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-Palmolive, 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.
