This book deals with brands—why they are important, what they represent to consumers, and what firms should do to manage them properly. As many business executives correctly recognize, perhaps one of the most valuable assets a firm has are the brands it has invested in and developed over time. Although competitors can often duplicate manufacturing processes and factory designs, it’s not so easy to reproduce strongly held beliefs and attitudes established in the minds of consumers. The difficulty and expense of introducing new products, however, puts more pressure than ever on firms to skillfully launch their new products as well as manage their existing brands.

Although brands may represent invaluable intangible assets, creating and nurturing a strong brand poses considerable challenges. Fortunately, the concept of brand equity—the main focus of this book—can provide marketers with valuable perspective and a common denominator to interpret the potential effects and trade-offs of various strategies and tactics for their brands. Think of brand equity as the marketing effects uniquely attributable to the brand. In a practical sense, brand equity is the added value a product accrues as a result of past investments in the marketing activity for the brand. It’s the bridge between what happened to the brand in the past and what should happen to it in the future.

The chief purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of the subjects of brands, brand equity, and strategic brand management—the design and implementation of marketing programs and activities to build, measure, and manage brand equity. One of the book’s important goals is to provide managers with concepts and techniques to improve the long-term profitability of their brand strategies. We’ll incorporate current thinking and developments on these topics from both academics and industry participants, and combine a comprehensive theoretical foundation with enough practical insights to assist managers in their day-to-day and long-term brand decisions. And we’ll draw on illustrative examples and case studies of brands marketed in the United States and all over the world.

Specifically, we’ll provide insights into how to create profitable brand strategies by building, measuring, and managing brand equity. We address three important questions:

1. How can we create brand equity?

2. How can we measure brand equity?

3. How can we sustain brand equity to expand business opportunities?

Readers will learn:

• The role of brands, the concept of brand equity, and the advantages of creating strong brands

• The three main ways to build brand equity by properly choosing brand elements, designing marketing programs and activities, and leveraging secondary associations

• Different approaches to measuring brand equity, and how to implement a brand equity measurement system

• Alternative branding strategies and how to design a brand architecture strategy and devise brand hierarchies and brand portfolios

• The role of corporate brands, family brands, individual brands, modifiers, and how to combine them into sub-brands

• How to adjust branding strategies over time and across geographic boundaries to maximize brand equity

My objective in writing this book was to satisfy three key criteria by which any marketing text should be judged:

• Depth: The material in the book had to be presented in the context of conceptual frameworks that were comprehensive, internally consistent and cohesive, and well grounded in the academic and practitioner literature.

• Breadth: The book had to cover all those topics that practicing managers and students of brand management found intriguing and/or important.

• Relevance: Finally, the book had to be well grounded in practice and easily related to past and present marketing activities, events, and case studies.

Although a number of excellent books have been written about brands, no book has really maximized those three dimensions to the greatest possible extent. This book sets out to fill that gap by accomplishing three things.

First, we develop our main framework that provides a definition of brand equity, identifies sources and outcomes of brand equity, and provides tactical guidelines about how to build, measure, and manage brand equity. Recognizing the general importance of consumers and customers to marketing—understanding and satisfying their needs and wants—this broad framework approaches branding from the perspective of the consumer; it is called customer-based brand equity. We then introduce a number of more specific frameworks to provide more detailed guidance.

Second, besides these broad, fundamentally important branding topics, for completeness, numerous Science of Branding boxes provide in-depth treatment of cutting-edge ideas and concepts, and each chapter contains a Brand Focus appendix that delves into detail on specific, related branding topics, such as brand audits, legal issues, brand crises, and private labels.

Finally, to maximize relevance, numerous in-text examples illuminate the discussion of virtually every topic, and a series of Branding Brief boxes provide more in-depth examinations of selected topics or brands.

Thus, this book can help readers understand the important issues in planning and evaluating brand strategies, as well as providing appropriate concepts, theories, and other tools to make better branding decisions. We identify successful and unsuccessful brand marketers—and why they have been so—to offer readers a greater appreciation of the range of issues in branding, as well as a means to organize their own thoughts about those issues.

A wide range of people can benefit from reading this book:

• Students interested in increasing both their understanding of basic branding principles and their exposure to classic and contemporary branding applications and case studies

• Managers and analysts concerned with the effects of their day-to-day marketing decisions on brand performance

• Senior executives concerned with the longer-term prosperity of their brand franchises and product or service portfolios

• All marketers interested in new ideas with implications for marketing strategies and tactics

The perspective we adopt is relevant to any type of organization (public or private, large or small), and the examples cover a wide range of industries and geographies. To illuminate branding concepts across different settings, we review specific applications to online, industrial, high-tech, service, retailer, and small business in Chapters 1 and 15.

The book is divided into six major parts, adhering to the “three-exposure opportunity” approach to learning new material. Part I introduces branding concepts; Parts II, III, IV, and V provide all the specific details of those concepts; and Part VI summarizes and applies the concepts in various contexts. The specific chapters for each part and their contents are as follows.

Part I sets the stage by providing the “big picture” of what strategic brand management is all about and provides a blueprint for the rest of the book. The goal is to provide a sense for the content and context of strategic brand management by identifying key branding decisions and suggesting some of the important considerations for those decisions. Specifically, Chapter  1 introduces some basic notions about brands, and the role they’ve played and continue to play in marketing strategies. It defines what a brand is, why brands matter, and how anything can be branded, and provides an overview of the strategic brand management process.

Part II addresses the topic of brand equity and introduces three models critical for brand planning. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of customer-based brand equity, outlines the customer-based brand equity framework, and provides detailed guidelines for the critically important topic of brand positioning. Chapter 3 describes the brand resonance and brand value chain models that assist marketers in developing profitable marketing programs for their brand and creating much customer loyalty.

Part III examines the three major ways to build customer-based brand equity, taking a single product–single brand perspective. Chapter 4 addresses the first way to build customer-based brand equity and how to choose brand elements (brand names, logos, symbols, slogans), and the role they play in contributing to brand equity. Chapters 5 and 6 outline the second way to build brand equity and how to optimize the marketing mix to create customer-based brand equity. Chapter 5 covers product, pricing, and distribution strategies; Chapter 6 is devoted to creating integrated marketing communication programs to build brand equity. Although most readers are probably familiar with these “4 P’s” of marketing, it’s illuminating to consider them from the standpoint of brand equity and the effects of brand knowledge on consumer response to marketing mix activity and vice versa. Finally, Chapter 7 examines the third major way to build brand equity—by leveraging secondary associations from other entities like a company, geographical region, person, or other brand.

Part IV looks at how to measure customer-based brand equity. These chapters take a detailed look at what consumers know about brands, what marketers want them to know, and how marketers can develop measurement procedures to assess how well they’re doing. Chapter 8 provides a big-picture perspective of these topics, specifically examining how to develop and implement an efficient and effective brand equity measurement system. Chapter 9 examines approaches to measuring customers’ brand knowledge structures, in order to identify and quantify potential sources of brand equity. Chapter 10 looks at measuring potential outcomes of brand equity in terms of the major benefits a firm accrues from these sources of brand equity as well as how to measure the overall value of a brand.

Part V addresses how to manage brand equity, taking a broader, multiple product–multiple brand perspective as well as a longer-term, multiple-market view of brands. Chapter 11 considers issues related to brand architecture strategies—which brand elements a firm chooses to apply across its various products—and how to maximize brand equity across all the different brands and products that a firm might sell. It also describes two important tools to help formulate branding strategies—brand portfolios and the brand hierarchies. Chapter 12 outlines the pros and cons of brand extensions and develops guidelines for introducing and naming new products and brand extensions. Chapter 13 considers how to reinforce, revitalize, and retire brands, examining a number of specific topics in managing brands over time. Chapter 14 examines the implications of differences in consumer behavior and different types of market segments for managing brand equity. We pay particular attention to international issues and global branding strategies.

Finally, Part VI considers some implications and applications of the customer-based brand equity framework. Chapter 15 highlights managerial guidelines and key themes that emerged in earlier chapters of the book. This chapter also summarizes success factors for branding and applies the customer-based brand equity framework to address specific strategic brand management issues for different types of products (online, industrial goods, high-tech products, services, retailers, and small businesses).

The overarching goal of the revision of Strategic Brand Management was to preserve the aspects of the text that worked well, but to improve it as much as possible by updating and adding new material as needed. We deliberately avoided change for change’s sake. Our driving concern was to create the best possible textbook for readers willing to invest their time and energy at mastering the subject of branding.

We retained the customer-based brand equity framework that was the centerpiece of the third edition, and the three dimensions of depth, breadth, and relevance. Given all the academic research progress that has been made in recent years, however, as well as all the new market developments and events, the book required—and got—some important updates.

1. New and updated Branding Briefs and in-text examples: Many new Branding Briefs and numerous in-text examples have been added. The goal was to blend classic and contemporary examples, so many still-relevant and illuminating examples remain.

2. Additional academic references: As noted, the branding area continues to receive concerted academic research attention. Accordingly, each chapter incorporates new references and sources for additional study.

3. Tighter chapters: Chapters have been trimmed and large boxed material carefully screened to provide a snappier, more concise read.

4. Stronger visuals: The text includes numerous engaging photos and graphics. These visuals highlight many of the important and interesting concepts and examples from the chapters.

5. Updated and new original cases: To provide broader, more relevant coverage, four new cases have been added to the Best Practices in Branding casebook—PRODUCT (RED), King Arthur Flour, ESPN X Games, and Target. Each of the 14 other cases has been significantly updated. All of the cases are considerably shorter and tighter. Collectively, these cases provide insights into the thinking and activities of some of the world’s best marketers while also highlighting the many challenges they still face.

In terms of content, the book continues to incorporate material to address the changing technological, cultural, global, and economic environment that brands face. Some of the specific new topics reviewed in depth in the fourth edition include:

• Marketing in a recession

• Luxury branding

• Brand personas

• Shopper marketing

• Social currency

• Brand extension scorecard

• Brand flashbacks

• Brand communities

• Brand characters

• Brand makeovers

• Person branding

• Brand potential

• Culture and branding

• Future brand priorities

Some of the many brands and companies receiving greater attention include:

• Converse

• SNICKERS

• W Hotels

• HBO

• Tupperware

• Groupon

• Blue Moon

• Netflix

• L.L. Bean

• Boloco

• L’Oréal

• Michelin

• MTV

• Macy’s

• Johnnie Walker

• Old Spice

• Gannett

• Subway

• M&M’s

• Ford Fiesta

• X Games

• Liz Claiborne

• Gatorade

• TOMS

• Chobani

• Kindle

• Coldplay

• Febreze

• Oreo

• DHL

Some of the more major chapter changes from the third edition include the following:

• Chapters 2 and 3 have been reorganized and updated to show how the brand positioning, brand resonance, and brand value chain models are linked, providing a comprehensive set of tools to help readers understand how brand equity can be created and tracked.

• Chapter 6 has been reorganized and updated around four major marketing communication options: (1) Advertising and promotion; (2) Interactive marketing; (3) Events and experiences; and (4) Mobile marketing. Guidelines and examples are provided for each of the four options. Special attention is paid to the role of social media.

• Chapters 9 and 10 have been updated to include much new material on industry models of brand equity and financial and valuation perspectives on branding.

• Chapters 11 and 12 have been reorganized and updated to provide an in-depth three-step model of how to develop a brand architecture strategy. As part of these changes, a detailed brand extension scorecard is presented.

• Chapter 14 has been updated to include much new material on developing markets.

• Chapter 15 has been updated to include much new material on future brand priorities.

Branding is a fascinating topic that receives much attention in the popular press. The ideas presented in the book will help you interpret current branding developments. One good way to better understand branding and the customer-based brand equity framework is to apply the concepts and ideas presented in the book to current events, or to any of the more detailed branding issues or case studies presented in the Branding Briefs. The Discussion Questions at the end of the chapters often ask you to pick a brand and apply one or more concepts from that chapter. Focusing on one brand across all the questions—perhaps as part of a class project—permits some cumulative and integrated learning and is an excellent way to become more comfortable with and fluent in the material in the book.

This book truly belongs to you, the reader. Like most marketing, branding doesn’t offer “right” or “wrong” answers, and you should question things you don’t understand or don’t believe. The book is designed to facilitate your understanding of strategic brand management and present some “best practice” guidelines. At the end of the day, however, what you get out of it will be what you put into it, and how you blend the ideas contained in these pages with what you already know or believe.

Instructors can access a variety of print, media, and presentation resources through www.pearsonhighered.com/kevinlanekeller.