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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

You are the son or daughter of a well‐heeled family and studying at an exclusive and expensive university. Your affluence is such that your watch and sunglasses are more likely to be branded with the Calvin Klein or Chanel name than with that of a cheaper, downmarket product. But why do people choose such brands – apart from the fact they can afford them – at a time when brands are becoming less and less different in terms of product attributes? How can marketers of luxury goods develop or enhance brand images via non‐product attributes? It's a challenge which is becoming increasingly important for marketing any brand, luxury or not.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

The main purpose of this paper is to bring to the fore the strategic importance of branding as managed by the boardrooms, so that Asian companies can realize their full potential by inculcating right branding practices.

The paper methodically dissects the reasons for the lack of branding in the Asian region. It analyzes the societal factors that have shaped the Asian management mindset. Then, the paper takes up some of the Asian pioneers in the field to demonstrate the practical viability of what the author argues.

It has been found that Asian companies do not realize the importance of branding. Asian business leaders treat branding as an expense and not an investment. Further, many Asian companies still prefer building up tangible assets rather than strategic intangibles such as brand equity.

The important implication of this paper is that branding should no longer be delegated to the lower echelons of the company but rather managed by the CEO. Companies must focus on building long‐term strategic assets such as brand equity rather than tangible assets such as buildings, factories and the like.

Branding has always been mistaken for a fancy arm of advertising that is practised by the elite. By explaining the strategic importance of branding through concepts and case studies, this paper disseminates the emerging role of branding in the Asian corporate landscape. Specifically, this paper will be of a great value to Asian businessmen/women who can, by reading this paper, realize the growing significance of branding in their businesses.

This study aims to examine the effects of three self‐congruity constructs: the brand's personality congruity (BPC), the brand's user imagery congruity and the brand's usage imagery congruity, in consumers' attitude and brand loyalty toward two luxury fashion brands.

Using a sample of Australian consumers, this study examines two luxury fashion brands (CK and Chanel) from two product categories, watches and sunglasses. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses.

This study finds that user and usage imagery congruity are stronger predictors for brand attitude and brand loyalty than BPC in the context of the luxury fashion brands tested. Both user and usage imagery congruity have significant effects in brand attitude and brand loyalty in most analyses. This study finds no significant effect of BPC in either brand attitude or brand loyalty for the two brands tested.

Future studies should include more populations, product categories and more brands in each category.

Symbolic benefits are key motivations behind luxury brand purchases. Symbolic benefits are from non‐product‐related attributes like imagery. One important implication of the study is that user and usage imagery are more important to build than attempts to develop a brand's personality. Because most luxury brands market in multiple product categories, attention should be paid to the core perceptions of user and usage imagery for the brand when designing communication strategies for different categories.

This study provides the first evidence that these self‐congruity concepts may represent different imageries that lead to different effects in brand attitude and brand loyalty. Findings from this study add to the understanding of the consumption of luxury brands.

The performance of the British fashion brand Burberry has been determined largely by the adoption of business models which, on occasion, have been detrimental to the company's performance. For the financial year ending 31 March 1998, Burberry saw its annual profits drop from £62m to £25m, leading financial analysts to describe it as “an outdated business with a fashion cachet of almost zero”. However, from 1997, at the instigation of a newly appointed chief executive, Rose Marie Bravo, Burberry has radically re‐aligned its business model and has enjoyed, as a result, significant improvements in its business performance. Drawing from extensive documentation that was published by Burberry in support of their initial public offering (IPO), this paper will provide a review of the history of Burberry; evaluate Burberry's re‐positioning strategy as defined by the firm in their IPO prospectus; and critically delineate Burberry's current business model.

Despite the high profile of many international luxury brands, little is known about the processes by which these brands are created and how their market position is maintained. Research and practitioner experience suggests that these brands focus on building abstract, “timeless” images or dreams. However, no systematic research has been carried out on the processes and strategies of luxury marketers. Based upon case studies in the luxury wine trade, this research sought to uncover the tacit processes underlying the creation and maintenance of luxury wine brands. Results highlight that luxury brands are a complex combination of dedication to product quality, a strong set of values, tacit understanding of marketing, a focus on detail, and strategic emergence.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether brand perceptions differ across channel members of luxury brands using the buyer‐seller exchange situation model.

A triangulation approach was used to compare perceptions of different channel members. The data collection was completed in two stages. First, a self‐administered mail survey was sent out to 3,592 individuals from a publicly available mailing list. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 22 retailer buyers.

The findings reveal that brand perceptions differ across channel members. There appears to be a mismatch in the perceptions of wholesalers and retailers that might constitute a source of brand image inconsistencies. Although the final consumers' overall attitude toward the Hugo Boss brand is positive, consumers appear to be in favour of other brands and their inclination to purchase the Hugo Boss brand seems to be relatively low.

The study only examined one brand and is limited to the Australian context. Future research could examine other luxury brands in different countries. The study utilised judgement sampling, which could result in selection bias.

Brand knowledge is crucial to achieving brand image consistency between seller and buyer. Internal marketing techniques could be employed to assess the efficiency and development of brand knowledge among employees, retailers and other channel members.

This is one of the pioneering studies that applies a marketing channel approach to investigate brand image inconsistencies in a concrete working example. It contributes to luxury brand management across borders, opening the way for further research. The study provides ecological validity and reliability by working on a triangulation approach, using qualitative and quantitative research methods.

This paper examines the boundary within which the recognition of an asset currently takes place. It proposes the establishment of a new boundary based upon “separability” which would allow internally created or home‐grown assets to be recognised on the balance sheet. It provides a new definition of brand assets so that, whether purchased separately or as part of goodwill or internally created by a business, brands can be recognised as assets within a new boundary.

This study assessed the mediation effect of perceived brand quality and the moderation effect of consumer ethnocentric tendency in the proposed consumption model of a global sports brand. The English Premier League was selected as a global sports brand and four hypotheses were established to explain how consumers' perceived brand globalness affected their watching intention. Data were collected from 302 collegians in Republic of Korea. Results showed that perceived brand quality partially mediated the relationship between perceived brand globalness and watching intention, and ethnocentrism played a moderating role. The findings contribute to our understanding of consumption activities of global sport brands.

This study explores the effect of video assistant referee (VAR) sponsorship on spectator response and compares it with advertising and conventional sponsorship.

An experiment with 809 subjects is conducted by analyzing 20 one-minute video clip stimuli from a Premier League soccer game divided into four formats: two formats of VAR sponsorship, advertising, and conventional sponsorship.

The results show that the indicators of recall, credibility, and perceived congruence improve when the VAR sponsorship format is used.

This is the first manuscript to examine the effectiveness of a new type of sponsorship: VAR sponsorship. This manuscript provides metrics that will guide practitioners on whether to use this type of sponsorship.

Brian Philpotts is Marketing Director of TheFootball League and is soon to take up a similarrole at the FA Premier League. In this interviewhe talks to David Hudson of De MontfortUniversity about his role and the challenges hefaced after joining The Football League fromNewcastle United in 1999. He shares his experienceand insights on the subject of sports marketingat both league and club level.