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Introduction:

WHY THIS BOOK?

What is a brand? Far more than a name and logo, it is an organization’s promise to a customer to deliver what the brand stands for not only in terms of functional benefits but also emotional, self-expressive, and social benefits. But a brand is more than delivering on a promise. It is also a journey, an evolving relationship based on the perceptions and experiences that a customer has every time he or she connects to the brand.

Brands are powerful. They serve as the core of a customer relationship, a platform for strategic options, and a force that affects financials, including stock return. Consider the most compelling brands and their brand “essences.” Google is associated with competence and dominance in search engines and more, Harley-Davidson with emotional and self-expressive benefits, IBM with competent solutions-oriented computer services, Singapore Airlines with special service, Mercedes for those who appreciate the best, American Express with incredible customer satisfaction and ability to connect through digital programs, and Patagonia with sustainability. The strength of these brands has led to customer loyalty, business success, resilience despite product problems, and the basis for moving into new products or markets.

Additionally, brands and brand strategy are simply fun and interesting. Many a time has a CEO allocated half an hour to a brand strategy session and end up staying for hours affirming on their way out that the session was the most fun time working in months. It is fascinating to know what brand positions succeed, what brand-building programs get traction, how a brand is successfully leveraged into new markets, and so on. The creativity and diversity in brand strategy can be an endless source of conversation.

One objective of this book is to provide an extremely compact presentation of several dozen of the most useful branding concepts and practices organized into the “20” essential principles of branding. These principles provide a broad understanding of brands, brand strategy, brand portfolios, and brand building that all business, marketing, and brand strategists should know. This exposition of branding principles should be useful for those who would like a refresh as well as for those who lack a background in branding and would like to get up to speed quickly.

A second objective is to provide a roadmap to the creation, enhancement, and leverage of strong brands. What are the steps needed to create strong brands? What are the options along the way? How does a strategist move a brand or brand family to the next level to become a source of strength rather than a strategy drag? Whatever the business, it is crucial to understand how to establish a brand vision (also termed brand identity), implement that vision, keep a brand strong in the face of aggressive competitors and dynamic markets, leverage the resulting brand strength, and effectively manage the brand portfolio so it delivers synergy, clarity, and leverage.

Branding is complex and idiosyncratic. Every context is different. In short, all twenty principles will not apply in every setting, but will provide a check list of strategies, perspectives, tools, and concepts that represent not only what you should know, but also various action options to consider. These principles will enhance the objective of creating and maintaining strong, enduring brands and coherent brand families that will support business strategies going forward.

The twenty principles describe concepts and practices drawn in part from my last eight books. Six of these books are on branding—Managing Brand Equity, Building Strong Brands, Brand Leadership (with Erich Joachimsthaler), Brand Portfolio Strategy, Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant, and Three Threats to Brand Relevance. The other two, Spanning Silos and Strategic Market Management 10th edition, cover closely related areas. The principles also draw on my other writings; in particular, the weekly davidaaker.com blog initiated in the fall of 2010, my blog posts on HBR.org, my columns in the AMA’s Marketing News and in Germany’s absatzwirtschaft, and in articles in the California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Brand Strategy, Market Leader, and elsewhere.

The book is designed to consolidate the larger literature of the branding field and to efficiently teach or review the best branding practices. At more than 2,300 pages, my eight books alone are a bit overwhelming. Add to that the dozens of other brand books on the shelves and the several journals devoted to branding and you’re in for some serious information overload. It is hard to know what to read and which concepts to adapt. As with anything, a lot of good ideas are out there competing with some that are inferior, need updating, or are subject to misinterpretation or misapplication. There are also ideas that, while plausible, are simply wrong (if not dangerous) especially if taken literally.

The chapters in this book do not have to be read in order, although the first two are worth reviewing first as they are so basic to the concept of strategic branding. After that, you might flip through the remaining chapters and identify those that relate to current pain points. Or look for chapters that intrigue or seem provocative and may be a possible source of new perspectives.

Here is how I divided the book thematically:

Part 1: Recognize that brands are assets with strategic value. The breakthrough idea that changed marketing over two decades ago is that brands are strategic assets. Brands are platforms for future success and create ongoing value for the organization. Thus, brand building is strategic, very different than tactical efforts to stimulate sales

Part 2. Have a compelling brand vision that guides and inspires. A brand vision should attempt to go beyond functional benefits to consider organizational values; a higher purpose; brand personality; and emotional, social, and self-expressive benefits. Look for opportunities to create and own innovations that customers “must have” and to position categories and subcategories as well as brands.

Part 3. Bring the brand vision to life. Create initiatives and brand-building programs that support the brand. Look to customer sweet spots—areas customers are interested if not passionate about—and develop programs around them with the brand as partner. Let digital programs lead or amplify. Strive for brand vision and brand execution consistency over time. Develop rich, strong internal branding connected to the values and culture of the organization in part through stories.

Part 4. Maintain relevance. Recognize and respond to the three threats to relevance and learn how to energize the brand.

Part 5: Manage and leverage the brand portfolio. Create a strategy that identifies brand roles (such as strategic brands or endorser brands), leverage the brand into new product arenas, analyze the risks and options of vertical brand extensions, and manage silo organizational units, where the brand spans products and countries.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A brand will benefit if it can develop an actionable higher purpose. This book, like my other brand books, also has a higher purpose. It is intended to advance the theory of branding and the practice of brand management and, by extension, the practice of business and organizational management. The purpose is to give marketing strategists a counter weight to the dominance of short-term financials in managing businesses. There should be a drive to build strategic brand assets that will provide the platforms for future success. This book will hopefully provide a role in that quest.