Our thinking appears in marketing articles and publications around the world

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.

Michael Dunn's latest book helps marketing managers and CMOs make better marketing spending decisions and better evaluate the success or failure of these decisions.

In this article focused on professional services companies, Roger argues that there is a negative correlation between the time a services company completes the job and the level of commitment for clients to buy again. To combat this, professional services companies should adopt a new form of brand equity research.

While it is tempting to cut resources, slow down product launches, and refocus only on the core, companies that continue their commitment to innovation are more likely to reap great rewards.

Prophet Vice Chairman David Aaker argues that to succeed in today’s global arena, marketers must learn to appeal to consumers whose interests transcend individual products and regions.

Accountable marketing performance is an achievable goal. By focusing on, and unlocking the power of the six critical value levers, the marketing organization will prove out its value to the business as a whole as the creative yet rational source of future growth.

CMOs are responsible for managing the assets, resources, and tools that are needed to confront a crisis. That’s why they have to play a more active role in their organizations, trying to generate alternative solutions (instead of just following/obeying them). This article explains a 5-step process to develop an effective brand strategy. *Please note, this article is in Spanish.

Since brands are now assets when they are included in a business combination, ways of valuing them must be developed that take account of their special characteristics. In this article, we demonstrate that brands do have characteristics worthy of special consideration and that valuation professionals might have to adopt some unfamiliar approaches to do full justice to this form of intangible asset.

Peter Dixon shares the kind of thinking that helps businesses transform – whatever the economic conditions.

The troubled economy is forcing corporate leaders to re-evaluate their spending plans across the board and marketing is not exempt. In fact, marketing is often first in line for cuts as corporate leaders attempt to identify immediate cost reductions that may take longer to achieve in other areas.

In this article, Vanessa discusses Pizza Hut’s rebranding of some of its outlets as ‘Pasta Hut’ and whether or not it will produce long-term growth for the brand. (Also available at http://www.brandstrategy.co.uk/)

In this blog posting, personal branding expert Dan Schawbel speaks to David Aaker about his new book "Spanning Silos."

In this article, David Aaker examines how silo barriers within organizations can be reduced or eliminated, leading to stronger offerings and brands and effective synergistic marketing strategies and programs.  *Please note, there is a fee to obtain a copy of this article.

This article examines the Employee Value Proposition as a potential strategy for attracting and retaining the best people in tough times.

This blog post, written by Dan Schawbel, features an interview with David Aaker discussing his new book, "Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative."

This article outlines how CMOs can make better marketing spend decisions and evaluate the success or failure of their decisions. They argue that marketing effectiveness can be improved by following six key levers. *Please note, this article is in German.

David Aaker discusses concepts from his latest book, "Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative." He outlines a variety of ways to address silo-driven problems. *Please contact Prophet for a copy of this article.