Strategic Brand Management (Hardcover)

by Jean-Noel Kapferer (Author) "Many corporations have forgotten why they have brands..." (more)
Key Phrases: Nina Ricci, General Electric, United States (more...)

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 341 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; illustrated edition edition (March 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029170451
• ISBN-13: 978-0029170458
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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

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

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

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.