Aaker - Building Strong Brands

PRAISE FOR

BUILDING STRONG BRANDS

Rarely is the sequel as good as the original. This time its better! With compelling case studies and insightful discussion, Aaker extends the concepts put forth in Managing Brand Equity to create the first true owners manual for brand managers. Aaker is the brand name in brand management!

JOSEPH V. TRIPODI , Senior Vice President, Global Marketing,
Products and Services, MasterCard International Incorporated

Aakers brand system and his discussion of brand equity measurement should fundamentally change our perspectives on marketing.

PETER A. GEORGESCU , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Young & Rubicam Inc.

A must read ... will take us to a new level of understanding ... a treasure!

PETER SEALEY, PH.D. , Former Senior Vice President, Global Marketing,
The CocaCola Company; presently Executive Consultant to the President,
Sony New Technologies Inc.

A failure to maintain strong brands is one of the key reasons the American auto industry encountered a lost generation of customers in the 1970s and 1980s. And one of our fundamental problems was mistaking brand identity (what we wanted to be) for brand image (what we really were)just one of the many issues explored in this insightful book. Every American company could benefit from the kind of soulsearching about brands that Professor Aaker advocates.

ROBERT A. LUTZ , President and Chief Operating Officer, Chrysler Corporation

A masterpiece ... sophisticated, practical, and readable. It applies to the Big Guys ... and makes sense for startups as well. Brand loyalty is anything but dead: Believe it!

TOM PETERS , author of The Pursuit of WOW!

A must for all marketing people.

DENNIS CARTER , Vice President, Director of Marketing, Intel Corporation

A breakthrough work on the strategic value of brands ... required reading for anyone who must maximize the profitability of their brands.

STEPHEN P. WEISZ , Senior Vice President, Lodging Brands, Marriott Lodging Group

Managing Brand Equity established the baseline. This book builds on that solid foundation.

JOE WELLER , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nestl USA, Inc.

B UILDING S TRONG B RANDS

Copyright 1996 by David A. Aaker

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

The Free Press
A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, N.Y. 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Text design by Carla Bolte

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Aaker, David A.

Building strong brands / David A. Aaker.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-02-900151-6
eISBN-13: 9781451674750
ISBN-10: 0-02-900151-X

1. Brand name productsManagement. 2. Brand name products

ValuationManagement. 3. Intangible propertyValuation

Management. I. Title.

HD69.B7A216 1996

658.827dc20 95-9238

CIP

M y book Managing Brand Equity, also published by The Free Press, set forth the perspective that a brand is a strategic asset that is key to long-term performance and should be so managed. That book helped to explain what brand equity is and how it contributes value. A brand equity structure was developed that included the four dimensions of awareness, perceived quality, loyalty, and associations. That book also discussed the role of the brand name and its symbols, explored issues surrounding brand extension decisions, and reviewed global brand strategies.

Since the time that Managing Brand Equity appeared, I have been involved, through my research and consulting, in several areas that were not addressed in any detail in that book. With the encouragement of Bob Wallace, my Free Press publisher, it seemed that a sequel was in order to explore these new issues.

There are five major themes to Building Strong Brands. First, the book delves into what brand identity is and how it can be developed. While a brand image is how a brand is perceived, a brand identity is aspirationalhow the brand would like to be perceived. A common pitfall when creating brand identities is to focus on product-related brand characteristics. In this book, brand strategists are encouraged to break out of that box by considering emotional and self-expressive benefits, organizational attributes, brand personality, and brand symbols as well. In taking the broader view of the brand, the likelihood of creating real differentiating value is enhanced.

The second theme, managing the brand identity, involves developing a brand position (that part of the identity which is to be actively communicated) and an execution program. It also involves balancing the need to adapt to a changing environment with the power of consistent messages and symbols. There are powerful forces for change that sometimes should be resisted.

The third theme, centered around the concept of a brand system, adds a new dimension to the management of brands. A brand systemconsisting of intertwined and overlapping brands and sub-brandscan create clarity and synergies, or it can generate confusion and inconsistency. The brand system view leads to an analysis of the different roles that a brand can play. In particular, a brand or subbrand, in addition to driving a business area, can also play a role in supporting other brands or in providing clarity to customers. Another set of systems issues involves leveraging the brand via vertical or horizontal brand extensions, creating brands that range over product classes, and co-branding. The brand systems audit is introduced as a way to start managing brands as a system.

Fourth, an approach to brand equity measurement across products and segments is presented. Measurement is of practical interest to most managers attempting to build and manage multiple markets and brands, and it also provides a quantitative discipline to the conceptual branding models.

Fifth, brand-nurturing organizational forms are discussed. Brand building now needs to deal with brand systems issues and with problems of coordinating a brand across markets, products, roles and contexts. These challenges strain conventional organizations, and new approaches are often needed.

In addition, the Saturn brand-building story illustrates many of the issues and approaches raised in the book. I have become close to the Saturn project and have grown to believe that it is one of the most impressive examples of brand building in recent years.

As in Managing Brand Equity, conceptual models and issues in this book are illustrated with case studies and examples. I believe abstract models need to be placed in illustrative contexts in order to provide clarity and to stimulate new ways of looking at brands and their management. Further, where possible, academic research is drawn on to support hypotheses of how the process being discussed or modeled really works. Because I do not presume that all readers have read