Brand Building : Brand management

Messrs. D'Esopo and Dixon share some of the tools and techniques they use to determine a client's most promising brand-building opportunities and how to prioritize investment in those activities.Customer Relationship Management.

Tony Hsieh explores the importance of focusing on the customer and the impact that a company’s culture has on ensuring that the brand building and consumers are one of the top priorities.

John Emmert from Ford shares insights on how collaborating with Microsoft to launch Sync, a voice-activated, hands-free mobile communications and digital music player access, exclusively in twelve Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products helped elevate their brands.

Members of the ANA Brand Management Committee were asked for the names of branding agencies that perform brand strategy, brand positioning and brand naming, as well as creative logo work. Agencies located in the Eastern or Central Region time zones were preferred.

This article discusses how the Brand Manager at Clorox Derek Gordon successfully used a combination of creativity, pragmatism and relentless focus on the consumer to overcome the challenge of marketing numerous brands on a global scale.

Renowned branding expert David Aaker discusses why branding is a vital element in helping an innovation succeed. Providing B-to-B examples and case studies, Aaker illustrates how branding can help your innovation stand out in a competitive marketplace.

Prophet's Senior Partner, Mike Leiser presents the results of a recent Innovation Study. He shares insights into how to acquire, analyze and build innovation internally. Specifically, demonstrates how to embark on the initial data analysis to get to innovative ideas and share how senior marketers, innovators and strategists should be defining and using innovation throughout their company.

This article explores the role Siemens Corp.’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tom Haas, has played in numerous campagins including the the launching of their new global brand campaign that coincided with the company’s 160th anniversary last October.

This cases study looks at the life of BASF Corp.'s slogan "We don't make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better."

Martyn Tipping, President of TippingSprung, discusses the key findings from the 2007 Tipping Sprung Survey which polled 25,000 subscribers of Brandweek, as well as a number of branding professionals, and the 785 responses came from a cross-section of major US and international companies.

The Director of Trendspotting Ann Mack shares J. Walter Thompson's (JWT) ten trends for 2008. The list provide marketers with insights on how their brand communications can become more powerful to resonate with consumers.

In this case study Chuck Kapelke decribes how State Farm used the combination of a 15-second commercial spot and the internet to attract young adults and improve their brand reputation among this population, many of which see "...State Farm as their parents’ insurance company.”

This article presents excerpts from CMO Thought Leaders: The Rise of the Strategic Marketer.

In this case study Edward Kim, the Direct-Marketing Manager at Unilever's Slim·Fast division, talks about the power of word-of-mouth marketing (WOM), and how new media platforms have effected WOM, and how it helped build the Slim-Fast brand.

The CEO of Atenga Per Sjofors describes in detail commonly made errors made by companies while pricing their products and services.

The former SVP for brand management and marketing communications at Verizon Communications and former CMO at Citigroup describes how brands stretch as services expand and evolve. The basic skill set required for good marketing has not changed, she maintains, but customers (and their needs) have changed enormously— and they continue changing almost daily. In such protean industries as financial services and telecommunications, the “single company message broadcast consistently to every audience” approach will no longer suffice. Instead, DeVard argues, companies must develop deep insights about a broadening array of customer segments and learn to communicate with each customer group meaningfully — and on the group’s terms.

Yahoo! former CMO Cammie Dunaway sharpens the focus on the audience for a company that serves half of the users of the Internet worldwide. Ask Cammie about the most important attribute for a CMO who wants to prosper in the 21st century and she has a simple two word answer: “intellectual curiosity.” It’s just that kind of appetite for information in a very new kind of electronic enterprise that has distinguished the work of Yahoo and its top marketing officer. In an environment where the rules can change from hour to hour, curiosity about what’s next is a corporate imperative for growth — not to mention survival.

The man who headed strategy and business development for the Foster’s Group, Neville Fielke globally provides a hands-on guide to rebuilding brand focus. A perfect world, says Fielke, is where business strategy and marketing strategy are one. His ideal marketer is a combination of a left-brain and a right-brain thinker: an individual equally comfortable considering “the big idea” and a P&L sheet — someone who is entrepreneurial and creative, yet analytical and objective. Fielke wants people who combine passion and objectivity with an ability to integrate, mobilize, and be conceptual; this, he emphasizes, demands a new level of diversity in the modern marketer.

The CMO of Bank of America and President of BoA Northeast Anne M. Finucane draws on an ad agency background to promote innovative customer connections. “Do I think marketing is a core competency of banks?” Finucane asks. “Well, I think there has been more recent recognition among financial institutions that it is absolutely critical to growth. With the consolidation in our industry and broadening of products, services, and delivery channels, competition has escalated. Distinguishing ourselves from the competition requires operational excellence — and innovative, effective marketing.”

Jim Holbrook, EMAK CEO and Michael Palmer, EVP, ANA, address how one can inherit the ability to make key marketing decisions within business organizations.

Richard Wilke, Senior Partner, Lippincott highlights reasons why companies without a marketing mindset are at a disadvantage and that those centered around their products are missing out.

Steve Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Communications, Liberty Mutual Group; Mike Sheehan, Chief Executive Officer, Hill, Holliday Advertising share their insights and reveal how Liberty Mutual has transformed its marketing model to ensure deep consumer relevance and clear differentiation - especially in comparison with well known competitors that feature humorous animations and cartoon characters.

The EVP for market development and corporate communications takes us inside FedEx’s customer-facing strategy. Michael Glenn discusses the company’s global growth beyond express delivery and shares its internal and external marketing strategies. He reveals how this public service company delivers its “Purple Promise” to consumers around the world.

The CMO of American Express Company talks about the company’s strategies that encompass Webisodes, scalable events, emotion, and proactive risk taking. To catch up with its fact-moving consumers, this credit card company began using new media platforms and content to create level of engagement with its customers.

Google’s SVP of global sales and business development explicates a variety of marketing models for a digital world. Omid Kordestani explains that advertising must provide an experience – something the user is looking for and finds valuable. He discusses how experimentation and research can help marketers understand their consumers and what marketing activities work and don’t work.

The SVP of strategic change management of imaging and print group at Hewlett Packard shares insights on the company’s decentralized structure and the various responsibilities of business units and corporate marketing. Cathy Lyons reasons why having a strong brand is essential and how it allowed HP to tap into new marketers, such as next-generation centers, graphic arts mobility, commercial and industrial printing.

The president of global marketing, sales, and innovation for Diageo PLC reveals the vital capabilities, analytical and leadership skills, and roles essential for successful CMOs to build world brands. Rob Malcom provides insights on Diageo’s marketing culture and shares their “media neutral” approach to engage consumers across all global markets.

Claire Huang, Fidelity, and Pam Hamlin, Arnold Worldwide share the business, marketing and organizational challenges that Fidelity faced during their brand transformation.

Kris Hart, from Harrah’s, and Kevin O’Donnell, from Prophet disscuss the research and assessment that led to the development of a dynamic marketing investment model and a new brand management organization.

Highlighted in this article are the insights of James Stengal, global marketing officer, Procter & Gamble Co.; Anne Finucane, chief marketing officer, Bank of America; John Hayes, chief marketing officer, American Express Co.; Cathy Lyons, senior vice president, Strategic Change Management, Imaging, and Printing Group, Hewlett-Packard Co.; and Cie Nicholson, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Pepsi-Cola North America, found in the new book, "CMO Thought Leaders."