Supported by GfK, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants examined and evaluated the winners' success stories, and then identified the fundamental success factors of brand management. In the process, the consultants found common themes, underlying consistencies and the essence of brand management.

"The study describes the state of the art of brand management," says Rainer Balensiefer, Principal and Head of the Brand Excellence Team at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "The winners over the past ten years show amazing similarities – in other words, these similarities are the success factors of brand management".

The three types of successful brands

1. Community brands are not particularly widespread, but have a distinct profile: they are very popular among a specifically defined customer group (community). Several of these brands develop from being restricted to a specific region into power brands.
2. Power brands enjoy major market share in their product group. They are highly recognizable, have a clear profile and set themselves apart from the competition by constantly innovating.
3. Democratized mass brands are attractive for a broad, heterogeneous consumer group, and therefore have considerable market share and are easily recognized. With that said, their broad, democratized profile is not particularly well-defined. The challenge is to avoid brand erosion.

Twelve key guidelines of successful brand management

"Our analysis revealed certain similarities among the winners over the past decade. We were then able to derive the success factors of brand management," says Balensiefer.

• Understanding target groups holistically and continuously
• Rigorously aligning core brand values to the target group
• Keeping the brand USP close to the target group while differentiating it from competitors
• Representing the core brand values in all the elements of the marketing mix represent and deriving them from the values and behavior patterns of the target group
• Carefully orchestrating all the customer touch-points in terms of content, timing and activities
• Being consistent and persistent, maintaining the long-term view
• Having a close organizational link between brand management and the management of the marketing mix
• Radically focusing business objectives and steering criteria to target groups and avoiding contradictions and inefficiencies
• Employing customer-oriented people who can sell the brand with conviction
• Closely monitoring progress and continuously improving the brand's standing among the core target groups
• Aligning pricing to the brand USP and to the target-group price sensitivity
• Implementing efficient communication, that uses all the target group touch-points and synchronizing all actions

Peter Hanser, editor at absatzwirtschaft, says: "We've shown that a brand's long-term success is the result systematic brand management."