As 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.

As 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.

CONTENTSPreface1. What is a Strong Brand?The Kodak StoryWhat Is Brand Equity?Brand AwarenessPerceived QualityBrand LoyaltyBrand AssociationsObjectives of the BookBuilding Strong Brands Why Is It Hard?2. The Saturn StorySaturn -- A Strong Brand?How Saturn Built a BrandChallenges Facing Saturn and General Motors3. The Brand Identity SystemWhat Is Brand Identity?Brand Identity TrapsFour Brand Identity PerspectivesThe Identity StructureProviding a Value PropositionProviding CredibilityThe Bottom Line: A Brand-Customer RelationshipWorking with Multiple Brand Identities4. Organizational AssociationsThe Body Shop StoryThe Story of Branding in JapanThe Brand as OrganizationOrganizational AssociationsHow Organizational Associations Work5. Brand PersonalityThe Harley-Davidson StoryMeasuring Brand PersonalityHow a Brand Personality is CreatedWhy Use Brand Personality?The Self-Expression ModelThe Relationship Basis ModelThe Functional Benefit Representation ModelBrand Personality versus User ImageryBrand Personality as a Sustainable Advantage6. Identity ImplementationThe Brand PositionAchieving Brilliance in ExecutionTrackingA Strategic Brand AnalysisThe Power of Brand Identity and Position7. Brand Strategies Over TimeThe General Electric StoryThe Smirnoff StoryWhy Change Identities, Positions or Executions?Why Consistency (If Done Well) is BetterConsistency Over Time: Why Is It Hard?The Search for the Fountain of Youth8. Managing Brand SystemsToward a System of BrandsDriver RolesThe Endorser RoleStrategic BrandsSubbrand RolesBranding BenefitsSilver BulletsHow Many Brands?9. Leveraging the BrandThe Healthy Choice StoryThe Kingsford Charcoal StoryLine ExtensionsMoving the Brand DownMoving a Brand UpBrand Extension DecisionsCreating Range BrandsCo-BrandingThe Brand Systems Audit10. Measuring Brand Equity Across Products & MarketsYoung & Rubicam's Brand-Asset ValuatorTotal Research's EquiTrendInterbrand's Top BrandsWhy Measure Brand Equity Across Products and Markets?The Brand Equity TenLoyalty MeasuresPerceived Quality and Leadership MeasuresAssociations/Differentiation MeasuresAwareness MeasuresMarket Behavior MeasuresToward a Single Value of Brand EquityAdapting the Measures to a Brand's Context11. Organizing for Brand BuildingBrand-Building ImperativesAdapting the Organization for Brand BuildingThe Role of the AgencyA Parting WordNotesIndexAbout the Author