Brand Aid: A Quick Reference Guide to Solving Your Branding Problems and Strengthening Your Market Position

by Brad VanAuken

Overview

Brand managers, marketers, and executives have long turned to the trusted principles in Brand Aid to troubleshoot their branding problems.

A catchy business name and a smart logo may get you a few clicks, but to create a sustaining image for your organization and build continual success will require the perfect branding statement. The essence of an organization begins with establishing its brand; therefore, it is essential to get it right.

With over 30 years of experience building world-class brands, branding expert Brad Vanauken covers topics ranging from research and positioning to brand equity management and architecture strategy. This invaluable guide has collected illuminating case studies, best practices, and the latest research to offer invaluable advice on every aspect of brand management, including:

• The 6 most powerful sources of brand differentiation
• 5 elements that trigger brand insistence
• Turning brand strategy into advertising
• Online branding
• Social responsibility, sustainability, and storytelling
• 60 nontraditional marketing techniques

An organization cannot afford to get their branding wrong. With the treasure trove of techniques, templates, and rules of thumb found in Brand Aid, it won’t!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400235506
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.05(d)

About the Author

Brad VanAuken is the president and founder of BrandForward, Inc., and former director of brand management and marketing for Hallmark Cards.

Read an Excerpt

New in This Revised Edition

While the first edition of the book included a chapter on brand building on the Internet, it did not include reference to blogs or social media, as those came into popular use between 2001 and 2010. (I wrote the original book between 1999 and 2001. It was published in 2003.) So, as you might imagine, I have completely rewritten this chapter, which is now titled "Online Brand Building."

Since I wrote the first edition of the book, shared values, social responsibility, sustainability, brand storytelling, neuromarketing, and big data have surged in popularity with marketers. I have added something about each of these developments in this edition. I added information on private label brands and on upscale consumers and their desires. I also included more in-depth information on basic human needs, fears, and other behavioral motivators.

Based on a burgeoning demand for brand architecture strategy by clients that have grown through mergers and acquisitions, I have expanded my coverage of that topic. I have added information on how to differentiate commodities and how to create "category of one" brands, a particularly powerful but seldom-used branding concept. a now include brand archetypes and a couple of other new elements in brand positioning statements, which are reflected in the new edition of the book. I have also added a section summarizing the six most powerful sources of brand differentiation. And, finally, I have added many new brand examples featuring more contemporary brands. a have extensively revised the book, but the importance of branding has not changed, nor have its core tenets, so you will find some older material and examples from the first edition of the book. I have not eliminated "evergreen" material that continues to be relevant today.

Brad VanAuken

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Foreword VII

Preface XI

Acknowledgments XIX

PART 1  INTRODUCTION TO BRAND MANAGEMENT

1 A Brand Is a Friend 2

2 Understanding the Language of Branding 5

3 Brand Management Process: An Overview 15

PART 2  DESIGNING THE BRAND

4 Understanding the Consumer 22

5 Understanding the Competition 37

6 Brand Design 40

7 Brand Identity System and Standards 66

PART 3  BUILDING THE BRAND

8 Driving the Consumer from Brand

Awareness to Brand Insistence 82

9 Brand Advertising 108

10 Nontraditional Marketing Approaches That Work 133

11 Online Brand Building 153

12 Developing a Brand Building Organization 169

13 Integrated Brand Marketing 183

14 Creating the Total Brand Experience 188

PART 4  LEVERAGING THE BRAND

15 Brand Extension 200

16 Global Branding 211

PART 5  BRAND METRICS

17 Brand Research 222

18 Brand Equity Measurement 236

PART 6  OTHER BRAND MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

19 How Organization Age and Size

Affect Brand Management Issues 254

20 Legal Issues in Brand Management 258

PART 7  BRAND MANAGEMENT IN BRIEF

21 Common Brand Problems 272

22 Keys to Success in Brand Building: A Summary 287

Appendix A: Brand Audits 293

Appendix B: Online Brand Management and Advertising Resources 301

Appendix C: References/Further Readings 306

Notes 317

Index 323