Introduction

Brand Managers form a very important part in the marketing of any products or services. The managers have the responsibility to create an awareness among the customers and properly target the correct market for the brand products. The main focus is towards the creation of brand awareness and loyalty towards the brand. This will happen only if the brand manager correctly positions the product in the market. The end result of a successful product launch and positioning is customer loyalty (Aitchison, 2012). The customer loyalty is perceived to be the most import part in any organization. All the organizations try to acquire more and more customers, service them with the best quality and try to retain them. The 21^st century has come up with many facilities which enables the brand managers to connect with the outer world more easily. While the technological advances is a boon for all the brand managers, in the meantime it is also creating fierce competition in the market.

Opportunities available in 21^st Century

There are a plethora of opportunities available at the market to be used by brand managers to promote the brands they target to establish. For our brand SleepMoo also, the brand Manager has many things in mind for the promotion of the brand. Some of them are as follows:

Social Media

The advent of Social Media has acted as a boon for all the managers in the market. They are using it for the promotion of the brands. The brand manager of SleepMoo will also use the numerous social media websites like Facebook, Twitter to promote the brand in the crowd. The brand will focus towards making the target customers aware about the benefits of SleepMoo and the fact that it has no side effects (Baglety, 2015). The promotions will be done along with small spot quizzes which will attract the social media visitors. These quizzes will create more awareness about the brand. The winner of the quizzes will be given one complimentary SleepMoo carton. The brand manager also has in mind to generate a sense of will to purchase SleepMoo. This is highly anticipated as many customers today are sleep deprived and can pay a bit to get a relaxed sleep.

Web Forums

There are many web forums available on the internet where the customer interact with the brand managers and leaders to know about the products and services being offered by any organization. The forums provide a direct space for the customers and the brands to come together. The customers can get their query cleared about the brand and can get to try the product (Berthon, 2012). The SleepMoo brand manager also features in such forums and addresses the issue related to SleepMoo. The customers generally have the query related to the side effects of SleepMoo. Our brand manager focuses on the benefits of the brand product and helps the customers to know that there is no side effect of the product. This encourages the customers to try out the product. The parents who want a better sleep for their small children comes to us and get all the details so as to give their child a peaceful and healthy sleep.

Organized Campaigns at Events and Shopping Malls

Yet other opportunities provided by the 21^st century are the ways to conduct organized campaigns at various physical or virtual events and different shopping malls. The brand managers can focus towards conducting several events online so that they can reach to millions of customers at one go. Also, the events can be organized at various shopping malls where the footfall is high. These benefits are also being used by the brand manager of SleepMoo. He tries to conduct various events online and carry out certain interactive sessions with the visitors (Cunningham, 2013). The manager also reached out to the mass with the help of conducting events at various shopping malls. The viewers are provided with complimentary SleepMoo cartons to try out at home. These are the moves towards attracting customers and gaining their trust. These are successful most of the time.

Challenges faced by Brand Managers in the 21^st century

Along with the opportunities being received by the brand managers in the 21^st century, there are many challenges as well. The managers need to take care of these as well for successful brand launch and promotions. Some of the challenges that the brand manager of SleepMoo faces in this 21^st century is as follows:

Budget Allocation

The Budget allocation has become extremely difficult in the 21^st century. The estimation of the budget for certain promotional activities tends to be very important and the decision-making process brings nightmares to the brand managers (Hargroves, 2013). The task of the brand manager becomes difficult because of the presence of a plethora of media streams where the promotions can be done. What to choose between the online options, billboards, hoardings, radio etc. is a very difficult question. The brand manager of SleepMoo also faces these issues and try to resolve this step by step. He gives priority to the target market and based on the target market he drives the events. In the similar fashion, the budget is organized to successfully carry out the promotions.

Differentiation

Another challenge that brand managers faces in this 21^st century is to find the way to differentiate their products in the market while advertising the products. There are many products which provide print ads and commercials in the televisions and radio. To get into the vision of the customer, there needs to be some differentiation in the advertisements so as to catch the attraction of the viewers (Hoejmose, 2012). The brand manager has the responsibility to differentiate SleepMoo among other alternatives like Radox, Horlicks etc. The differentiation comes at SleepMoo with the fact that it does not have any side effects and it adds to the value of SleepMoo.

Positioning

Yet another challenge in the 21^st century for brand managers is to successfully position the product in the market. The target market selected by the brand manager of SleepMoo needs to be provided with all the demands and have to satisfy. The satisfaction of the consumers can be received once the product is positioned well within the target market (Keller, 2011). The positioning is a very difficult task and the managers need to be very cautious towards the promotion of their brands. This type of positioning will help SleepMoo to focus towards their vision and overcome all the challenges to achieve success in the market.

Conclusion

It has been seen in the above sections that the advancement and technology in the 21^st century have provided lots of opportunities for the brand managers to market their products and create an image of their brand in the market. The 21^st century has come up with many facilities which enables the brand managers to connect with the outer world more easily (Kelley, 2015). While the technological advances is a boon for all the brand managers, in the meantime it is also creating fierce competition in the market. For our brand SleepMoo also, the brand Manager has many things in mind for the promotion of the brand. Along with the opportunities being received by the brand managers in the 21^st century, there are many challenges as well. The manager of SleepMoo needs to take care of these as well for successful brand launch and promotions.

References

Aitchison, J., 2012. Cutting edge advertising: how to create the world’s best print for brands in the 21st century. FT Press.

Bagley, C.E., 2015. Managers and the legal environment: Strategies for the 21st century. Cengage Learning.

Berthon, P., Holbrook, M.B. and Hulbert, J.M., 2012. Understanding and managing the brand space. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44.

Cunningham, P. and Fröschl, F., 2013. Electronic business revolution: opportunities and challenges in the 21st century. Springer Science & Business Media.

Hargroves, K., Smith, M.H. and Smith, M.H., 2013. The natural advantage of nations: business opportunities, innovation and governance in the 21st century. Earthscan.

Hoejmose, S.U. and Adrien-Kirby, A.J., 2012. Socially and environmentally responsible procurement: A literature review and future research agenda of a managerial issue in the 21st century. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 18(4), pp.232-242.

Keller, K.L., Parameswaran, M.G. and Jacob, I., 2011. Strategic brand management: Building, measuring, and managing brand equity. Pearson Education India.

Kapferer, J.N., 2012. The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking. Kogan page publishers.

Keller, K., 2013. Strategic Brand Management: Global Edition. Pearson Higher Ed.

Kelley, L., Sheehan, K. and Jugenheimer, D.W., 2015. Advertising media planning: a brand management approach. Routledge.

Roper, S. and Fill, C., 2012. Corporate Reputation, Brand and Communication. Pearson Higher Ed.

Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Percy, L. and Pervan, S., 2011. Strategic brand management. Oxford University Press.