STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT IN MICRO- AND MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

The article substantiates the need to move from fragmented advertising actions to strategic brand management as an intangible asset capable of generating future cash flows and increasing business resilience in conditions of instability. It is shown that brand management in the practice of companies is often narrowed to situational communications, while the consumer perceives the brand as an integral experience formed by the product, service, price, distribution and behavior of the company in the public space. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the brand simultaneously functions in two planes: microeconomic (features of the offer, quality of performance, personnel competence, competitive intensity in the category) and macroeconomic (income and consumption dynamics, inflationary expectations, regulation, currency fluctuations, technological and socio-cultural shifts). On this basis, it is proven that an “internally” logical brand strategy without taking into account the external context quickly loses its effectiveness, and the key management task becomes the combination of the consumer logic of the brand with the economic constraints of the environment. The theoretical foundation of the study is formed by approaches to brand equity as a set of assets and liabilities associated with the brand (loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, associations and other proprietary assets), as well as the concept of consumer-oriented brand equity as the differential effect of brand knowledge on the consumer’s reaction to marketing. It is proposed to consider strategic brand management as an adaptive system and a cycle of decisions: diagnostics of the macrocontext, clarification of segments and value proposition, adjustment of brand “evidence” in the product/service, integration of communications, measurement of brand equity and correction. The article systematizes micro- and macroenvironmental factors and corresponding types of strategic decisions, and also presents a system of indicators for monitoring the sources of brand capital, its assets and market results (in particular, price premium, repeat purchases and category share). The practical value of the work lies in the formation of a management framework that allows preserving the brand identity, adapting tactical tools to changes in the external environment.