Managing Brand Equity
Capitalizing on the value of
a brand name
The most important assets of
any business are intangible: its company name, brands, symbols, and slogans, and their
underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness, customer base, and proprietary
resources such as patents, trademarks, and channel relationships. These assets, which
comprise brand equity, are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings,
contends David Aaker, a national authority on branding. Yet, research shows that managers
cannot identify with confidence their brand associations, levels of consumer awareness, or
degree of customer loyalty. Moreover, in the last decade, managers desperate for
short-term financial results have often unwittingly damaged their brands through price
promotions and unwise brand extensions, causing irreversible deterioration of the value of
the brand name. Although several companies, such as Canada Dry and Colgate-falmolive, have
recently created an equity management position to be guardian of the value of brand names,
far too few managers, Aaker concludes, really understand the concept of brand equity and
how it must be implemented.
In a fascinating and
insightful examination of the phenomenon of brand equity, Aaker provides a clear and
well-defined structure of the relationship between a brand and its symbol and slogan, as
well as each of the five underlying assets, which will clarify for managers exactly how
brand equity does contribute value. The author opens each chapter with a historical
analysis of either the success or failure of a particular company's attempt at building
brand equity: the fascinating Ivory soap story; the transformation of Datsun to Nissan;
the decline of Schlitz beer; the making of the Ford Taurus;
and others. Finally, citing
examples from many other companies, Aaker shows how to avoid the temptation to place
short-term performance before the health of the brand and, instead, to manage brands
strategically by creating, developing, and exploiting each of the five assets in turn.
DAVID A. AAKER is the J. Gary
Shansby Professor of Marketing Strategy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is
the author of over 70 articles and eight books on branding, advertising, and business
strategy and is one of the most widely cited authors in the field of marketing today.
298 pages