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“Like human beings,
all brands are born equal.
The trick is to prove
one isn’t. Branding is the
art and science of
identifying and fulfilling
human physical
and emotional needs by
capturing attention,
imagination and emotion
long enough to make
money from it.”
– Idris Mootee

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Copyright © 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009
Idris Mootee

All rights reserved. Published by
Idea Couture Inc. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under Section 107, 108 of the
1976 United States Copyright Act, without
either the prior written permission of
the Publisher. Request to the Publisher
for permission should be addressed
to the Permission Department at
permission@ideacouture.com.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:
While the publisher and author have
used their best efforts in preparing this
book, they make no representations
or warranties with respect to the accuracy
or completeness of the contents of this
book and specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. The advice and
strategies contained herein may not
be suitable for your situation. You should
consult with a professional where
appropriate. Neither the publisher nor
author shall be liable for any loss of
profit or any commercial damages, including
but not limited to special, incidental,
consequential, or other damages.
A number of brand names and trademarks
are mentioned and used in this book
are protected under copyright laws and
international treaty provisions. All
trademarks, services marks, trade names,
logos and icons are proprietary to their
respective owner. Their inclusion in this
book is for the purpose of criticism
and illustration only.

60-Minute Brand Strategist –
Limited Edition

Book and cover design:
Sali Tabacchi

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Contents:

Introduction 4
All About Brands 7
Branding in a Postmodern Culture 39
Strategic Perspectives of Branding 49
Managing Brand Meaning 79
Brand Leadership 119
Luxury Brand Marketing 133

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Introduction
This book is about only one thing: brands,
branding and the only sustainable form of
leadership in an economy ruled by ideas –
brand innovation and leadership.
Its been 8 years since 60-minute Brand
Strategist was first published as a book.
Adapted from slides I used in my Advanced
Branding Seminar, the first edition was
translated and published in several languages,
including Japanese, Chinese and German.
Dr. Morgan Gerard collaborates with me to
develop this limited edition, updated
and abridged version by popular demand.
We decided to select a few of the book’s
chapters that deliver the essence of the
concepts. These concepts and techniques
are used by the world’s most successful
and valuable brands. But you’ll rarely, if ever,
read much about these concepts in
business magazines. Why? Simply put,
they’re trade secrets. Well-wielded
branding tools and techniques are powerful,
competitive weapons used to win the
hearts and minds of customers. Time and
again, they help defeat the competition.
Consider what follows a battle plan designed
to inspire, act as a reminder, function as
a tool kit and be drawn upon as a reference
that should sit on every marketing and
brand executive’s desk.

Idris Mootee, CEO
Idea Couture Inc.

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all about
brands

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LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU

What is a brand?
I I I I I I I I I I I I
In a world where brands rule, products YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU
are no longer bundles of functional
characteristics but rather means to provide
and enhance customer experiences.
Thanks to the internet and wireless tech- I I I I I I I I I I I I
nologies, information is so abundant LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
that consumers are overloaded. They have
more information than they can digest,
use, need or even want.
Product proliferation creates so many
choices that it diminishes our ability to LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
differentiate or choose what we truly value. YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU
Brands help us choose. They are invaluable
tools that help us break through clutter to
make choices based on our experience of
and satisfaction with products or services. I I I I I I I I I I I I









8 9


OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I










I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I YOU I I I I
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU ME YOU YOU YOU YOU


10 11


OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

I
OVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
I
LOVE
“
There will be a
time using a
“In technocratic and colorless logo will be the
worst thing
I YOU times, brands bring warmth, I I I I I I I I
OVE LOVE ME, LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
familiarity and trust.”
YOU TOO YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU
– Peter Brabeck, Nestle
in the world.”
– Bill Bernbach,
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU Founder DDB

We’re a long long way from that day.
I I I I I I I I I I I I The truth is that people like brands. They
OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE not only simplify choices and guarantee
quality, but they also add fun and interest,
provide aspirations and dreams. Some
people love them like children, which might
explain why I personally know of a 4-year
OVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE old boy named Nike, an 8-year old named
YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU Ferrari and a 12-year old girl named Hermès.




LOGO




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a BRAND IS NOT… a BRAND IS…
A Trade Mark point of view
(These are legal properties.) Branding is a strategic point of view, not
a select set of marketing activities.
A Mission Statement
(This is a reminder.) customer value
Branding is central to creating customer
A Logo or Slogan value, not just sound bites and images.
(These are your signatures.)
competitive advantage
A Product or Service Branding is a key tool for creating and
(These are just the tangibles.) sustaining competitive advantages.

Advertising engineered
(They deliver your messages.) Brand strategies must be “engineered” into
the strategic planning process.

alive
Brands get their identity from meanings.
Products and services are the blood
of a brand. Your organizational culture and
standards for action are the heartbeat.

logic and emotion
Branding is part science and part art.

ITEM WORKING ITEM WORKING
IN ISOLATION IN ISOLATION

A BRAND
IS MORE THAN
THE SUM
OF ITS PARTS.

ITEM WORKING ITEM WORKING
IN ISOLATION IN ISOLATION

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Brands
have almost
become
ideologies.

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“The art of marketing
is the art of brand
building. If you are not
a brand, you are a
commodity. Then price
is everything and
the low-cost producer
is the only winner.”
– Philip Kotler,
Kellogg

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What is a Brand?
To plan for one year,
“A brand is the ‘personification of a product,
service, or even entire company.’ grow sales.
Like any person, a brand has a physical

To plan for three years,
‘body’: in P&G’s case, the products and/or
services it provides. Also, like a person, a
brand has a name, a personality, character
and a reputation.
Like a person, you can respect, like
grow channel.
and even love a brand. You can think of it
as a deep personal friend, or merely an
acquaintance. You can view it as dependable
To plan for decades,
or undependable; principled or
opportunistic; caring or capricious. Just as grow a brand.
you like to be around certain people and
not others, so also do you like to be with
certain brands and not others.
Also, like a person, a brand must mature
and change its product over time. But
its character, and core beliefs shouldn’t
change. Neither should its fundamental
personality and outlook on life.
People have character…so do brands.
A person's character flows from his/her
integrity: the ability to deliver under pressure,
the willingness to do what is right rather
than what is expedient. You judge a person’s
character by his/her past performance
and the way he/she thinks and acts in both
good times, and especially bad.
The same are true of brands.”

– Robert Blanchard,
former P&G executive

BRAND

CHANNEL

SALES
VALUE

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
YEARS

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1. 2. The Customer
Satisfaction
What is the What is our core Treadmill

deep need that competence? Daniel Kahneman of Princeton describes
the Customer Satisfaction Treadmill.

we satisfy? What are we
The more we make, the more we spend,
the more we want. The faster we get it,
the faster we want it. The more convenient
What is our really good at? it becomes, the more we realize just
how convenient it could be. The more
raison d’être? our unreasonable demands are met,
the more unreasonable they become.

METAPHYSICAL NEEDS

EXPERIENTAL NEEDS

SYMBOLIC NEEDS

FUNCTIONAL NEEDS

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Brand In a world predisposed to sameness, there
taxonomies are few things in life more satisfying than
building brands that disrupt predisposition.
Brands move market share. Brands move
advertising award judges. Brands move
culture. Some do all.
Brand has meaning beyond functionality
that exists in people's minds. Part art,
part science, brand is the difference between
a bottle of soda and a bottle of Coke, a
computer and an iMac, a cup of coffee and
a cup of Starbucks, a car and a Mercedes,
a designer’s hand bag and a Hermès Birkin.
Brand is the intangible yet visceral impact
of a person's subjective experience with the
product, the personal memories and cultural
associations that orbit around it. Brands
are also about messages – strong, exciting,
distinct, authentic messages that tell
people who you are, what you think and
why you do what you do.

Brands that
focus on their meanings
and values
rather than functions.

Brands that Brands that
are tightly identified have almost become
with the product product- product
or range of products independent

Brands that focus
largely on
their core functions
and purposes
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Too much THE Most common
advertising with too issues with branding
little meaning?

Cannot justify
the cost for brand
re-positioning.
Where’s the ROI? Management does
CUSTOMER VALUE not understand
why we need to have
BRAND MEANING a brand strategy.

BRAND ADVERTISING

CUSTOMER VALUE

BRAND MEANING

BRAND ADVERTISING

Management thinks
branding is just
another logo with a Sales and marketing
new tag line. aren’t reading the
same book, let alone
the same page.

Brand vision and
company reality do
not match.

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Why brands are in What is a Brand?
trouble?
Don’t make the mistake of letting
brand image take over and become brand
identity. It’s only part of the equation,
not the answer.

Brands are being Brands struggle
mass-produced to find their
in brand factories own identities
There’s a movement of Too many me-too
conservatism in brands and too
brand investment. Many much me-too advertising.
have gone from inspirational Many brands
and daring to cautionary have lost their souls.
and risk averse. CORPORATE INTERNAL
STRATEGY BRANDING
Everyone is looking for
a save formula.

Brand Strategy

Brand
Image BRAND CUSTOMER
IDENTITY ENGAGEMENT
Brands have lost Brands are worn
their mystique from overuse
Consumers understand As brand manuals gets
how marketing works thicker and heavier,
and they are brand savvy. you know you’re in trouble.
Brand
Be careful not to Instructional menus Attributes
over-market a brand. replace imagination.
Brand
Associations

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What is a Brand? What is a brand?
A brand is an intangible asset that resides in Today you may have a name and a The trust-based, value-producing
people’s hearts and minds. It’s defined by trademark, but it will take time (and much relationship called a brand is proof that the
the expectations people have about tangible more) before you have a brand. Brand company is organizationally aligned to
and intangible benefits that are developed building is the creation and management of repeat the process and sustain the values.
over time by communications and, more inward cash flow with brand equity as the Find and establish your niche. Clarify your
importantly, by actions! To build a successful savings account. Managing brand is about distinct ability to make an impact.
brand means doing the following four things: how marketers and consumers collaborate Determine the desired relationship
to create meanings. Brand building is not an between your customers/prospects and
1. Making a promise option. ROI is only relevant when considering your product.
2. Communicating your promise Create intangible, emotional bonds
alternative marketing programs. Brand
3. Keeping your promise
4. Strengthening your promise equity is a big elephant: looking at financial through every customer interaction.
returns alone is unacceptable. You must Like people, brand requires a name, a
The tangible aspect of your brand is a understand the whole beast. personality, a character and a reputation.
promise. What do you do best? What’s the Brand management is a crucial element
payoff? What can your consumer count of corporate strategy rather than solely
on? This promise becomes an intrinsic part a marketing function. It helps a company
of your marketing message. In order break away from the pack in creating
for you to own it, you must communicate shareholder value. Brand strategy is the
strategically and creatively across a viable expression of business strategy.
broad media mix. Both your internal and
external audiences must be true believers
of the promise. And the only way to
make them truly believe is to be true about
the promise.

1. Making a promise

2. Communicating your promise

BRAND STRATEGY CORPORATE STRATEGY
3. Keeping your promise

4. Strengthening your promise

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Mind over matter Advantages built on emotional values and
brand meanings (e.g. Levis, Nike, Starbucks,
Psychological differences may seem Coca-Cola, Harley-Davison, Apple, Sony)
insubstantial, but in terms of sustainability, are often the most durable.
they are often more resilient than
functional differences.
Intangible emotional associations are
difficult to copy:

Once an emotional territory
is occupied by a well known
brand, it is more difficult
to displace than a brand with
a functional claim.

Personality Trust

Timeless Unique

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products vs.
brands

A product is built
in a factory. A brand is built of trust
and relationships
A product is an object.
A brand is a personality.
A product is sold by
a merchant. A brand is bought by
a customer.
A product is easily copied
by a competitor. A brand is unique.

A product is quickly A great brand is timeless.
outdated.

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Mind over matter Building strong
brands
Without the brand, Apple would have
been dead. The power of the brand kept Branding is often confused with an
them alive during the mid-1990s when advertising campaign or a corporate identity.
their products were lackluster. The brand Companies are still turning to branding
bought them time until they came out as a panacea. Equally problematic are the
with the next runaway hit – the iMac. self-proclaimed branding experts happy
For Apple, the brand is always bigger than to sell you pricey snake oil. In novice hands,
the product. It is an ideology, a value set. branding becomes a way to obfuscate
Apple is about imagination, innovation and relative sameness or make promises that
individualism. can’t be fulfilled, instead of communicating
It’s not just about advertising or visual relevant uniqueness and building trust
identity. Brands must be built 360 degrees. and credibility.
Branding means that collateral information,
meaning, association and value has been
spiced into the very DNA of the brand. This
has two core components: label and fable.
Label refers to all visual elements, packaging
and taglines. Fables are the extrinsic aspect
of branding attached from the outside
and most often from customer experiences,
advertising, corporate trust and customer
relationships. The brand is the totality of what
the customer experiences: the look and
feel of your office, your community reputation,
your awning and signage, your sales and
customer service people, the way you handle
business conflicts and customer complaints.

INNOVATION

Three key requirements for
building strong brands:
IMAGINATION

1. Trust between brand and
consumer
2. Common identity between
brand and consumer
3. Point of difference between
brands in a set
INDIVIDUALISM

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branding
in a
postmodern
culture

38 39

Branding In The Age Transformation
Of Brand is a process,
Transformation a performance
Brands are transforming themselves. As content is increasingly delivered via To make the story of a brand complete
Beyond mere ads and products, they are personalized and self-scheduled social webs, and meaningful, it requires that all of
finding new ways to get inside your viewers – not broadcasters – will decide the actors – customers and companies alike
home and be a part of your life as branded when, how, why and what is consumed. – successfully complete transitions from
content, branded entertainment, branded And they will dictate who they share that scene to scene and stage to stage. In today’s
utilities and branded space. L’Equipe, the consumption with. script, those transitions read like this:
Parisian based daily sports newspaper, The question is, What role should brand
invented the Tour de France for one simple play in this age of transformation?
reason: to sell more newspapers, branded
content with a pinch of engagement.
But customers are transforming brands,
too. New cultural modes of performance
are emerging from new network-based social
behaviors and conversations. With over
50 million people able to share ideas, opinions
and experiences in a single online space
– and generate billions of web page
impressions every month – these behaviors
and conversations are creating a seismic Interruption is the stage Intrusion is the stage Engagement is the curtain call of this
shift in the traditional balance of power that where old scripts get between what was and what performance. A celebration of the
once existed between customers and shredded, rules get tossed will be. A wild zone of new new reality and the ideas and rituals
companies. out the window and the ideas and new rituals, it is alive that brought it to life, brands that
paradigms we lived by with uncertainty, excitement will occupy centre stage are those
are revealed as obsolete. and expectation. This gestative that contribute the new ideas, help
The Internet is our Inter- space where customers and facilitate the new rituals, meet the new
ruption. It has forever companies create and explore needs and, ultimately, tell the best
ruptured the old system brand futures is where we stories. Those who ignore this new
of brand control and are right now. reality do so at their own peril.
communication.

INTERRUPTION INTRUSION ENGAGEMENT

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distribution is nothing content is everything
When distribution is trivial, unlimited and Great content – the kind that truly engages
available to all, marketing to a captive – helps customers tell a story, perform
audience sitting on a couch in front of a box a part of their life, communicate meaning to
is a thing of the past. In fact, this kind of others and be all that they can be. It is,
old-world marketing has become adversarial quite simply, cultural.
to customers. Having adapted to the In the past, the clearest demonstration of
media-fragmented and always-on new content (and brands) as cultural was in
reality, they seek value by searching, the subculture. Punks, mods, ravers, skaters,
discovering and sharing their very personal church-goers, artists, bikers and others
brand caches with peers – not waiting made commodities come to life through
for you to interrupt them with unwanted performances like no other consumers
messaging. on earth. Today, because of the scope and
Broadcasting is in trouble, and user- reach of social media, we are in an age of
generated videos are just the beginning. the post-subcultural. The Hipster, a mash-up
The social-casting of YouTube will of subcultural traditions, has become the
evolve and, in the process, so too will emblem of insider-ness made accessible to
consumer behavior. Instead of passivity, all with the Internet.
the experience flow of tomorrow will Just as subculturalists were the creative
be characterized by immediacy, flexibility, class of brand dissemination, modification,
portability, permeability, fluidity, alteration and transformation, so now are
interactivity, mashability and ownerability. the millions of people around the world who,
With the emergence and convergence through social media, have access to insider
of the mobile phone, the Internet and knowledges, practices, experiences,
location-based-systems, consumers also performances and collaborative communities.
have immediate access to co-workers, This occurs through YouTube, Flickr,
friends and family members. Between Twitter, Facebook and the thousands of online

content
getting used to and being born into advice, support, co-creation and retail
a connected age, they are naturally and portals. The relentless virtualization of social
increasingly drawing on participation life, the marketing of niche-interactions,
in various networks for information, the sharing of experiences and the out-
assistance, support and recommendations. sourcing of work means that less and less of
Creating great products, services and our daily lives are produced and consumed
content is paramount. Content? Yes, at home. Rather, we are performing
content. An integral part of any product or ourselves more in public, more collabor-
service and their related experiences, atively and more than every through
customers will consume only what’s relevant the kinds of very social networks that once
to them, what best serves them, and what existed solely in subcultures.
truly entertains them – not what is marketed
to them by you through repetition. Engaging
them will require branded experiences
rich in content that strengthen contextual
involvement and consumer connection.
Within such experiences, the density and
intensity of polysemic, multi-origin,
co-created and fragmented communication
will make Baudrillard’s hyper-reality seem
as antiquated as TV.

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the personal brand What is the problem?

“We spent eight
In the age of the Personal Brand, “We hired a brand consultant Many companies are simply not ready to
commoditization is permeating every aspect and developed a great deal with or anticipate identity obsolescence
of daily life. Style, taste, identity and like they anticipate the obsolescence of
months and a
brand strategy. Our ad
individuality have become central to what agency went on to create products or business models. Despite the
we expect from our experiences in and produce an ad best efforts of management teams, many
health care, learning, dating, news, clothing,
food, travel, home furnishings, com-
lot of money on campaign that far exceeded
our capability to deliver
can’t adapt to shifts in the competitive
environment because the required brand-
munication, sports, entertainment, sexuality,
spirituality, birth, marriage, babies and
a brand strategy the brand promise. We
ended up with disappointed
driven adaptive response is inconsistent
with the company’s core identity. Any brand
burials. Twenty years ago, in the social
mainstream, this wasn’t the case. Sub- and all that’s customers, internal
conflicts and brand credibility
exercise will only widen the gap between
the brand and the corporate core identity.
culturalists were particularly picky about
their purchases, but the average changed is the erosion.”
– CEO, Telco

logo and tagline.”
consumer had a less refined sense of
assembling their self through products
and services.
Today, instant communication has
– CEO, Financial Services Company
blown the doors clear off of the old-world
media and advertising industry. Taste
gurus, micro-brands, blogs, chatters,
Friends, Tweeters, citizen journalists and
the searchability of style have forever
changed the how, what, where, when
and why of consumption. In the new
free-for-all of ideas, opinions, reviews and
experiences, individuals with greater
access to information strive to define and
display their Personal Brand, niche is
the norm, cool is hyper-commoditized and
branding becomes as much a bottom-up
phenomenon for customers as a top-down
priority for companies
One result is that we have become
desperate to socialize the profane. Distracted Brands
by the pace of change, unfulfilled in our
personal lives and feeling disempowered by
our work, many of us turn to celebrities,
rock stars, designers and brands to cultivate
more meaning in life. But when work is
empowering and life is meaningful, interest
and engagement in high-consumption
lifestyles will wane. De-marketing will happen.
Until then, a brand’s role is to help to
create meanings in everyday life through “I want to be cool.”
commodities.

Consumers

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Saving Your Many B-school case studies have chronicled Can social media
Zombie Brands brands brought back from the dead. But save the
for every success, there are hundreds of
Zombie Brands?
Zombie Brands, Dinosaurs Brands, Ghost failures: companies that tried to revitalize
Brands or Graveyard Brands are what old brands by hiring new agencies and
The Social Media Generation has
people used to call brands that customers throwing endless amounts of money into
phenomenal influence over the fate of
have either completely abandoned or advertising in hopes of rebuilding, even
brands. Active, mobile and vocal,
that are simply hanging on by a thread, when there wasn't a relevant product, service
they share the joys, angers and frustrations
usually at a Dollar Store or at Costco or sound strategy behind the initial move.
of their daily experiences with anybody
in a totally unrelated product category. How bad is your situation? Here are the three
and everybody. In doing so, their digital
Some have gone through unsuccessful most common scenarios:
connectivity becomes the web that weaves
revitalization efforts, others exist only in Brand Communities. Separated by
emerging markets, a few have simply their geography but bound by their love
lost relevance in their core market place
(Xerox, Oldsmobile) to be used casually
My brand is sick. of a particular brand, citizens of these
communities can be identified by four
on products totally outside their product Market changes direction and the brand core markers:
category (Teac, RCA, Polaroid etc.). become irrelevant. Everyone (advertising,
• Shared interests
product design, promotions) used to • Shared values
If you happen to own a Zombie Brand, understand what the brand means and they • Shared rituals
what can you do? all stick to it, believing it connects to • Shared purposes
something larger and more enduring. But
1. Invest and attempt to revitalize it
2. Milk it one day they woke up and realized there The commercial, mass‐mediated ethos in
3. Position it for the emerging market was a big disconnect. Your brand is stuck in which Brand Communities are situated
4. Sell it for whatever it’s worth the past. Your brand is IRREVELANT. affects their character and structure and
5. Dump it gives rise to their particularities. From a
brand and marketing perspective, this is the
Consumers with special relationships to
Zombie Brands often have sentimental My brand is most disruptive trend. It means that
Social Media, not advertising, has become

dying.
reasons for continuing to make purchases the conduit for communication and that
or for giving them a second chance. But customers are the collective source of truth
the cost and risk of bringing a brand back for brands. Given the right new content,
to life is enormous. If this is your choice, The brand is becoming boring. It doesn’t the Brand Community is a possible cure for
make sure the decision to do so is based create excitement for customers or even the Zombie Brand.
on sound logic. If you run a large portfolio, employees anymore. Younger consumers
the questions will be: Which brands are think of it as their parents’ brand. This
worth the revitalization effort? And Why? is common with brands that have been
successful and achieved market leadership.
In fact, it’s often the result of being too
successful. Your successful past has made
you lazy. Your brand lacks customer
ENGAGEMENT.

My Brand Has
No Vital Signs.
You’ve ignore your brand for too long
or simply let it ride to expiry. Every drop of
energy and goodwill has been squeezed
out. It has lost its power to capture your
customers' (or even your own) imagination.
Your brand is a shell of existence.
It has been reduced to nothing more
than a LOGO.

46 47

strategic
perspectives
of
branding

48 49

“We have a surplus “We also have a surplus The average consumer is exposed to as
many as 30,000 messages per day, of

of similar companies, of similar brands,
which more than 3,000 are branded. Many
studies indicate that less than 10%
of prime time ads have clear positioning.
employing similar having similar attributes, Between 1999 and 2000, the number
of new packaged goods introduced
people, with similar with similar marketing increased by more than 20%, the largest
increase in a decade. Most of these

educational back- messages and were “me-too” products destined to
be lost in the crowd and to reduce some

grounds, working slogans, coming up brands to a near-commodity status.
In a world where brands abound,

in similar jobs, coming with similar brand
competition is increasingly intense and the
speed of competitive responses is ever
shorter. The race is on to rise above the
up with similar ideas, claims, with similar throng of brands and secure customer
loyalty. But all too often, companies fall into
producing similar quality, selling at similar the trap of thinking short-term, being
overly ambitious or lacking a brand strategy.

things, with similar prices. Welcome to
prices and similar the Surplus Economy!”
quality.” – Idris Mootee

– Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale,
Funky Business

best
practices
+ strategic
outsourcing
+ Enterprise
Resource
Management
=?
Not only are brands similar, even the companies are
now more or less the same or nearly identical

50 51

Branding and Economic evolution
McDonaldization
In the Surplus Economy, the marketing
McDonaldization is everywhere. Individualism technology is often oriented towards battle is a battle of the brands – a
and diversity are replaced by efficiency greater control and more consistent quality. competition for brand dominance.
and social control. It is the process by which The great source of uncertainty and Companies will recognize that brands are
the principles of the fast food restaurant unpredictability in a rationalizing system is a company’s most valuable assets
dominate more and more sectors of our people — either the people who work and recognize that it is more important
society throughout the world. within those systems or the people who are to own markets than factories.
McDonald’s has 30,000 restaurants in served. Branding advertising is used to The only way to own markets is to own
121 countries, 60% of which are outside the put the human elements back. The warm market-dominant brands. The brand
USA. Shopping centers are everywhere and smiling faces in TV commercials battlefields expand beyond advertising
and the shops and merchandize are mostly are intended to convince customers about media and be fought on many grounds.
the same. This trend is visible in many “calculability” over “individuality”.
other businesses from toys, auto-repair,
“(calculability) involves an emphasis on things that can
convenient stores, consumer electronics to be calculated, counted, quantified. Quantification refers to
books and general merchandize. The a tendency to emphasize quantity rather than quality.
This leads to a sense that quality is equal to a certain, usually
“control” and “system” components are key. (but not always) large quantity of things.”
Replacement of human by non-human

The Battle of Brands

SURPLUS
ECONOMY

INFORMATION
ECONOMY

SERVICE
ECONOMY

INDUSTRIAL
ECONOMY

AGRICULTURAL
ECONOMY

VALUE
TIME

52 53

Customer Fournier’s Customer
relationships approach: relationships
Most businesses have a relationship with their customers Meet with consumers (hundreds of people over several Managing Customer Relationships has
that is based solely on price. That is why so many years) to listen to their life stories, discover their interests become Managing Software Vendor
companies are having difficulties maintaining their margins. and goals, and hear about the ups & downs of their Relationships. So, what went wrong?
The challenge is to figure out how to extend those daily lives. Then ask each person to describe his/her Shouldn’t companies be putting their money
transaction-based relationships to emotional-based “brand portfolio” and to explain why they choose the back into developing the “R” of “CRM”?
relationships. Professor Susan Fournier at Harvard products they do. Marketers and “CRM” vendors set
Business School has classified the relationships consumers Fournier drew out seven essential attributes of good unrealistically high expectations when they
have with their brands into fifteen types ranging across brand relationship quality: talk about “relationships”. Should
the whole spectrum. They include: they be using a different word instead?

“Traditionally, tactical marketing decisions –
Committed Partnership Enslavement Interdependence Love and passion regarding packaging and advertising, for
Usually long-term and Involuntary relationship Brand is inextricably Consumers feel affection/ instance – are made by different people or
voluntary relationship: a governed exclusively by the woven into consumers’ passion for the products departments. A holistic understanding
man is so involved with partner’s wishes or desires: daily life and routine. and may experience of the relationship that consumers have with
his brand of bicycle that he a consumer is unhappy with separation anxiety if it’s a brand can give direction to a company’s
becomes an advocate the local cable provider but not available. marketing activities and result in a stronger
of it, singing its praises to has no alternative source for bond between consumer and brand”
his friends. the service. – Susan Fournier
Harvard Business School

Commitment Self-concept connection
“A good relationship is an asset. We can
Consumers stick with Using the brand helps
invest in relationships, and we can borrow
the product through good consumers address a
from them. We all do it but almost never
or bad times either in life issue, such as a need
manage it. Yet a company’s most precious
his or her life style or in the to belong or a fear of
asset is its relationship with customers.”
product’s life cycle. growing old.
– Theodore Levitt
Harvard Business School

Intimacy Partner quality
Consumers describe a Consumers seek certain
sense of deep familiarity positive traits in the brand
with the product and such as dependability,
an understanding of its trust, worthiness, and
attributes. accountability – the same
qualities as one would
look for in a best friend.

Nostalgic attachment
brand brings back
memories either because
it was used at an earlier
time in life or because it was
associated with loved ones

54 55

Rise and rise
of the brand
The very technologies that make it faster,
easier and cheaper to innovate also
help us to imitate. The game switched from
innovation to imitation. The increasing
difficulty in differentiating between products,
services and the speed with which
competitors take up innovations will only
assist in the rise and rise of the brand.
Many of our dreams and desires for a better
world are no longer articulated by John
Kennedys or Martin Luther Kings, nor
generated through personal epiphanies –
they are now the intellectual currency of
brands. When brands connect to inspiration
and epiphany – personal, collective or
conjured by leaders – they enter into a realm
immune to imitation.

56 57

Decision map for Decision map for
brand choices brand leveraging
Does the brand
currently serve
strategically (size and
profitability)
important or attractive
segments?
Brand Leveraging
Strategies

Yes No

Does the Are there
brand qualify as any other strategic
a Leadership reasons to retain
Brand? the brand?

Yes Yes
No No Line Brand
Extensions Extensions

Does the
brand have the Does it add
Can the brand
potential value to other
be leveraged in
to become a existing brands or
new markets?
Leadership businesses?
Brand?

Yes No
No
Yes

Is there Horizontal Vertical Another Product Brand
Are we willing Does it add Co-Branding
a reason to keep Extension Extension Class Licensing
or can we afford value to other
or further develop
to invest in existing brands or
a brand in this
the brand? businesses?
category?

No No
Yes Yes

No
Yes

Can the brand
be extended as a
product line?

Yes No
Yes Up from Down from
Core Brand Core Brand
NO

DEVELOP
BRAND KEEP
LEADERSHIP INTO SPIN-OFF
PRODUCT- ROLL-UP AS NICHE
BRAND LEADERSHIP OR DIVEST
LINE BRAnd
BRAND

58 59

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