Abstract
Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. Brands are the wealth generators of the twentieth century. Earlier the firms were differentiated on the basis of wealth-producing assets like factories. In the new era of a globalised marketplace, brands are key drivers of economic values of a corporation. When products are not differentiated in the factories, they are differentiated in consumers’ minds. The twentieth century witnessed dramatic changes in the concept and process of value, and value creation through market forces debilitated the products and assets that firms once banked upon to create wealth. As the product transcends its traditional role of satisfier, brands and branding acquire a dominant role in re-defining marketplace performance. A products’ superiority is no longer the sole driver of business performance since high quality products are all-pervasive, generic entities and a powerful brand can transform products into value powerhouses that command customer preference, loyalty and commitment. Effective branding gives a firm immunity from the parity spiral that can suck companies into ruinous pricing wars.
This book contains 11 relishing chapters. All these chapters provide a basic foundation of all the brand building and management aspects. The first chapter contains the basics of what strong brands are by including one of the most cited examples of brand ‘Kodak’. It further illustrates the concept of brand equity and how it creates values for the firms and its customers. The four different asset categories which are components of brand equity are also analysed in detail. The chapter dwells on various challenges that a firm faces in building a strong brand. The second chapter illustrates all the concepts and theoretical framework discussed in the previous chapter by taking one of the most strong and relevant brands, ‘Saturn’ by General Motors (GM). This chapter tries to explain each aspect of a strong brand with the practical scenario of the Saturn. It also focuses on the various strategies used by the GM for creating a distinct image of the brand as well as the manufacturer in the minds of the customers. The highlight of the third chapter is the concept of brand identity and its significance. The four different perspectives of brand identity are dissected in detail. This chapter identifies four traps that represent approaches to creating an identity that are excessively limiting or tactical and that can lead to ineffective and often dysfunctional brand strategies. After these traps have been analysed, a broader identity concept has been developed, its scope and structure and the value proposition and credibility that flows from it are examined. The fourth chapter broadens the concept of building brand identity from the products and services offered by the organisation. The basic premise is that it takes an organisation with a particular set of values, culture, people, programmes and assets/skills to deliver a product or service. These organisational characteristics can provide a basis of differentiation, a value proposition and a customer relationship. This chapter provides a framework as to how organisational association provides value to the organisation and its customers. An organisation is usually more enduring, complex and permanent than a particular product line. A perception of an organisation is therefore more difficult for competitors to combat than specific brand attributes, which can be easily surpassed. Thus, organisational associations can be a major source of a firm’s sustainable advantage. The fifth chapter is devoted to the brand personality concept and how it is created. It also explores how a brand personality of a particular brand is evaluated. It analyses the sustainable advantages provided by the brand personality. It can provide a vehicle for customers to express their own identity. Self-expression is more vivid when the brand has a strong personality. The brand personality metaphor helps suggest the kind of relationship that customers have with the brand, a model that is modelled after person-to-person relationships and which often serves as a sustainable point of differentiation. Those without personalities are usually vulnerable, exposed to attacks like a stationary fortress. The sixth chapter stresses on brand position as a part of the brand identity and value proposition that is to be actively communicated to the target audience and that demonstrates an advantage over competing brands. The four salient characteristics of a brand position are reflected by the phrases ‘part’, ‘target audience’, ‘actively communicated’ and ‘demonstrates advantage’. It further states that the strategic brand analysis is required for the successful brand identity implementation. The brand strategy needs to be viewed from three perspectives: a customer analysis, a competitor analysis and a self-analysis. The objective of a brand strategy, after all, is to create a business that resonates with customers, that avoids competitive strengths and neutralises its weaknesses. To create such a business, it is necessary to understand the viewpoints represented in these three analyses. It further explains how brand identity and position creates value. The seventh chapter brings out the various brand strategies which are adopted by global giants like General Electric, Smirnoff, etc., which are quite successful. It also addresses the key issues in managing brands over time which is the decision to change an identity, position or execution. Changing any one of these can be expensive and potentially damaging. An identity change is more fundamental but a change in position and execution can be disruptive as well. The five principal rationales for change in identity, position or execution of a brand are analysed in details. It also provides a framework which identifies resisting pressures or forces above and beyond the five rationale principals to change identities, positions and executions of a brand. One set of forces relates to psychological factors that influence manager’s decisions regarding brands and the second involves strategic misconceptions or false assumptions about existing brand identity/execution. The eighth chapter deals with managing the brand system. Nowadays companies often find themselves struggling to manage a number of different brand identities in several different situations and for a variety of audiences. Seeing a set of brand systems helps to create an effective and efficient branding strategy. Brands do not exist in isolation but rather relate to other brands in the system. An important role of a brand is to help support other brands in the system and to avoid creating confusion or using an inconsistent identity. The idea is to create synergy and clarity and to avoid conflicting messages. The ninth chapter succinctly brings out the ways to leverage the brand. Four different ways are identified for leveraging the brand: line extension in existing product class, stretching the brand vertically in the existing product class, brand extensions in different product classes and co-branding. The chapter also indulges in a brand system audit which relies on different parameters like strategic brands, endorser brands, branded benefits, silver bullets, range brands, co-brands, extension options, vertical extensions, clarifying with sub-brands and how many brands for conducting the brand audit. The tenth chapter provides an in-depth understanding of brand equity which provides insights as to how to build strong brands and track their strength over time. Three efforts to measure brand strength across product categories are discussed explicitly in this chapter. The focus is given on measures that are employed and their rationale and the substantive insights and hypotheses that emerge from the measurement efforts. The brand equity measurement across categories has practical utility for firms operating in several product arenas, but it also provides insights and starting point to develop a brand-specific tracking system. Last but not the least, the eleventh chapter, throws light on brand-building imperatives. This chapter discusses the organisational imperatives facing brand strategists, how the organisation can adapt to address these imperatives and the role of the advertising agency in the process.
The book will be of immense help to brand strategists who focus on brand attributes, for every marketing people and researchers who are conducting researches in the field of brand management. This book contains real brand building cases from the Body Shop, Kodak, Harley-Davidson, Smirnoff, McDonald’s, and others to demonstrate how strong brands have been created and managed. Aaker presents a thorough but easy-to-read exploration of the many branding complexities. Giving the reader a framework of inter-related concepts, he gels the essence of each point with useful and relevant examples. The readers immediately understand the idea and move comfortably on to the next; quite an accomplishment for such a complex subject. The book contains eye-catching photographs which bring alive a few momentous cases in brand-building history. Aaker discusses how a brand can be managed as a strategic asset and a source of competitive advantages. The path-breaking discovery of this book is the introduction of four different perspectives of a brand: brand-as-person, brand-as-organisation, brand-as-product and brand-as-symbol. This book is an excellent in-depth approach to the many facets of brand development. However, it sometimes tends to go into extensive detail about the slight differences in concepts and definitions, and it is written in a generally dry, academic style. But the book offers excellent basic principles that everyone related to marketing can apply to improve the brand. This book is highly recommended for every academician and everyone related to the branding process.