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Adapt the Master Brand to Silo Markets: Developing a Master Brand Strategy
by David AakerStandardizing the brand and supporting marketing programs across all silos of an organization facilitates consistency in look, feel, and message. In addition, the chances of creating synergistic marketing programs will be enhanced, and the organization will be more likely to rally around the brand promise. However, there are situations in which a standardized brand is not optimal or even feasible because it cannot deliver a winning position in a silo market. In that case, there needs to be a process to adapt a master brand so that it has traction in each silo market while maintaining consistency to its core values.
The CMO's First Ninety Days
by David AakerWhat should the CMO do during the first ninety days of a new or revitalized job? What should be the first-year agenda? The importance of getting off to a good start and avoiding a bad one is crucial for anyone undertaking a change agent role, even if the change has an extended time horizon. The early efforts should have two prongs: assessing the organization's capability to span silos, and creating an action plan.
Create Winning Marketing in a Silo World
by David AakerOrganizations need brilliant, break-out-of-the-clutter marketing programs directed at priority markets, especially in these days of media fragmentation. Great marketing is not only cost effective, but will bring silos together. The challenge is how to rise above good to superior in silo markets while creating synergy and leveraging the scope of the organization. This chapter looks at ways of making silos assets instead of hindrances in creating outstanding cross-silo marketing.
Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Persuades, Energizes and Inspires
by David AakerStories are orders of magnitude which are more effective than facts at achieving attention, persuading, being remembered, and inspiring involvement. Signature stories—intriguing, authentic, and involving narratives—apply the power of stories to communicate a strategic message. Marketing professionals, coping with the digital revolution and the need to have their strategic message heard internally and externally, are realizing that a digital strategy revolves around content and that content is stories.Creating Signature Stories shows organizations how to introduce storytelling into their strategic messaging, and guides organizations to find, or even create, signature stories and leverage them over time. With case studies built into every chapter, organizations will realize the power of storytelling to energize readers, gain visibility, persuade audiences, and inspire action.
Develop a Common Planning Process and Information System: CMO Strategies for Facilitating Silo Cooperation
by David AakerApparently sophisticated marketing firms often lack a common planning process across their silo units. In too many cases, the silo units are able to use their homegrown planning process, and the results are predictably uneven and ad hoc. What is optimal is to have both a planning process and a supporting information system that are the same across silos-and this is where the CMO comes in. This chapter describes some prototype silo planning processes and silo-spanning information systems that can serve as a model and point of departure for those attempting to develop or refine their own.
Find the Right Role and Scope: The CMO's New Job Description
by David AakerIn order to meet the challenge of reducing barriers to silo cooperation, the CMO must take on a new role in the organization. However, there are a variety of roles to choose from, from that of a facilitator to others that are more ambitious. The selection of the right role, which will vary over activities and over time, can be critical to CMO success or even survival. The determination of the country, product, and functional scope of the CMO team will balance and focus scale.
Gain Credibility and Buy-In: CMO Strategies for Facilitating Silo Cooperation
by David AakerCredibility is the key to CMO success at breaking down silo barriers and fostering cooperation and synergy. Without mutual respect, without an atmosphere where silos include or seek out the CMO's team, progress on cross-silo issues will be slow. This chapter introduces five routes to gaining credibility and buy-in for initiatives.
Introduction: The New CMO--Why?
by David AakerMost organizations are rightly proud of the decentralized structures that keep managers close to customers and markets, ahead of competitors, and accountable for results. However, relying on unfettered decentralized organizations with highly autonomous silo units is no longer competitively viable. The world has changed. There is too much at stake to allow silo interests to inhibit or prevent the effort toward achieving strong brands and effective marketing. This chapter outlines the specific problems or missed opportunities that are created or worsened by the silo structure and the new role that the CMO must play in conquering these problems.
Owning Game-Changing Subcategories: Uncommon Growth in the Digital Age
by David AakerOwning Game-Changing Subcategories is about creating organizational growth in the digital age by creating and owning game-changing subcategories fueled by digital.Owning Game-Changing Subcategories outlines the path to finding, managing, and leveraging new subcategories. In the digital age, the path has been made wider, shorter, and more frequently traveled. Throughout Owning Game-Changing Subcategories, David Aaker discusses certain aspects of the digital age that alter this path, such as E-commerce providing fast, inexpensive market access bypassing the cost of gaining distribution into storefront retailers or creating personal sales teams and social media and websites enabling communication on steroids in comparison with traditional use of advertising or events. Growth is not only a success measure but also creates energy and opportunity for customers and employees. And such growth almost never occurs with “my brand is better than your brand” marketing. Owning Game-Changing Subcategories explores the only ways to grow a business (with rare exceptions) which is to:develop new “must haves” that define a game-changing subcategory that provides a new or markedly superior buying or use experience or brand relationship to a core customer base;become the exemplar brand that represents the subcategory and drives its visibility, positioning, and success; and create barriers to competitors that could include “must-have” associations and a basis of relationships that go beyond functional benefits.
Prioritize Brands in the Portfolio: Developing a Brand Portfolio Strategy in a Silo Environment
by David AakerMost CMOs looking at their organizations see too many brands with too few priorities and too little leverage-a context that makes it difficult to create strong brands and effective marketing. Silos, particularly product silos, can significantly contribute to brand proliferation and the absence of an effective portfolio strategy. Developing a brand portfolio strategy in a silo environment involves making the decision to add or eliminate brands, assign roles and establish priorities, and determine how to leverage the strategic brands. This chapter introduces three frameworks that can help.
Use Teams and Other Routes to Silo Linking: CMO Strategies for Facilitating Silo Cooperation
by David AakerA major challenge of creating business strategy is to develop organizational structures that will help overcome the parochialism and power of silo groups. Organizational structures and processes need to be developed that will create silo linking, whereby people can enhance cross-silo information flow and develop and implement programs across silos. This chapter discusses a variety of devices available for firms to forward silo linking, including teams, informal and formal networks, matrix organizations, and centralized marketing groups.
Brand Portfolio Strategy: Creating Relevance, Differentiation, Energy, Leverage, and Clarity
by David A. AakerIn this long-awaited book from the world's premier brand expert and author of the seminal work Building Strong Brands, David Aaker shows managers how to construct a brand portfolio strategy that will support a company's business strategy and create relevance, differentiation, energy, leverage, and clarity. Building on case studies of world-class brands such as Dell, Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Dove, Intel, CitiGroup, and PowerBar, Aaker demonstrates how powerful, cohesive brand strategies have enabled managers to revitalize brands, support business growth, and create discipline in confused, bloated portfolios of master brands, subbrands, endorser brands, co-brands, and brand extensions. Aaker offers readers step-by-step advice on what to do when confronting scenarios such as the following: Brands are underleveraged The business strategy is at risk because of inadequate brand platforms The business faces a relevance threat caused by emerging subcategories The firm's brands are tired and bland Strategy is paralyzed by a lack of priority among the brands Brands are cluttered and confusing to both customers and employees The firm needs to move into the super-premium or value arenas to create margin or sales volume Margin pressures require points of differentiation Renowned brand guru Aaker demonstrates that assuring that each brand in the portfolio has a clear role and actively reinforces and supports the other portfolio brands will profoundly affect the firm's profitability. Brand Portfolio Strategy is required reading not only for brand managers but for all managers with bottom-line responsibility to their shareholders.
Brand Relevance
by David A. AakerBranding guru Aaker shows how to eliminate the competition and become the lead brand in your marketThis ground-breaking book defines the concept of brand relevance using dozens of case studies-Prius, Whole Foods, Westin, iPad and more-and explains how brand relevance drives market dynamics, which generates opportunities for your brand and threats for the competition. Aaker reveals how these companies have made other brands in their categories irrelevant. Key points: When managing a new category of product, treat it as if it were a brand; By failing to produce what customers want or losing momentum and visibility, your brand becomes irrelevant; and create barriers to competitors by supporting innovation at every level of the organization.Using dozens of case studies, shows how to create or dominate new categories or subcategories, making competitors irrelevantShows how to manage the new category or subcategory as if it were a brand and how to create barriers to competitorsDescribes the threat of becoming irrelevant by failing to make what customer are buying or losing energyDavid Aaker, the author of four brand books, has been called the father of brandingThis book offers insight for creating and/or owning a new business arena. Instead of being the best, the goal is to be the only brand around-making competitors irrelevant.
Building Strong Brands
by David A. AakerAs industries turn increasingly hostile, it is clear that strong brand-building skills are needed to survive and prosper. In David Aaker's pathbreaking book, Managing Brand Equity, managers discovered the value of a brand as a strategic asset and a company's primary source of competitive advantage. Now, in this compelling new work, Aaker uses real brand-building cases from Saturn, General Electric, Kodak, Healthy Choice, McDonald's, and others to demonstrate how strong brands have been created and managed.A common pitfall of brand strategists is to focus on brand attributes. Aaker shows how to break out of the box by considering emotional and self-expressive benefits and by introducing the brand-as-person, brand-as-organization, and brand-as-symbol perspectives. The twin concepts of brand identity (the brand image that brand strategists aspire to create or maintain) and brand position (that part of the brand identity that is to be actively communicated) play a key role in managing the "out-of-the-box" brand.A second pitfall is to ignore the fact that individual brands are part of a larger system consisting of many intertwined and overlapping brands and subbrands. Aaker shows how to manage the "brand system" to achieve clarity and synergy, to adapt to a changing environment, and to leverage brand assets into new markets and products.Aaker also addresses practical management issues, introducing a set of brand equity measures, termed the brand equity ten, to help those who measure and track brand equity across products and markets. He presents and analyzes brand-nurturing organizational forms that are responsive to the challenges of coordinated brands across markets, products, roles, and contexts. Potentially destructive organizational pressures to change a brand's identity and position are also discussed.As executives in a wide range of industries seek to prevent their products and services from becoming commodities, they are recommitting themselves to brands as a foundation of business strategy. This new work will be essential reading for the battle-ready.
Building Strong Brands: Advertising's Role In Building Strong Brands (Advertising And Consumer Psychology Ser.)
by David A. AakerAs industries turn increasingly hostile, it is clear that strong brand-building skills are needed to survive and prosper. In David Aaker's pathbreaking book, MANAGING BRAND EQUITY, managers discovered the value of a brand as a strategic asset and a company's primary source of competitive advantage. Now, in this compelling new work, Aaker uses real brand-building cases from Saturn, General Electric, Kodak, Healthy Choice, McDonald's, and others to demonstrate how strong brands have been created and managed. A common pitfall of brand strategists is to focus on brand attributes. Aaker shows how to break out of the box by considering emotional and self-expressive benefits and by introducing the brand-as-person, brand-as-organisation, and brand-as-symbol perspectives. A second pitfall is to ignore the fact that individual brands are part of a larger system consisting of many intertwined and overlapping brands and subbrands. Aaker shows how to manage the "brand system" to achieve clarity and synergy, to adapt to a changing environment, and to leverage brand assets into new markets and products. As executives in a wide range of industries seek to prevent their products and services from becoming commodities, they are recommitting themselves to brands as a foundation of business strategy. This new work will be essential reading for the battle-ready.
Building Strong Brands
by David A. AakerAs industries turn increasingly hostile, it is clear that strong brand-building skills are needed to survive and prosper. In David Aaker's pathbreaking book, Managing Brand Equity, managers discovered the value of a brand as a strategic asset and a company's primary source of competitive advantage. Now, in this compelling new work, Aaker uses real brand-building cases from Saturn, General Electric, Kodak, Healthy Choice, McDonald's, and others to demonstrate how strong brands have been created and managed. A common pitfall of brand strategists is to focus on brand attributes. Aaker shows how to break out of the box by considering emotional and self-expressive benefits and by introducing the brand-as-person, brand-as-organization, and brand-as-symbol perspectives. The twin concepts of brand identity (the brand image that brand strategists aspire to create or maintain) and brand position (that part of the brand identity that is to be actively communicated) play a key role in managing the "out-of-the-box" brand. A second pitfall is to ignore the fact that individual brands are part of a larger system consisting of many intertwined and overlapping brands and subbrands. Aaker shows how to manage the "brand system" to achieve clarity and synergy, to adapt to a changing environment, and to leverage brand assets into new markets and products. Aaker also addresses practical management issues, introducing a set of brand equity measures, termed the brand equity ten, to help those who measure and track brand equity across products and markets. He presents and analyzes brand-nurturing organizational forms that are responsive to the challenges of coordinated brands across markets, products, roles, and contexts. Potentially destructive organizational pressures to change a brand's identity and position are also discussed. As executives in a wide range of industries seek to prevent their products and services from becoming commodities, they are recommitting themselves to brands as a foundation of business strategy. This new work will be essential reading for the battle-ready.
Managing Brand Equity
by David A. AakerThe most important assets of any business are intangible: its company name, brands, symbols, and slogans, and their underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness, customer base, and proprietary resources such as patents, trademarks, and channel relationships. These assets, which comprise brand equity, are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings, contends David Aaker, a national authority on branding. Yet, research shows that managers cannot identify with confidence their brand associations, levels of consumer awareness, or degree of customer loyalty. Moreover in the last decade, managers desperate for short-term financial results have often unwittingly damaged their brands through price promotions and unwise brand extensions, causing irreversible deterioration of the value of the brand name. Although several companies, such as Canada Dry and Colgate-Palmolive, have recently created an equity management position to be guardian of the value of brand names, far too few managers, Aaker concludes, really understand the concept of brand equity and how it must be implemented. In a fascinating and insightful examination of the phenomenon of brand equity, Aaker provides a clear and well-defined structure of the relationship between a brand and its symbol and slogan, as well as each of the five underlying assets, which will clarify for managers exactly how brand equity does contribute value. The author opens each chapter with a historical analysis of either the success or failure of a particular company's attempt at building brand equity: the fascinating Ivory soap story; the transformation of Datsun to Nissan; the decline of Schlitz beer; the making of the Ford Taurus; and others. Finally, citing examples from many other companies, Aaker shows how to avoid the temptation to place short-term performance before the health of the brand and, instead, to manage brands strategically by creating, developing, and exploiting each of the five assets in turn
Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?
by David A. AakerWhen markets turn hostile, it's no surprise that managers are tempted to extend their brands vertically--that is, to take their brands into a seemingly attractive market above or below their current positions. And for companies chasing growth, the urge to move into booming premium or value segments also can be hard to resist. The draw is indeed strong; and in some instances, a vertical move is not merely justified but actually essential to survival--even for top brands, which have the advantages of economies of scale, brand equity, and retail clout. But beware: leveraging a brand to access upscale or downscale markets is more dangerous than it first appears. Before making a move, then, managers should ascertain whether the rewards will be worth the risks. In general, David Aaker recommends that managers avoid vertical extensions whenever possible. There is an inherent contradiction in the very concept because brand equity is built in large part on image and perceived worth, and a vertical move can easily distort those qualities. Still, certain situations demand vertical extensions, and Aaker examines both the winners and the losers in the game.
Spanning Silos
by David A. AakerPowerful product, country, and functional silos are jeopardizing companies' marketing efforts. Because of silos, firms misallocate resources, send inconsistent messages to the marketplace, and fail to leverage scale economies and successes--all of which can threaten a company's survival.As David Aaker shows in Spanning Silos, the unfettered decentralization that produces silos is no longer feasible in today's marketplace. It's up to chief marketing officers to break down silo walls to foster cooperation and synergy.This isn't easy: silo teams guard their autonomy vigorously. As proof of their power, consider the fact that the average CMO tenure is just twenty-three months. How to proceed? Drawing on interviews with CMOs, Aaker explains how to:Strength your credibility with silo teams and your CEOUse cross-functional teams and other strategic linking devicesFoster communication across silosSelect the right CMO role-- from facilitator to strategic captainDevelop common planning processesAdapt your brand strategy to silo unitsAllocate marketing dollars strategically across silosDevelop silo-spanning marketing programsIn this age of dynamic markets, new media, and globalization, getting the different parts of your organization to collaborate is more critical--and more difficult--than ever. This book gives you the road map you need to accomplish that feat.
Three Threats to Brand Relevance: Strategies That Work (J-B Short Format Series)
by David A. Aaker"Threats to brand relevance are always lurking around the corner. Your brand is virtually never immune from the risk of fading instead of being energized or being damaged instead of strengthened."—David Aaker From branding guru David Aaker comes Three Threats to Brand Relevance, a provocative new offering in the Jossey-Bass Short Format series. In Three Threats Aaker reveals that the key to an organization's sustained growth is to learn what it takes to bring "big" innovation to market and create barriers to competitors. Aaker also shows how well-established companies can avoid becoming irrelevant in the face of the continuing parade of marketing dynamics led by others. Building on his full-length book Brand Relevance, Aaker offers a guide for confronting the three threats if they emerge and shows how to put in place the strategies that will keep the threats at bay. Threat #1: A decline in category or subcategory relevance. Customers simply no longer want to buy what you are making, despite the fact you are offering a quality product and some customers love it. Threat #2: The loss of energy relevance. Without energy the brand simply does not come to mind as other more visible brands and a decline in energy can create a perception that it is locked in the past, suitable for an older generation. Threat #3: The emergence of a "reason-not-to-buy." The brand may have a perceived quality problem or be associated with a firm policy that is not acceptable. Whether your brand is just breaking into the marketplace or has a long held place in the hearts of its consumers, any forward-thinking company can implement Aaker's proven methods and strategies as part of their organization's ongoing review of brand strategy with the help of this succinct and to-the-point resource. About the Jossey-Bass Short Format Series Written by thought leaders and experts in their fields, pieces in the Jossey-Bass Short Format Series provide busy, on-the-go professionals, managers and leaders around the world with must-have, just-in-time information in a concise and actionable format.
Brand Equity & Advertising: Advertising's Role in Building Strong Brands (Advertising And Consumer Psychology Ser.)
by David A. Aaker Alexander L. BielThe tenth annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference held in San Francisco focused on branding -- a subject generating intense interest both in academia and in the "real world." The principle theory behind these conferences is that much can be gained by joining advertising and marketing professionals with academic researchers in advertising. Professionals can gain insight into the new theories, measurement tools and empirical findings that are emerging, while academics are stimulated by the insights and experience that professionals describe and the research questions that they pose. This book consists of papers delivered by experts from academia and industry discussing issues regarding the role of advertising in the establishment and maintenance of brand equity -- making this volume of interest to advertising and marketing specialists, as well as consumer and social psychologists.
Brand Leadership
by David A. Aaker Erich JoachimsthalerA dozen management fads have come and gone in the past decade, but brand equity, first explored by David Aaker in the late 1980s, has exploded in importance. Recognized byBrandweekas "the dean of the brand-equity movement," Aaker now prepares managers for the next level of the brand revolution -- brand leadership. For the first time, Aaker and coauthor Erich Joachimsthaler describe how the emerging paradigm of strategic brand leadership is replacing the classic, tactically oriented brand management system pioneered by Procter & Gamble. This fundamental shift involves nothing less than a revolution in organizational structure, systems, and culture -- as the authors demonstrate with hundreds of case studies from companies such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Virgin Airlines, Adidas, GE, Marriott, IBM, McDonald's, Maggi, and Swatch. This immensely readable book provides the brand management team with the capability to:Create and elaborate brand identities (what should the brand stand for)Use the brand relationship spectrum, a powerful tool to harness subbrands and endorsed brands to form brand architectures that create clarity, synergy and leveraged assetsIdentify the customer "sweet spot" and the driving idea that will move brand-building efforts beyond advertising to break out of the clutterUse the Internet and sponsorship to make brands resources work more effectivelyAddress the four imperatives of global brand managementLike David Aaker's two previous bestselling books,Brand Leadershipwill be essential reading for line executives and brand managers in market-driven firms worldwide.
Building Brands Without Mass Media
by David A. Aaker Erich JoachimsthalerCosts, market fragmentation, and new media channels that let customers bypass advertisements seem to be in league against the old ways of marketing. Relying on mass media campaigns to build strong brands may be a thing of the past. Several companies in Europe, making a virtue of necessity, have come up with alternative brand-building approaches and are blazing a trail in the post-mass-media age. In England, Nestle's Buitoni brand grew through programs that taught the English how to cook Italian food. The Body Shop garnered loyalty with its support of environmental and social causes. Cadbury funded a theme park tied to its history in the chocolate business. Haagen-Dazs opened posh ice-cream parlors and got itself featured by name on the menus of fine restaurants. Hugo Boss and Swatch backed athletic or cultural events that became associated with their brands.
Lure of Global Branding
by David A. Aaker Erich JoachimsthalerAs more and more companies begin to see the world as their market, brand builders look with envy upon those businesses that appear to have created global brands--brands whose positioning, advertising strategy, personality, look, and feel are in most respects the same from one country to another. Attracted by such high-profile examples of success, these companies want to globalize their own brands. But that's a risky path to follow, according to David Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler. Why? Because creating strong global brands takes global brand leadership. It can't be done simply by edict from on high. Specifically, companies must use organizational structures, processes, and cultures to allocate brand-building resources globally, to create global synergies, and to develop a global brand strategy that coordinates and leverages country brand strategies. Aaker and Joachimsthaler offer four prescriptions for companies seeking to achieve global brand leadership. First, companies must stimulate the sharing of insights and best practices across countries--a system in which "it won't work here" attitudes can be overcome. Second, companies should support a common global brand-planning process, one that is consistent across markets and products. Third, they should assign global managerial responsibility for brands in order to create cross-country synergies and to fight local bias. And fourth, they need to execute brilliant brand-building strategies. Before stampeding blindly toward global branding, companies need to think through the systems they have in place. Otherwise, any success they achieve is likely to be random--and that's a fail-safe recipe for mediocrity.
How Do You Grow a Premium Brand? (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
by David A. Aaker Regina Fazio Maruca Robert J. Dolan Mary Shelman Anita K. Hersh Peter H. Farquhar William CampbellGordon Johnston has taken his elite health-club concept from the germ of an idea to the pinnacle of success. But the most difficult decision in managing his company lies ahead. Gordon must figure out how to lead Transition fitness clubs into the next phase. In each of the 15 years since Transition's flagship club opened in New York City, its sales have doubled. The company boasts fitness trainers handpicked by Olympic medalists, health-conscious cuisine by in-house chefs, huge facilities in prime locations, and reciprocal memberships at other Transition clubs worldwide. But recently, the company's margins have been shrinking. An aging membership could mean problems for future expansion. And new, upscale competitors are challenging Transition's flat-rate pricing policy. Will Gordon have to run fast to stay in one place? Should he change Transition's pricing policy? In 95205 and 95205Z, William Campbell, Robert J. Dolan, Anita K. Hersh, Peter H. Farquhar, David Aaker, and Mary Shelman offer advice on this fictional case study.