What is the difference between brand identity and brand image?

Brand identity is how a company wants its brand to be perceived; brand image is how consumers actually perceive it.

How do points of parity and points of difference shape brand positioning?

Points of parity establish category credibility, while points of difference provide meaningful reasons for customers to choose the brand.

What is consumer-based brand equity versus financial brand equity?

Consumer-based brand equity reflects customer awareness, associations, and loyalty; financial brand equity reflects the brand’s economic value.

Free online course Brand Management Fundamentals and Strategy

Duration of the online course: 18 hours and 31 minutes

New

Build a stronger brand strategy and positioning skills with this free online course—learn brand equity, architecture, and pricing leverage, plus a certificate option.

In this free course, learn about

How consumer habits inform brand planning, segmentation, targeting and marketing decisions
Core differences between a product and a brand; five product levels and the role of identity
Brand management continuum foundations; purpose of branding; CBBE vs financial brand equity
How brand associations work: types, elicitation challenges, and components of brand experience
Brand iceberg: visible cues vs submerged values/skills; risks of misalignment between them
Aaker brand personality dimensions and how to derive a brand’s dominant personality from data
Brand identity vs brand image; how to define and evaluate brand positioning
Positioning approaches incl. abstract/aspirational (emotional) positioning beyond attributes
Points of Parity/Difference selection and deliverability; applying POP/POD matrices (e.g., Nike)
Brand repositioning with organizational impact; avoiding production orientation; brand manager system
Brand extension decisions: what to assess first and concepts like forward spillover effects
Brand architecture benefits; relationship spectrum; branded house vs endorsed/independent brands
How positioning enables price leverage; sustaining premium pricing; luxury/Veblen goods logic
Brand elements criteria (adaptability), semiotics (signifier/signified), and co-branding basics

About the free online course

Strong brands do more than look good. They shape how people choose, what they’re willing to pay, and whether they stay loyal over time. In this free online course in Business and Marketing, you’ll learn to think like a brand manager and develop the strategic lens needed to build, measure, and steer brands in today’s competitive digital landscape.

You’ll explore the practical difference between a product and a brand, and why understanding consumer habits is central to better planning and decision-making. From there, you’ll connect key ideas such as brand associations, brand experience, and brand personality to real management challenges: uncovering what customers truly believe, translating insights into a clear identity, and ensuring that what a brand shows on the surface matches the substance beneath it. This helps you avoid the common trap of focusing only on messaging while neglecting the values, capabilities, and delivery that make a promise credible.

As you progress, you’ll learn how brand identity, image, and positioning work together, and how to make sharper choices using tools like points of parity and points of difference. You’ll also see how repositioning can require more than a new tagline, often demanding organizational alignment and customer-focused thinking. The course then moves into growth decisions—brand extensions and spillover effects—alongside brand architecture and the ways companies structure portfolios, from branded house approaches to endorsement strategies.

Finally, you’ll link brand strategy to financial outcomes, including price leverage, luxury dynamics, and the distinction between consumer-based and financial brand equity. You’ll also touch on evaluating brand elements, the logic behind acquisition premiums, semiotics, and co-branding. With short exercises reinforcing the concepts, you’ll leave with a more confident, job-ready foundation for marketing, digital branding, and product or brand roles.

Course content

Video class: Lecture 01 23m
Video class: Lecture 02 31m
Exercise: How does understanding consumer habits help a brand manager improve business planning?
Video class: Lecture 03 32m
Exercise: Which option best captures the key difference between a product and a brand?
Video class: Lecture 04 22m
Exercise: In the five product levels framework, which level primarily operates at the level of identity (closer to brand) rather than only product features?

Video class: Lecture 05 27m
Exercise: In the brand management continuum, which element forms the foundation (bedrock) on which brands are built?
Video class: Lecture 06 26m
Exercise: Which option best distinguishes consumer-based brand equity from financial brand equity?
Video class: Lecture 07 24m
Exercise: According to key branding definitions, what is the main purpose of branding?
Video class: Lecture 08 30m
Exercise: Which set correctly lists the four main types of brand associations discussed?
Video class: Lecture 09 24m
Exercise: Which set best describes the key components that constitute brand experience?
Video class: Lecture 10 29m
Exercise: Which set of challenges most commonly arises when trying to elicit deeply held brand associations from consumers?

Video class: Lecture 11 24m
Exercise: In the brand iceberg concept, what does the visible part represent compared to the submerged part?
Video class: Lecture 12 30m
Exercise: In the brand iceberg concept, what is the main risk when a brand’s appearance does not match its underlying substance (values and skills)?
Video class: Lecture 13 25m
Exercise: According to Jennifer Aaker’s brand personality model, which set correctly lists the five brand personality dimensions?
Video class: Lecture 14 28m
Exercise: When applying the 5-dimension brand personality scale, how is a brand’s primary brand personality identified from survey data?
Video class: Lecture 15 30m
Exercise: Which statement best distinguishes brand identity from brand image?
Video class: Lecture 16 25m

Video class: Lecture 17 33m
Exercise: Which statement best defines brand positioning?
Video class: Lecture 18 23m
Exercise: Which brand positioning approach focuses on selling an abstract fantasy or promise rather than specific product attributes?
Video class: Lecture 19 30m
Exercise: When selecting Points of Parity (POP) and Points of Difference (POD), what does the deliverability criteria mainly evaluate?
Video class: Lecture 20 25m
Exercise: Which set correctly matches Nike’s emotional modifier, descriptive modifier, and brand function in the matrix used for POP/POD thinking?
Video class: Lecture 21 29m
Exercise: In a high organizational-impact brand repositioning (as illustrated by the AXA case), which action best represents the core change required?

Video class: Lecture 22 24m
Exercise: Which criticism best captures why brand managers may become "production oriented" rather than customer oriented?
Video class: Lecture 23 30m
Exercise: Which statement best describes a brand manager system?
Video class: Lecture 24 23m
Exercise: In the modern (fourth) phase of the brand manager system, how is brand management work typically organized inside companies?

Video class: Lecture 25 34m
Exercise: What should a brand manager assess first before deciding to extend a mature brand into another product line or category?
Video class: Lecture 26 22m
Exercise: What does the concept of forward spillover refer to in brand extensions?
Video class: Lecture 27 30m
Exercise: Which option best defines brand architecture?
Video class: Lecture 28 26m
Exercise: What is a key benefit of having a coherent brand architecture for a firm?
Video class: Lecture 29 30m
Exercise: In the brand relationship spectrum, which option best describes a situation where a powerful parent brand supports an independent brand to add credibility (e.g., Polo Jeans by Ralph Lauren)?
Video class: Lecture 30 24m
Exercise: In a branded house strategy, what role does the master brand typically play in driving the offering?

Video class: Lecture 31 30m
Exercise: How can strong brand positioning affect the relationship between a product’s cost and its price?
Video class: Lecture 32 25m
Exercise: Which action best enables a brand to sustain upward price leverage over time?
Video class: Lecture 33 32m
Video class: Lecture 34 23m
Exercise: Which statement best describes a Veblen good in the context of luxury brand strategy?
Video class: Lecture 35 33m
Exercise: In brand management, what best describes the difference between marketing brand equity and financial brand equity?
Video class: Lecture 36 21m
Exercise: What does the criterion of adaptability imply when evaluating brand elements?

Video class: Lecture 37 33m
Exercise: Which statement best describes financial brand equity?
Video class: Lecture 38 24m
Exercise: In an acquisition, why might a firm pay a very high price beyond the value of factories, land, and offices?
Video class: Lecture 39 28m
Exercise: In semiotics applied to brand management, what best describes the difference between a signifier and a signified?
Video class: Lecture 40 28m
Exercise: Which option best defines co-branding in brand management?