Vertical Brand Portfolio Management

Diederich Bakker develops a comprehensive planning process that can guide brand manufacturers in assessing the internal and external environment. The step-by-step planning process includes strategies to thoroughly audit brand portfolios and to review an organisation’s brand management capabilities. The planning process aides brand manufacturers in assessing product categories and in determining retailers for their suitability as cooperation partners. The proposed Vertical Brand Portfolio Management is based on the principles of brand portfolio strategy assigning clear roles for all brands including private labels. Instead of fighting the retailer products brand manufacturers are encouraged to cooperate with retail partners by offering vertically integrated brand portfolios. Based on numerous international case studies, the author offers brand manufacturers and retailers practical tools to consider collaborations in the production and management of private labels.

In this long-awaited book from the world’s premier brand expert and author of the seminal work Building Strong Brands, David Aaker shows managers how to construct a brand portfolio strategy that will support a company’s business strategy and create relevance, differentiation, energy, leverage, and clarity. Building on case studies of world-class brands such as Dell, Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Dove, Intel, CitiGroup, and PowerBar, Aaker demonstrates how powerful, cohesive brand strategies have enabled managers to revitalize brands, support business growth, and create discipline in confused, bloated portfolios of master brands, subbrands, endorser brands, cobrands, and brand extensions. Renowned brand guru Aaker demonstrates that assuring that each brand in the portfolio has a clear role and actively reinforces and supports the other portfolio brands will profoundly affect the firm’s profitability. Brand Portfolio Strategy is required reading not only for brand managers but for all managers with bottom-line responsibility to their shareholders.

This volume examines the importance of strategic brand imaging and brand management. It covers the fundamentals of launching, growing, leveraging, and managing brands in a global context, the strategic decisions related to brand building, and the integration of the 4Ps in implementing the brand strategy. The book presents a practical perspective on building brands through social media and using artificial intelligence technologies. Readers will get a clear introductory understanding about the role of consumer behavior, the research methods that every brand manager must be familiar with, brand architecture, portfolio, brand equity, and valuation. Branding requires vision to foresee, logic to understand the market, and the art of understanding consumers. This book is a guide for readers and professionals who are interested in all aspects of branding and brand building. It will also be useful for scholars and students of Marketing, Advertising and Brand Management, Business Studies, Business Communication, Media and Journalism and Public Relations, and for marketing professionals. It will help them understand fundamentals and practical application of brand management.

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,0, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, 65 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This paper argues that brand portfolio management is an inevitable discipline in marketing and has to be applied in the business practice. It presents the current literature about this topic, beginning with the general branding theories, covering basics and first approaches to brand portfolio management, and also takes the international focus on brand portfolio management. It shows a case-study of the fast moving consumer goods producer Unilever. Its "Path to Growth" strategy, where Unilever went through the biggest restructuring efforts in its history, is presented and analysed. The Unilever "Path to Growth" strategy, was a five year restructuring plan launched in 1999, in which Unilever sold an disinvested many established and smaller brands, cut substantial amounts of costs, laid off thousands of employees and restructured their brand portfolio considerably. The weaknesses and the benefits of "Path to Growth" are shown, and also brand portfolio management in general is described in this context. The Unilever case is analysed in detail. The motivations for brand portfolio management in general, and the specific restructuring campaign are shown and explained. Financial and qualitative analysis is taken. The outcome of the restructurings is evaluated and conclusions are taken. Recommendations for further studies are made and an outlook is given.

Adopted internationally by business schools and MBA programmes, this book is the ultimate resource for senior strategists, positioning professionals and postgraduate students to understand and overcome the challenges of brand management and strategy today, written by the leading international expert of branding, Jean-Noël Kapferer. The New Strategic Brand Management is simply the reference source for branding professionals and postgraduate students. Over the years it has not only established a reputation as one of the leading works on brand strategy, but also has become synonymous with the topic itself. Using an array of international case studies, this book covers all the leading issues faced by brand strategists today, with both gravitas and intelligent insight. It reveals new thinking on topics such as putting culture and content into brands, the impact of private labels and the comeback of local brands. This updated fifth edition builds on the book's already impressive reputation, including new content that will help students and practitioners stay up to date with targeting, with relevant research and market knowledge to support the discipline. With dedicated sections for specific types of brands (luxury, corporate and retail), international examples and case studies from companies such as Audi, Nivea, Toyota and Absolut Vodka; plus models and frameworks such as the Brand Identity Prism; The New Strategic Brand Management remains at the forefront of strategic brand thinking.

Understanding the global hotel business is not possible without paying specific attention to hotel chain management and dynamics. Chains are big business, approximately 80 percent of hotels currently being constructed around the world are chain affiliated and, in 2014, the five largest brands held over a one million rooms. The high economic importance of the hotel chains and their global presence justifies the academic research in the field however, despite this, there is no uniform coverage in the current body of literature. This Handbook aids in filling the gap by exploring and critically evaluates the debates, issues and controversies of all aspects of hotel chains from their nature, fundamentals of existence and operation, expansion, strategic and operational aspects of their activities and geographical presence. It brings together leading specialists from range of disciplinary backgrounds and regions to provide state-of-the-art theoretical reflection and empirical research on current issues and future debates. Each of the five inter-related section explores and evaluates issues that are of extreme importance to hotel chain management, focusing on theoretical issues, the expansion of hotel chains, strategic and operational issues, the view point of the individual affiliated hotel and finally the current and future debates in the theory and practice of hotel chain management arising from globalisation, demographic trends, sustainability, and new technology development. It provides an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in hotel management, hospitality, tourism and business encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study. This is essential reading for students, researchers and academics of Hospitality as well as those of Tourism, Marketing, Business and Events Management.

EBOOK: Managing Brands

The research focus of Carolina Sinning refers to the international strategic management of brands and e-commerce firms. She sheds light on how multinational corporations benefit from their perceived brand globalness as well as from the application of the endorsed branding strategy in terms of favorable consumer behaviour across nations. Moreover, she reveals successful time-based internationalization process decisions for e-commerce firms.