Our thinking is appearing in publications around the world

In this article, Michael Dunn advises business-to-business brands to do their homework before entering the Chinese market. Are strategic partnerships the way to drive customer loyalty?

An illustration of how companies are beginning to take a broader view of brand as it shifts from its traditional role as part of the marketing function to play an integral part in the overall business strategy.

David Aaker's widely acclaimed book introduces the brand identity model and presents relevant case examples to bring it to life.

In this book, learn how to map out a strategy that can help an entire organization manage and live (not just think about) its brand.

Many business leaders are making important strides in transforming their marketing strategies to address changing competitive environments, emerging product and service categories, and evolving customer needs. They’re thinking in terms of solutions rather than products, stakeholders rather than customers, and redefining rather than upgrading. To be sure, these are significant advancements. Too often, however, leaders expect new marketing strategies to be successfully executed with old marketing capabilities. The fact is that great strategic plans have failed in the absence of capability shifts.

Over the past decade, gaming has established itself as a central part of our everyday lives. Social gaming in particular has become a widespread activity across practically all demographics. Christian explains what the next frontier for social gaming will be and what impact it will have on brands.

A recent survey of marketing executives found only 30% want to be a chief marketing officer. Small wonder, then, that CMO longevity is what it is: exceedingly short. How to make the CMO's job more attractive and, perhaps, stretch the tenure out? Read on.

The saying, "May you live in interesting times," is considered a curse, but wise leaders will understand it also as a blessing, and use it as a mantra in charting their course through the turbulence. 

An organization's senior-most marketing executives can position themselves to better serve as the missing link in the executive team — between marketing's capabilities and corporate growth.

It came as something of a surprise to me to learn that brand valuation is closely linked to a contributory cause of the world financial credit crisis. A big discussion point right now is how intangible assets that have no active market as a reference should be valued. Apparently, this was one of the major “last straws” in the demise of the banks which used level 2 as the method to value their assets and not level 1. If that means little to you, you are not alone.

Senior marketers, ask yourselves: Is marketing’s inability to get the traction it seeks within your organization real or self-imposed? Do you have control over the perception, power, influence, and abilities that marketing can truly bring to the table? Our recent study revealed several alarming findings that point to the need for marketers to start taking back control of the dialogue, and their destiny, within their own organizations.

Conversations with Marketing Masters offers new insights by gathering the collected wisdom of the most influential marketing thinkers of our age, each of whom has given a structured interview. Covering a wide range of issues and illustrating concepts with cases of success and failure, these seminal dialogues offer a rare look at what made each master great — and a glimpse of the marketing future.

Corporate and business unit marketers must recognize their differences and their common ground, and work together to maximize business success.

The anti-brand backlash can be contained, Kevin argues, by teaching those who think a brand is just a name slapped on a package that the true concept of Brand is the 360-degree experience a consumer has with it.

The word, innovation, is so over used that it’s almost lost all meaning. Yet, as with all aspects of business, innovation evolves. Innovation will remain the process by which newness comes into the world, but the how of innovation is in flux. New business landscapes, new technologies, and the wearing out of old models require us to reimage how we innovate.

Kevin O’Donnell believes innovation’s role as a driver of organic growth and a differentiator that adds substantially to a brand’s value remains as critical as ever. In his inaugural column in the newly relaunched Marketing News, a publication of the American Marketing Association, O’Donnell spells out one solution: Creation of innovation “systems” that foster actionable creativity.

This article addresses how to use brand architecture to drive top and bottom-line growth.

It’s no secret that brands are constantly in search of ways to build connections and loyalty with their customers. However many brands are tackling this challenge by blasting meaningless messages into the ether, hoping to gain a committed following. It's a sure-fire way to turn people off and eventually leave your messages falling on deaf ears. Strong brands engage consumers with authentic and consistent material that reflects an understanding of their interests and gets the dialogue going.These days, great content makes for great brands.

A point of view on the role CEO's play in creating brand-driven businesses and a toolkit to guide their efforts - reprint of Handbook of Business Strategy 2004

A point of view on the role CEO's play in creating brand-driven businesses and a toolkit to guide their efforts.