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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.

This research paper's conceptual framework concentrates on the potential of social media-based interactions to boost brand loyalty and customer engagement. The results reveal that customer engagement behavior plays a critical role in affecting brand loyalty and social interaction. Furthermore, satisfying brand experiences on social media have a positive effect on the performance outcomes of the broader consumer brand experience. Social media managers are therefore advised to entertain consumers with multi-layered content that conveys fun and exciting features, to maintain a positive representation of the brand and products, and to reward the value that's co-created when customers leave comments, for example.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists 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 most successful companies today are said to have strong brands. But what is a strong brand? What makes a brand strong? How do we build a strong brand? This paper develops a customer‐based brand equity model to help address these important questions. The developed model is a cause‐and‐effect model linking customer‐brand relationships to rational and emotional brand associations, as well as rational and emotional brand evaluations. The customer‐brand relationships are characterized by loyalty, based on both behaviour and attitude. As branding is a very complex concept, it is important to determine which of the many branding elements should be included in the model. This paper discusses why a given aspect is important for a brand’s equity and which relations exist between the included variables from a theoretical perspective. The model provides insight into the creation of a brand’s equity and can thus be used in the brand management process to achieve brand excellence.

This chapter focuses on the importance of emotions, as a notable part of corporate branding in a business-to-business (B2B) context. Since the issue of emotions has often been neglected in B2B branding research, the chapter focuses on ascertaining what kind of emotional differences exist in B2B, compared to B2C context. It also explores how rational versus emotional impressions affect decision-making processes in business environment, and whether the B2B sector can turn emotions into an advantage in corporate branding. The qualitative case study is conducted, focusing on the Suomen Henkilöstötalo Company. The case offers interesting findings and managerial contributions by highlighting both emotional decision making and the importance of business relationships for strengthening the position of the company in its business market.

The research and the authors spotlighted in this book represent a series of recent exciting developments in the topic of business-to-business (B2B) branding. The papers in this book enhance our understanding of practice in this important facet of the marketing discipline. Furthermore, each author presents areas for future research and important managerial implications. The papers in this book cover a broad spectrum of industries and continents as well as both product and service offerings. The papers address a wide range of B2B applications including resellers, retailers, logistics service providers, subcontractors, hairdressing services, and a producer of high-tech materials. In addition, two papers address branding in B2B markets and pricing more generally. These papers provide details of the research background, methodology, analysis of each study. The topic coverage of this volume is extensive as the following list shows: (1) Building a Strong B2B Brand; (2) Building a Strong Brand to Resellers; (3) B2B Brand Equity: Theory, Measurement, and Strategy; (4) Effective Strategies for B2B Service Brands; (5) Brand Meaning and its Impact in Subcontractor Contexts; (6) Brand Image, Corporate Reputation, and Customer Value; (7) Internal Branding Theory, Research, and Practice; (8) Pricing Theory and Strategy Applications in B2B Brand Management.

Collectively these papers address most aspects of the marketing mix for B2B and industrial marketers. Each of the papers provides valuable brand management insights for managers.

With increasing investments being made in brand development by destination marketing organisations (DMO) since the 1990s, including rebranding and repositioning, more research is necessary to enhance understanding of how to effectively monitor destination brand performance over time. This chapter summarises key findings from a study of brand performance of a competitive set of destinations, in their most important market, between 2003 and 2012. Brand performance was measured from the perspective of consumer perceptions, based on the concept of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE). The results indicated almost no change in perceptions of the five destinations over the 10-year period. Due to the commonality of challenges faced by DMOs worldwide, it is suggested the CBBE hierarchy provides destination marketers with a practical tool for evaluating brand performance over time; in terms of measures of effectiveness of past marketing communications, as well as indicators of future performance.

The relationship between brands and consumers is seen as an important element of strategic brand management. Past studies have examined different aspects of branding (e.g. brand equity, brand personality, brand image, brand loyalty), but there has been limited research investigating the quality of the relationship between consumers and brands. The present study aimed to examine various dimensions of the brand relationship quality from the European consumer’s point of view in the context of restaurant brands using Fournier’s (1994) short version of the brand relationship quality (BRQ) scale. The findings provided strong support for the validity of the brand relationship concept. Of the seven dimensions tested, four were found to be valid and reliable. The study produced a scale to measure the relationship between consumers and restaurant brands.

In markets that are increasingly competitive, building strong business-to-business (B2B) brands is a key success factor. With this in mind, the first chapter of the book presents the current research on B2B branding and discusses the main topics of the book by presenting internal branding, external branding, and the contemporary perspectives on B2B branding. After a review of these topics, the chapter analyses each of the following chapters by presenting their short introductions.

This chapter integrates brand identity and equity as a two-dimensional approach to destination branding. By incorporating the supply- and demand-side perspectives, the approach enables different destination stakeholders to be included in this process. Drawing on general branding and marketing literature, the study presents a three-part framework for building and implementing a destination brand. It illustrates consumer-based equity as consisting of the four dimensions: awareness, image, perceived quality, and loyalty. The chapter also offers a critical synthesis of destination image studies and recognizes the important research advancement from image to branding.

This chapter analyzes the attribute associations, supplied by experts, of top 10 destination brands in Spain. Using a sample of respondents that represents the domestic tourist population, the study examined how they perceive the importance of each of the attributes when selecting a holiday destination. They are rated for all the 10 brands as a whole and for each individually. Comparisons are made between each and the average of all other brands. The application of multidimensional scale method resulted in five distinct groups or competitive sets based on the similarities and disparities of tourists’ ratings of these attributes. For each, the study suggests how these sets are perceived as a whole and in comparison with each other. The chapter offers meaningful relationships between the respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and their perceived importance of the destination brands’ attributes.