Strategic Brand Management [Hardcover]

Jean-Noel Kapferer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0029170451 | ISBN-13: 978-0029170458 | Publication Date: March 14, 1994

Thousands of companies now recognize that brand names are their most valuable assets, but too often branding is merely a tactical decision, almost an afterthought. In this thought-provoking work, Jean-Noel Kapferer, an international authority on brand management and marketing, provides the most comprehensive model for strategic brand management to date. With hundreds of examples and case studies of brands throughout the world, Kapferer deals with the very essence and culture of branding and provides an overall philosophy for every aspect of brand management.

At the heart of the book is Kapferer's concept of the brand as a pyramid with three levels: the apex is the "kernel" or core identity; the middle is the style or personality; and at the bases are the underlying themes and advertising programs. A brand, Kapferer argues, is not a product, but the product's essence, its meaning, and its direction. Strategic brand management starts with a holistic understanding of this "gestalt" rather than its component parts: the brand name, logo, design or packaging, and image. This "gestalt" must be "managed," not just in marketing, but throughout the entire company.

The most successful brand managers, Kapferer explains, search for new opportunities and new markets through the explosive phenomenon of global branding. Kapferer takes the reader through a comprehensive list of benefits, dangers, and pitfalls, and also step-by-step through each of the globalization phases -- from name transitions to maintaining consistency. He describes the conditions under which global branding works best, and the appropriateness of a multi-domestic marketing mix as opposed to a global mix. He also dealswith the corporate barriers to having global brands and the structural changes that corporations may have to undergo if they are to fully maximize the benefits of global branding. This hook, already a standard reference in Europe, brings branding in the U.S. into the 1990s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kapferer's innovative theories on brand equity and development expand the boundaries of marketing theory. He hypothesizes that "the primary capital of many businesses is their brands," which "identify, guarantee, structure, and stabilize supply." In a global marketplace, he notes, brands are the only truly international language, "the real capital of business." Kapferer, a French management professor, crafts elaborate theories and practical ideas regarding brand awareness, global branding, multibrands and brand territories. While his coverage of generics is paltry, his extensive analyses of branding strategies and his case studies (GE, Black & Decker, Proctor & Gamble) are extraordinary, as are his procedures on calculating the value of a brand. Kapferer's candid observations about brand extension, demarcation and management ("brand portfolios must be drastically reduced . . . brand management should not seek to be democratic") should trigger debate in management circles and academia.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

What's in a brand? After all, consumers know that Pledge by any other name would clean as brightly. Au contraire, argues French marketing expert Kapferer, brands have particular reputations in the minds of consumers that have been built up painstakingly over time and should be altered only with great care. Kapferer here considers how different companies, from consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble to heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, approach product branding: the key is the consistent communication of the brand's core image and what it represents, regardless of changes in the marketplace. Though Kapferer provides useful insights into managing and valuing a brand portfolio and strategies for international marketing, the text is a little overworked, and some of the interpretations of particular brand images are fanciful. Sometimes a good cigar is just a good cigar. Recommended for business collections.
Edward Buller, "Natural History," American Museum of Natural History
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 341 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029170451
• ISBN-13: 978-0029170458
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,573,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Book!, December 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strategic Brand Management (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A big yawn, December 11, 2001

By 

"dialmb" (Annapolis, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategic Brand Management (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical text, suitable for all marketing professionals., June 9, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Strategic Brand Management (Hardcover)

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.