STRATEGIC BRAND MANAGEMENT

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Summary: kapferer clarifies - brand management is in its infancy
Review: Before brand image and positioning, other things are needed. Kapferer explains why these include : identity, vision/purpose, brand architecture and charter. All ways of integrating marketing as an organisation-wide learning process. Every brand owner needs a copy of this book. If you'd like to form a discussion group debating key lessons on branding (and when it is/isn't the most valuable corporate asset), please e-mail me at [e-mail]. Sincerely, Chris Macrae, author Brand Chartering Handbook & editor MELNET www.brad.ac.uk/branding/

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Summary: New and exciting ideas on brand building
Review: I am pleased to introduce this new edition of Jean-Noel Kapferer's Strategic Brand Management, edited by Kogan Page. This , the second edition, and its publication in five languages , is a testament to the book's success with marketing professionnals and advanced business students alike throughout the world.

Philip Kotler himself summarized the book's contribution as " new exciting ideas and perspectives that have been absent from our literature". Three unique ingredients have contributed to the book's success and they continue to set it apart from others in the field .

Firstly, there is the book's premise that consumer behaviour is not the whole story in any effective brand management.It encompasses strategic analysis, competitive analysis, financial considerations and all other activities a company might bring to bear on the process. This book goes further than an academic summary of the available consumer research material and it is this integrated approach that makes it unique.All aspects of branding and the value added are covered in depth, including brand financial valuation, managing brand portfolios, the brand life cycle and revitalization strategies.

Secondly, it appreciates that whole methodologies and practical models are crucial to effective decision making. Checklists or consumer models alone are not enough in examining specific brand decisions . This second edition develops exclusive and practical models to help managers diagnose problems, analyse alternatives, and reach solutions . These include concepts such as the brand identity prism, the pyramidal model of brand evolution whilst maintainig its identity, the six branding architectures relating brand and products, and others. More and more companies are now employing these specific models or frameworks in their brand reviews and brand strategy formulation .

Thirdly, this book avoids its competitors' reliance on well known and over used case history. There is much to be learned from other examples. The backdrop is more international, more diversified, and not limited to fast moving consumer goods. In the second edition of Strategic Brand Management, Kapferer includes exclusive content on managing luxury brands, private labels, ingredient brands, high-tech brands, service brands, and business-to-business brands, corporate branding.

Anyone wanting a thorough understanding of the new rules of brand management and how to put them into practice will find this latest edition a unique source of inspiration and original thought.

The first edition of Strategic Brand Management was published in 1992 to great critical acclaim.This new edition has been fully rewritten and revised to bring readers absolutely up-to-date with the dramatic changes that have taken place in brand management around the world.Packed with fresh examples and case studies,this second edition of Kapferer's Strategic Brand Management will not disappoint its readers.

This is the list of chapters: -Brand equity in question ( the challenge of distributor's brands) -The new rules of brand management -Brand identity -Launching new brands -Sustaining a brand long term -Adapting to the market: identity versus change -Branding architectures -Brand extensions -Multi-brand portfolios -Handling name changes and brand transfers -Decline, ageing and revitalization -Making brands go global -Financial evaluation and accounting for brands.

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Summary: Practical text, suitable for all marketing professionals.
Review: Kapferer's scholarly investigation of ways of creating and managing brand-equity should be a welcome addition to the office-shelves of both corporate brand managers and professors of business schools. This book fills a pressing need for a comprehensive text of Brand Management that is grounded in sound theoretical concepts. While the majority of previously-published books on brand management have relied solely on providing shining industry exemplars, their theory-development leaves much to be desired. Instead, Kapferer provides a systematic and rigorous treatment of brand-equity creation and management, that should be appreciated by all who have serious interest in this aspect of contemporary marketing. The author holds a Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University and is a respected professor at HEC, France. One caveat that I may offer prospective readers is the multiplicity of examples of French companies that may be somewhat unfamiliar to an American audience. However, this last-mentioned issue may also be seen as an advantage, insofar as it reveals the branding issues in a global marketplace.

Rating:
Summary: A big yawn
Review: Nothing to see here...move along.

Kapferer promises "new approaches" and delivers the same tired pablum. Not worth the time it takes to read it--you won't find anything applicable in the book.

Rating:
Summary: A big yawn
Review: Nothing to see here...move along.

Kapferer promises "new approaches" and delivers the same tired pablum. Not worth the time it takes to read it--you won't find anything applicable in the book.

Rating:
Summary: A big yawn
Review: Nothing to see here...move along.

Kapferer promises "new approaches" and delivers the same tired pablum. Not worth the time it takes to read it--you won't find anything applicable in the book.

Rating:
Summary: A holistic approach to brand architecture
Review: This book is a comprehensive and holistic approach to brand architecture. The author presents an expanded view of the meaning and role of brands and gives a new dimension, deeper than the single, limited conceptualization of a brand as a product. The role of the organizational associations, of the culture values and the emotional imput is very well integrated to understand the multidimensional meaning of a brand. This book will help brand, marketing and/or commercialization managers to best leverage their corporate, range and product brands. Additionally, the insights presented to understand brand and company valuations are very well explained. This book, by Jean Noel Kapferer, can be complemented with books written by David Aaker.

Rating:
Summary: A holistic approach to brand architecture
Review: This book is a comprehensive and holistic approach to brand architecture. The author presents an expanded view of the meaning and role of brands and gives a new dimension, deeper than the single, limited conceptualization of a brand as a product. The role of the organizational associations, of the culture values and the emotional imput is very well integrated to understand the multidimensional meaning of a brand. This book will help brand, marketing and/or commercialization managers to best leverage their corporate, range and product brands. Additionally, the insights presented to understand brand and company valuations are very well explained. This book, by Jean Noel Kapferer, can be complemented with books written by David Aaker.

Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Book!
Review: Unlike many brand experts who consider brand to be something that shifty marketers invent in dark rooms and then overlay on products, Kapferer suggests that there is an organic genesis to brand, having to do with the culture of the corporation that creates them. It's a refreshing concept, and one that is extremely valuable for the non-profit and service sectors, who don't usually create new products or services based on the latest market fad.

This is a much more conceptual approach to branding than I've seen in other works, and one that will serve as a good introduction to brand for someone who has no background in it. It's equally good, though, for someone who has trudged through other more tactical books, and even for someone who has a solid background in branding.