IB 370 - Brand Management

Branding as a powerful tool for creating lasting value for a company and its customers, the brand is one of a firm’s most important assets.  Brand plays a central role not only in defining a company’s market positioning but also in communicating its identity and differentiating it from competitors. To manage and leverage a brand’s force, companies must pursue, develop, and implement branding strategies that allow them to successfully highlight and mobilize their values, core competences, and marketing capabilities.   This course will provide an overview of brand management in a European context by exploring the key concepts and definitions of branding and by introducing students to branding strategies that foster growth and competitive advantage, even in fast-changing industries and markets. Real world cases and local field studies, as well as investigation of the lessons learned by the city of Vienna itself, will allow us to outline best practices, while hands-on assignments and workshops will help us put this knowledge into practice.