Product Description

Management fads come and go in the blink of an eye, but branding is here to stay. Closely watched by the stock market and obsessed over by the biggest companies, brand identity is the one indisputable source of sustainable competitive advantage, the vital key to customer loyalty. David Aaker is widely recognised as the leading expert in this burgeoning field. Now he prepares managers for the next wave of the brand revolution. With coauthor Erich Joachimsthaler, Aaker takes brand management to the next level - strategic brand leadership. Required reading for every marketing manager is the authors' conceptualisation of 'brand architecture' - how multiple brands relate to each other - and their insights into the ever-changing area of Internet branding. Full of impeccable, intelligent guidance, Brand Leadership is the visionary key to business success in the future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75785 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Build it ... and they'll come. Nope, not necessarily, not anymore. It's a crowded, crazy market out there, and no matter how fabulous your product or service, there's bound to be someone else delivering something pretty close. The solution? Take your product or service and...brand it! Though the idea has been around in management circles since the late 1980s, brand equity has never been more important than it is now. In Brand Leadership, David Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler set out to guide managers to the next level of the brand revolution.

Building and managing brands, though obviously vital and necessary steps in the process, do not make up the whole picture of the successful development of a brand. What is needed is strategic brand leadership. Implementing this kind of leadership, Aaker and Joachimsthaler insist, requires a radical shift in an organization's culture, its structure, and its systems. In their densely packed but accessible book, they outline what this shift is all about, and discuss the important components of brand leadership: defining and elaborating a brand identity; designing the brand's architecture to achieve clarity, synergy and leverage; building a brand beyond the obvious route of advertising by incorporating such aspects as sponsorship and the role of the Internet; and organising the entire company around global brand leadership as opposed to merely the creation of a global brand. To support and demonstrate their ideas, the authors conducted hundreds of corporate case studies throughout Europe and the US. Inspiring and useful tales of such brand-focused and brand-recognised companies as Virgin, Nike, Adidas and MasterCard are told in detail, and they touch on a host of other companies and brands to add texture to the lessons. As is obvious from these examples, achieving an effective brand leadership strategy requires awareness, understanding, passion and a heck of a lot of work. But in today's enormously competitive brand environment, the rewards can be--and are--well worth the effort. Brand Leadership provides invaluable advice for anyone looking to focus and direct that effort toward a profitable and lasting result. --S Ketchum, Amazon.com

About the Author
David A. Aaker is the E.T. Grether Professor of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a consultant to dozens of companies, including AT&T, Coca Cola, MasterCard, and General Motors. He is the cofounder, with Erich Joachimsthaler of the firm Aaker-Joachimsthaler Prophet Brand Strategy. His previous books include BRAND LEADERSHIP and MANAGING BRAND EQUITY, both published by The Free Press. Erich Joachimsthaler is the founder and CEO of Vivaldi Partners, a strategy, innovation, and marketing consulting company. He has published around 60 articles in academic journals centered on marketing issues. His most recent book focuses on the broadening strategic role of marketing in building growth businesses and is entitled: Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Find and Execute Your Company's Next Growth Strategy

Customer Reviews

Brand Leadership �David Aaker & Erich Joachimstahler
David A Aaker and Erich Joachimstahler have compiled a book on the subject of brands which is comprehensive in its scope, deeply researched and offers an in-depth analysis of current methodologies and practices. It is, however, not for the amateur. Their approach is academic and their language is dry, sometimes verging on the inpenetrable. If you are in the very high-brow stage of your MBA this the book for you. If you are a brand manager seeking a little light reading to brush up your skills - set aside a good deal of time.

A must!
Don't have a second thought. A comprehensive and stimulating text which is business critical. A must for any Marketing Student / Exec.

Brand leadership, this is what business needed yesterday.

David Aaker is the guru on Branding
David Aaker's previous books have been among the most lively and comprehensive in this field. These include "Building strong brands" and "Managing Brand Equity". In this latest book, Aaker and colleagues build upon earlier work and draw upon practical consultancy experience. highly commended.