From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The Strategic Process of Growing and Strengthening Brands

Citation

Hao, A. (2012), "From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The Strategic Process of Growing and Strengthening Brands", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 303-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610421211246757

The third edition of From Brand Vision to Brand Evaluation: The Strategic Process of Growing and Strengthening Brands provides an excellent step‐by‐step guide for both brand and marketing managers who are involved in brand management. Leslie de Chernatony is one of the leading scholars in the field. This is a thoughtful and in‐depth book which reflects the author's years of academic and professional experiences in the field of brand management. This work will appeal to those with a broad interest in branding and brand management.

This book is divided into three parts and contains ten chapters. The first part includes two chapters discussing the different interpretations of brand concept and the changed notion of brand management towards a more balanced external and internal perspective. The second part of the book has only one chapter, which proposes a seven‐step integrated brand building model. The third part of the book is composed of seven chapters in which the author goes through each of the steps in more detail.

Chapter 1 lays out the foundations for the whole book by introducing the concepts of brands from both external and internal perspectives. First, the author argues that a more balanced perspective on brand management should align “employees' values with the brand values so that they are able and committed to deliver the brand's value” (p. 3). Furthermore, the author explains that the multidisciplinary brand management team approach is “better suited to today's more competitive environment and should be able to respond faster and in a more coordinated manner” (p. 23).

A review of the variety of interpretations about brands and a dynamic model of the evolving nature of brand are provided in Chapter 2. “Brands are complex offerings that are conceived in brand plans but ultimately they reside in consumers' minds” (p. 30). To facilitate understanding the multifaceted nature of brands, the author summarizes the variety of interpretations about brands in Table 2.1 on page 30. The different interpretations of brands are categorized into three groups. The categorization is based on “whether the interpretation is predominantly input based (i.e. facilitating managers' plans to use recourses more effectively), output based (i.e. customers' interpretations) or time based (reflecting brands' evolutionary processes)” (p. 29). Founded on the comprehensive review of the diverse interpretations about brands, the author argues that managers' interpretations and demands on brands are likely to evolve over time. It is imperative for the manager to have a sound understanding of the different interpretations about brands to manage the brands successfully and to create a balanced brand strategy.

Chapter 3 discusses the strategic process for building integrated brands. The author first addresses the importance of “a brand's team to reach a consensus about their interpretation of brand” (p. 81) and the importance of building integrated branding programs. Next, the author presents several models on how to identify the inconsistencies in branding programs in general and specifically on how to enhance integrated services brands and digital brands. Another main theme covered in this chapter is how to develop integrated brands through understanding employees' motivations. The author points out that “the challenge is to encourage a culture that supports and encourages employees to want to be part of the branding process” (p. 96) and by implementing Barrett's seven levels of human conscious model “it is possible to obtain a profile of the motivational states of the brand's team and by comparing this against the desired brand character, the suitability of staff can be assessed” (Barrett, 1998, p. 104). At the end of the chapter, an integrated seven‐step brand building model (Figure 3.7 on page 100) is overviewed. These seven steps include brand vision, organizational culture, brand objectives, brandsphere auditing, brand essence, internal implementation, and brand resourcing. This seven‐step model is applicable, and it reflects the author's vast experience and knowledge in this field. Each of the steps is explained in more detail in the subsequent seven chapters. For those readers who do not have time to read the entire book, this chapter is a must read.

Chapter 4 provides an in‐depth discussion of brand visioning, the first stage of the integrated brand‐building process. The three components of a powerful brand vision are envisioned: future, brand purpose, and brand's values. Envisioned future needs consider “what environment the firm wants to bring about 10 years ahead” (p.148). The author discusses how to stimulate ideas and have a stretching vision about the future which enables managers “to consider what role the brand needs to play to bring about the future” (p. 125). The second component, the brand purpose, focuses on “how the brand could bring about a better world” (p.148), which “seeks to guide and inspire staff over the long term” (p. 132). The third component of the brand visions is the brand's values, which “provide guidance about desired styles of behavior” (p. 148). The author shows readers how to identify a brand's values and provides a variety of models that can be used to stimulate ideas about the desired values. Giving the importance of brand values, it is critical to align staff and brand values.

Chapter 5 focuses on exploring the importance of organizational culture on brands and the impact of organizational culture on brand performance. The author argues that organizational culture can motivate and unite staff, “increase the level of trust stakeholders have in a brand” (p.159), “help engender a feeling of consistency of a brand” (p. 159), and ultimately enhance brand performance. The author also discusses the definition of organizational culture, the measuring and auditing of organizational culture, the assessment of organizational culture, the strengthening of a brand through organizational culture, and the impact of organizational culture on brand performance.

In Chapter 6, the author explores in more detail setting long‐term and short‐term objectives. It is suggested that setting brand objectives “can become less challenging by spending time in identifying long‐term objectives, then breaking these down into short‐term one” (p. 210). According to de Chernatony, once long‐ and short‐term brand objectives have been set, one way to achieve the desired objectives is to devise catalytic mechanisms. “The more impactful the catalytic mechanism, the more the organization signals to its brand's team that it is serous about have a focused brand” (p. 206).

Chapter 7, “Auditing the brandsphere,” investigates the forces that might enhance or impede brand successes. More specifically, the author presents a thorough analysis of the five forces of brandsphere: the corporation, distributors, customers, competitors, and the macro‐environment. Chapter 8, “Synthesizing the nature of a brand,” “elaborates on the brand essence block of the seven‐step brand building model: Brand essence is useful means of both conceptualizing the core of the brand and then communicating this to everyone” (p. 258). The author discusses the different views about the meaning of the brand essence concept and the alternative approaches that facilitate understanding of the characteristics of brands. According to the author, “everyone should be more aware of the core nature of their brand” (p. 275) through summarizing the core nature of the brand using the concept of the brand essence. The core nature of the brand “needs translating into two further brand characteristics which help the brand thrive externally, i.e. the brand positioning and brand personality” (p. 276).

Chapter 9 focuses on two blocks of the brand‐building model: internal implementation and brand resourcing. Internal implementation is about designing an internal delivery system to satisfy both the functional values and emotional values of the brand. Accordingly, the author considers the internal implementation process from the perspective of the mechanistic component and the humanistic component. In addition, the author introduces the eight components of the atomic model of the brand enabling the brand's team “to decide upon the detailed form of their brand and to consider the appropriateness of the brand delivery system” (p. 343). Chapter 10 provides a summary of the criteria to evaluate a brand's performance.

Overall this book is written for all people interested in brand management. The book successfully addresses the need for the strategic process of developing and strengthening brands. The author believes that brand success and developing integrated brand would need a holistic and pan‐company approach, which goes beyond solely focusing on customers and has a more balanced perspective that looks both inside and outside an organization. Although the book mainly addresses how to develop an integrated brand, it can be used as a guide on how to sustain existing brands.

One of the notable features of this book is the emphasis on the implementation of the seven‐stage brand‐building modal. I strongly agree with the author that a theory is only as good as its applicability. Throughout the book, the author provides a brand marketing action checklist at the end of each chapter, which helps brand managers/markers put these ideas into practice. In addition, a variety of real‐life examples, advertisements, activities, and discussions, which are based on the author's years of working and consulting experiences with managers and students, are provided to get readers to apply the ideas to particular problems.

In sum, this is an interesting and well‐written book that helps us to understand how to develop an integrated brand through a more balanced, humanistic perspective. I highly recommend this book to brand/marketing managers who seek solid solutions to brand management problems as the book serves as a reference book which reflects the latest changes in the new branding world and as a step‐by‐step guide on how to develop and strengthen brands. This work also serves very well as a text for undergraduates and graduates who are interesting in the field of brand management or it could be used as a supplemental text for marketing management classes.