What Are Brands Good For?

Brands are an indispensable part of modern business. That is true in large measure because of a brand's remarkable efficiency in "aggregating" consumers - reaching large numbers of people with a promise to deliver a clearly stated benefit that sets it apart from competitors. But the i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMIT Sloan management review Vol. 46; no. 1; p. 31
Main Author Dawar, Niraj
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01.09.2004
Subjects
Advertising
Brand management
Brand names
Call centers
Communication
Competition
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Customer relations
Efficiency
Financial performance
Marketing
Packaged goods
Price cuts
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Summary:Brands are an indispensable part of modern business. That is true in large measure because of a brand's remarkable efficiency in "aggregating" consumers - reaching large numbers of people with a promise to deliver a clearly stated benefit that sets it apart from competitors. But the information revolution is undermining the logic of aggregation, the very source of brand power. Using customized publications, e-mail, direct mail, Web sites and call centers that are based on a common platform of consumer information, companies are demonstrating that they can effectively and efficiently drive consumer behavior through two-way communications. The implications of the information revolution for the role of brands in business are far-reaching. And companies' brand-centric structures are not suited to marketing initiatives that are based on reaching segments or individuals. Given this changed environment, the author calls on companies to rethink three core areas of brand management: the consumer relationship, the channel relationship and the organization of brand management. To support his case, he draws on detailed examples involving Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Tesco.
ISSN:1532-9194