Our thinking is appearing in publications around the world

Why are companies using brand valuation? There are many reasons including, in a few cases, sheer curiosity. Using a case study of the Australian wine industry, Roger explains why brand valuation is the thing.

Scott Davis’ latest book outlines the five shifts marketers must undertake to fundamentally shift the role of marketing and help drive both the growth agenda and bottom-line results.

Marketing is often described as a profession. It is not. If it were a profession, no one could be a marketer without having completed the requisite training and having the certificate on the wall. Marketing will never be a profession in the true meaning of that term, but marketers will become more professional in what they do if they augment their competency with these additional skills. 

Companies that are successful over the long term are those that use this economic turbulence to rethink and optimize their businesses and portfolios in preparation for the recovery that’s sure to come.

Our first report in an upcoming series examines the customer experience in the UK’s retail banking sector. Under the microscope for months, and the subject of intense criticism over its role in the current economic crisis, the banking sector perhaps has most to fear in terms of customer backlash.

Brand valuation has emerged from its introductory phase and is now on a steep growth slope.  This whitepaper focuses on the financial heart of brand valuation: isolation of the portion of “super profits” generated by the brand. It is argued that the brand is central to a firm’s ability to earn these profits and that it exerts an influence on the resources and capabilities that are directly responsible for a firm’s success. No other intangible has the same linear link between the market which is the source of a company’s revenues, and the wealth the company creates for its shareholders.

A common scenario in corporate headquarters these days features the Chief Innovation Officer having a meeting with her Innovation Council in the recently completed, state-of-the-art Innovation Room, frowning at the results of their efforts to create a “culture of innovation.” Why don’t they have it? Why aren’t they getting the output they need?

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.

Repairing the damage done to consumer confidence is not going to be easy, and many of the sector’s brands that were once pillars of the community (Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, and others) are beyond the task. But the work starts now, and falls to marketing leaders to draw on all the best thinking and resources at their disposal to get the job done.

Michael Dunn blogs about concepts from his latest book, "The Marketing Accountability Imperative," and discusses five tough questions in guiding how best to reduce and reallocate budgets.

Marketing is under threat. First it was tobacco, now it is alcohol and food, next it will be motor vehicles, carbonated beverages, and fast food restaurants. It is not the damage that these products are capable of that worries me — it is the attack on marketing as the cause that should concern the industry.

This article, focused on key themes from Scott Davis' upcoming book, "The Shift," outlines a series of profound shifts that have ushered in a new era in marketing. This era is marked by Visionary Marketers who know that no one is better suited to help drive the growth agenda than the head of marketing.

The National Hockey League is a remarkable turnaround story serving as a lesson for brand reinvention.

Countries are like brands, they make a promise about what they will deliver to the world and most importantly what they will deliver to their customers, their citizens.

When you think about prepared Hispanic foods, Goya is the brand that most likely comes to mind. Many brands are at a similar impasse, investing significant resources in the quest to become authentic Hispanic brands. But they end up stuck in the middle, unable to connect with this demographic group and undifferentiated against competition. Why?

Luxury brands face no small dilemma these days as they try to deliver growth without compromising cachet—all against the backdrop of a severe global recession that’s sure to challenge their fabled resistance to downturns.

Stories of marketing heroes who transform poorly performing brands never fail to enthrall us. But why do some brand leaders wait until their brands are at the breaking point, and at risk of joining such brands as Radio Shack, 7Up, or the GAP, for which renovation may be too late?

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.

Sony's three silos thwarted their efforts to create a new category and preempt Apple's iPod. It is likely that a product that combined the energies, resources, and customer insights of the three silos and was improved over time would have been successful and that the iPod opening would not have materialized.

Corporate reputation must be built. It must be supported and managed. And, it must be an authentic reflection of the business — its culture, value system, and behaviors. Businesses that expect to experience the kinds of success achieved by best-practice organizations will understand that truth. And they will create and live the kind of meaningful purpose that will allow them, too, to more effectively reap the benefits of a strong reputation.