Branding guru David Aaker explains how to eliminate the competition and become the lead brand in your market. This ground-breaking book defines the concept of brand relevance using dozens of case studies—Prius, Whole Foods, Westin, iPad, and more—and explains how brand relevance drives market dynamics, which generates opportunities for your brand and threats for the competition. Aaker reveals how these companies have made other brands in their categories irrelevant. Key points:
- When managing a new category of product, treat it as if it were a brand.
- By failing to produce what customers want, or losing momentum and visibility, your brand becomes irrelevant.
- You can create barriers to competitors by supporting innovation at every level of the organization.
- Using dozens of case studies, this book shows how to create or dominate new categories or subcategories, making competitors irrelevant.
- Aakers explains how to manage the new category or subcategory as if it were a brand and how to create barriers to competitors.
- The book describes the threat of becoming irrelevant by failing to make what customers are buying or by losing energy.
David Aaker, the author of four brand books, has been called the father of branding. This book offers insight for creating and/or owning a new business arena. Instead of being the best, the goal is to be the only brand around—making competitors irrelevant.
Praise for Brand Relevance "Aaker has nailed it (again)! The long–term viability of a business is inextricably linked to gaining a brand relevance advantage through new category and subcategory development and unique positioning."
Joe Tripodi, chief marketing and commercial officer, Coca–Cola
"Most of our work as brand builders is reactionary, chasing each other′s ideas. The result is a marketplace of sameness. David Aaker gives us fresh principles and real ideas to change that, to be truly innovative, to raise our game."
Jim Stengel, former chief marketing officer, P&G
"Aaker has hit the nail on the head with Brand Relevance. You′ve gotta take the leap or risk getting left behind."
Ann Lewnes, chief marketing officer, Adobe
"Brand Relevance shows how finding a higher purpose, a characteristic of great companies, can affect which brands customers perceive as relevant."
Tony Hsieh, author, Delivering Happiness and chief executive officer, Zappos.com, Inc.
"Loaded with powerful examples, David Aaker′s Brand Relevance book brings brand insight to the process of innovation."
Ian R. Friendly, executive vice president, General Mills
"Clarity jumps off the first pages it′s less about the brand–preference battle than the brand–relevance war. And clarity continues as he presents a disciplined process leading to relevance wins and shows how to make innovation pay–off in the marketplace."
Richard K. Lyons, dean, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
"Staying the course with familiar approaches to building brand preference risks the likelihood of being made irrelevant by those who jump on Aaker′s brand relevance lessons and find new growth paths."
Meredith Callanan, vice president corporate marketing and communication, T. Rowe Price
"A ′wake–up call′ for a market leader because if the relevance game is lost so is its market position."
Joseph K. Gross, executive vice president, Allianz SE
