Media brands and the advertising market: Exploring the potential of branding in media organizations' B2B relationships

Abstract

Because of the changes in the media industry over the last years, brand management has become a key issue. Media brands fulfill important functions to compensate media product characteristics, one of those being the need to address the audience as well as the advertising market. Accordingly, branding strategies have to be developed from the brand identity for both groups of customers while being considerate about the match of the evolving images. This approach offers benefits not only in the audience market, but to media companies and advertisers alike. Through laying emphasis on a brand's exceptional contents, audiences and services, media companies can build up brand equity and differentiate themselves from competitors. Advertisers on the other hand profit from media brand activation and context leading to involvement of a distinct target group with the advertisement. Associations with the media brand are transferred to the commercial message, making it more credible and effective.