Brand Leadership: Building Assets in the Information Society

Citation

Kelley, C.A. (2001), "Brand Leadership: Building Assets in the Information Society", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 75-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm.2001.18.1.75.3

Brand Leadership is the latest in a series of books written by David Aaker on the importance of brands in building a competitive organization. In Brand Leadership, Aaker teams with Erich Joachimsthaler to consider the strategic issues that surround brand management in a global marketplace. The book has four objectives. First, it presents an extension of the concept of brand identity. Second, it discusses the issues related to brand architecture. Third, it describes how the marketing of a brand can move beyond advertising. Lastly, the book covers the organizational challenges faced by brand managers.

Chapter 1 begins with a brief history of the brand management system established in the 1930s at Procter and Gamble (P&G). The authors build on the P&G brand management experience by offering a new paradigm of brand management that they term brand leadership. This new paradigm emphasizes the strategic dimensions, not just the tactics, of brand management. As the authors note, “The classic brand management system worked well for many decades … However, it can fall short in dealing with emerging market complexities, competitive pressures, channel dynamics, global realities, and business environments with multiple brands, aggressive brand extensions, and complex subbrand structures” (p. 7). The chapter discusses several aspects of the brand leadership paradigm, including brand identity as a driver of strategy, determining the value of a brand, and the tasks required to implement the new paradigm.

Chapters 2 and 3 investigate the role brand identity plays in implementing a brand leadership strategy. In Chapter 2, Aaker and Joachimsthaler use the case of Virgin Atlantic Airways to illustrate their brand identity planning model. This model consists of four steps: a strategic brand analysis, the development of a brand identity implementation system (including brand building programs), a review of a brand’s identity and the development of a brand essence. The authors define a brand essence as “… the glue that holds the core identity elements together …” (p. 45). The chapter concludes with a review of the common mistakes involved in developing a brand identity system. These mistakes include viewing the brand too narrowly, failing to link the brand to a functional benefit, not using constructs that fit the brand, not consulting customers to use as the base of the brand identity, failure to understand competitors, not linking a common identity across multiple products, not using brand identity to execute a brand strategy, and failing to elaborate on the brand identity.

Leadership as a core concept of brand identity is addressed in Chapter 3. The authors suggest leader brands can come in many forms, including competence, authority, supporting, innovative and inspiring. The chapter offers ways to clarify a brand identity through identity elaboration exercises. These exercises include an audit of identity‐supporting programs, an identification of a role model, the development of a visual metaphor, and prioritization of different dimensions of the brand.

Chapters 4 and 5 examine how to achieve brand clarity, synergy and leverage through brand architecture. In Chapter 4, the authors use the stories of GE appliances and Marriott to illustrate how to design a brand’s architecture (defined as “… an organizing structure of the brand portfolio that specifies brand roles and the nature of relationships between brands and between different product‐market contexts” (p. 102). The authors offer the brand relationship spectrum, i.e. positioning brands in different product‐markets, as a way of delineating four basic strategies (house of brands, endorsed brands, subbrands, and a branded house). The chapter concludes with questions that can be used to select the right brand relationship spectrum. Chapter 5 goes beyond defining brand architecture and examines in more detail the relationship between the brand portfolio and the product‐market. The chapter concludes with a detailed outline of how to conduct a brand architecture audit.

The next four chapters (Chapters 6‐9) explore brand‐building tactics other than advertising. Chapters 7 and 8 are particularly interesting. Chapter 7 looks at the role of sponsorship in building a brand. Actual cases are used to present both the upside and potential problems that may result from sponsorship. The chapter presents the seven keys of effective sponsorship. The keys are:

1. 1.

   (1) be proactive;

2. 2.

   (2) find an exceptional fit;

3. 3.

   (3) own the sponsorship;

4. 4.

   (4) participate actively in the management of the sponsorship;

5. 5.

   (5) clearly define brand identity;

6. 6.

   (6) examine all possible sponsorship payoffs; and

7. 7.

   (7) take advantage of publicity opportunities.

Chapter 8 examines the role of the Internet in building brands. The authors offer some guidelines for a brand‐building Web site. The guidelines suggest the Web site should reflect support for the brand, creative a positive experience (e.g. easy to use, interactive, personalized, and timely), and create synergy with other communication programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the limitations of Web sites that includes avoiding the attitude of “if we build it, they will come” (p. 252).

The book concludes with the concept that global brand leadership is needed not global brands. The basic premise here is that not all brands can have the potential for a strong global presence. The paradigm of brand leadership asserts that global brand leadership should focus on allocating brand‐building resources to develop a global brand strategy that coordinates and leverages differences that exist between countries.

Aaker and Joachimsthaler have written a concise, practitioner‐oriented presentation of what is involved in building a brand in today’s global marketplace. The book has much to offer to the most seasoned business executive as well as the student who is studying brand management.