Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016 / Many organisations consider their brands strategic assets and want to manage them accordingly. The adoption of a corporate brand strategy is one way in which organisations show their commitment to being a brand-focused business. Organisations do however often find it difficult to translate the theory on corporate branding into practice. There are a number of reasons for this; in essence, brands are not always created equally due to the fact that organisations often inherit brands through mergers and acquisitions, each bringing with them a different degree of equity and strength to the brand portfolio. Aligning and strategically managing the brands in the portfolio is the end goal, but before that can happen, a good understanding of what each brand contributes to the brand portfolio and how best each brand can be leveraged to ultimately support the growth of the corporate brand is required. This is followed by identifying who is responsible for managing the changes in the portfolio and communicating them to the stakeholders. The research explored the above process and entailed conducting a literature review on the evaluation and analysis of corporate branding and corporate brand management and the basis on which brand decisions are made and the scope of their influence. This was followed up by in-depth interviews with ten purposefully selected, information-rich participants within Tsogo Sun, a pre-selected organisation that comprises a multi-brand portfolio, with the aim of gaining information on their understanding of corporate branding and corporate brand management in practice. iii Following the interrogation of the data, it was confirmed that corporate branding in practice cannot always follow the strict approaches proposed by the theory, resulting in a gap between the literature and the practical solution required in order to be suitable for organisational implementation. The result of the research proposes a framework that aims to address this gap with the intent that the application thereof would make decision-making pertaining to branding easier and keep branding on a strategic level within an organisation. / DM2016

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The purpose of this study is to investigate why and when corporate brands in the retail environment rejuvenate, with the aim to determine the key components that plays a role in the corporate brand rejuvenation process. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the impact that the brand rejuvenation has on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity model (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association). The study used Woolworths as a case study and is divided into three sections. The first section aims to study the principles and concepts of corporate brand rejuvenation. Secondly, the study aims to investigate the process of brand rejuvenation in Woolworths. The last section will investigate the impact that brand rejuvenation has on the four components of Aaker’s brand equity model (brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association). A qualitative research design was selected with a single case study at Woolworths South Africa. The case study examines the thought process of the decision makers during the brand rejuvenation process and the effect that the business model had on the corporate brand rejuvenation. The study also aims to investigate if the life cycle of the brand plays a vital role in the rejuvenation process of the corporate brand. The study will go into more depth on the effect that the world recession had on the corporate brand rejuvenation process and determine whether the corporate brand rejuvenation had a positive effect on the bottom line of the business. The study found that Woolworths mostly went against the principles and theory of corporate brand rejuvenation, yet the organisation still showed good growth after the brand rejuvenation process. Furthermore, even though Woolworths did not use theory as a guideline for brand rejuvenation, the strategic decisions made within the business model had a very positive effect on the bottom line of the business. It is clear from this study that the brand strategy needs to be aligned with the business strategy. The principles of brand rejuvenation will differ from industry to industry and therefore it is recommended that theory needs to be written on corporate brand rejuvenation, specifically for the retail environment. The processes and principles of brand rejuvenation that work for a service brand such as a bank, will not necessarily work for a retail brand. The study suggests that organisations that decide to rejuvenate brands should have a strong and integrated brand strategy that is aligned with the business model of the organisation.

The internet is a major communication channel for universities. It makes sense to insure that a Web presence of a university is representative of the university's brand and is consistent throughout all Web sites within the university. This project researches and develops Web design tools that can provice standarized resources to Web designers, specifically for California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB).

The brand architecture of an organisation has become increasingly important to global management and marketing professionals, as it deals with structures and designs of brands which are constantly influenced by a changing environment. The market realities and changes brands face continuously impact the reputation of the brand, which is critical to sustain competitive advantage. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the impact brand reputation has on brand architecture strategies, and an automotive company was chosen as the focus of the research. This research aims to help managers, marketers and brand owners make informative decisions regarding the brand architecture of a company. A quantitative content analysis methodology was used along with a webpage keyword counting application (WebWords). The application was used based on the principles outlined by Corporate Brand and Reputation Analysis (COBRA), which uses a four step progressive filtering process in filtering traditional and consumer generated media. The results from WebWords were then aligned to the brand architecture strategies from the brand relationship spectrum (BRS) to gain insight as to which of the strategies from the BRS were most vulnerable to reputational damage. The study found that the branded house and sub-brand strategies were most vulnerable to reputational damage based on the number reputational hits received. The connection between the master brand and the sub-brands could cause both brands to be affected should any reputational issues arise.