Luxury Brand Management

Question

Hello all,

I'm a noob here and this is my first post. I'm an Indian female in my 20's and working in the Computer Networking field for one of the largest Internet companies. It may sound weird but I already have my MS in computer networks and now I feel this is not what I wanted to do. I like what I do but it's definitely not my passion. So, now I'm looking into a new carrier, Brand Management (to be precise luxury BM). I'm very passionate about clothing ,cosmetics and fashion goods. My long term goal is to own clothing/fashion stores.
My questions to the members here are:

1) Do we have members here who have an MBA in BM or luxury BM? Can you share you experience as a B Manager or LB Manager?

2) What would be better for me BM or luxury BM? I know L BM is a subset of BM but want to hear the pros and cons of both form the members.

3) What are the job opportunities after an MBA in Luxury BM? What is the average sal?

4) Schools which offer part time and full time MBA in BM and LBM? I reaserached on ESSEC (France), FIT (NY), and Chicago Booth but would love to hear if there are any other schools with a strong program in BM or LBM.

Any input is highly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Jerz · Answer

Let me see if I can help:

1) I don't think there's a specific concentration in brand management at most MBA programs. People who go into brand management would probably have a concentration in marketing (possibly mixed with other concentrations).

2) Nobody except you could really say which is better for you. From a job responsibility perspective, luxury brand management is not going to be very different than any other consumer product. The methods you use to market Louis Vuitton handbags will be different than what you'd use to market tissues, but at the end of the day the job of any brand manager is to grow the brand, and the main responsibilities of a brand manager are essentially to develop a strategy on how to grow the brand (including understanding consumer preferences, competitors, etc.) Then being the coordinator of all the internal and external groups (operations, finance, market research, advertising agencies, etc.) to pull off that strategy. Usually, once people decide they want to be a brand manager, they pick an industry based on personal interests. If you're most passionate about luxury goods, then luxury brand management is probably best for you.

3) Same as any other brand management career path. Generally, you'd start as an assistant brand manager, supporting the brand manager for a specific brand or sub-brand and learning the ropes. After a few years you'd be promoted to have personal responsibility for a brand (or potentially a sub-brand of a large brand). A few more years and you'd be responsible for a portfolio of brands, then a larger portfolio or geography, etc. Plus, at a lot of consumer focused companies, top management usually comes from the marketing side of the business. In terms of salaries, that is somewhat affected by which school you attend and which company you're working for, but in general people going into brand management have salaries right around the average post-MBA salary. So for a top school, you would expect the avg. post-MBA brand management salary to be $95,000-$100,000. The Vault guide for marketing careers would be very helpful to help you better understand what brand management jobs are like.

4) I would humbly submit that when it comes to marketing or brand management, Kellogg is the gold standard. Duke (Fuqua) also has a very strong marketing program. That said, any highly ranked MBA program is a pretty good starting point for a brand management career. You should take a look at the different programs' career stats and see how much of the students go into marketing post-MBA, and most MBA rankings also include rankings by academic area so you can see which schools are most highly regarded for marketing. The latest US News MBA specialty rankings for marketing are:

1. Kellogg
2. Wharton
3. Duke (Fuqua)
4. Stanford
5. HBS
6 (tie). Columbia
6 (tie). Chicago (Booth)
8. Michigan (Ross)
9. Berkeley (Haas)
10. UCLA (Anderson)

Hope this helps.

coaks · Answer

Good advice. I might add the following links for you to consider as well, brandmgmt: https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/full ... _id=101931 https://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/full ... _id=100675

brandmgmt · Answer

Thanks a lot for your inputs.

shadow · Answer

i believe columbia also works in luxury brand management into their curriculum, particularly their master classes. i think one of the master classes essentially makes you a consultant to a luxury retailer for a semester, which in addition to being great hands on work will also allow you to meet a lot of key upper management and executives.

stern is another good bet, and it makes sense since there are so many luxury retailers with operations in new york city

stern is another good bet, and it makes sense since there are so many luxury retailers with operations in new york city

krussell · Answer

UofT has a brand management major.

Raabend · Answer

Cornell has a brand management immersion. This year there were about 30 students in it and it had 100% internship placement with most going into brand management. It is mostly CPG focused (as most schools will be).

Luxury Brand Management

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