ABSTRACT
Brand management is increasingly recognized as a critical element when developing and launching a new product or service. There are three primary reasons for brand management's special status. As products transition through their life cycle stages, brands can provide a definite competitive advantage, provide a basis for an improved profit margin, solidify brand loyalty, and assist in developing other new products via brand extensions. Although brand name, brand mark, trade character, trademark, and trade dress have been previously mentioned, brand management is much more. The critical driver of perceived quality is product quality and service quality meeting the expectations that customers have based on what the company says it is going to deliver. Keller describes brand associations as one of the two essential components of a customer's brand knowledge, along with brand awareness. An analytical method useful in brand management is the brand-switching matrix.
