Synopses & Reviews
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
Synopsis
"Substantial market trends and transformational innovations are creating markets and making others irrelevant. The result is a major threat for nearly every business and a significant opportunity for a few. This book will be the first marketing strategy book to develop and leverage the concept of brand relevance. To remain relevant, a firm can create a new category or subcategory-- such as iPod, Cirque du Soleil, and eBay did-- where competitors are eliminated. Or a firm can redefine an existing category or subcategory by creating or elevating an offering feature or characteristic--as Prius created a subcategory defined by gas mileage and technology, or Westin did with its Heavenly Bed. In either case, a firm can create or own a new business arena or submarket in which some or all competitors are not relevant. Instead of being the best, the goal is to be the only--making competitors irrelevant"--
Synopsis
Branding guru Aaker shows 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; and create barriers to competitors by supporting innovation at every level of the organization.
- Using dozens of case studies, shows how to create or dominate new categories or subcategories, making competitors irrelevant
- Shows how to manage the new category or subcategory as if it were a brand and how to create barriers to competitors
- Describes the threat of becoming irrelevant by failing to make what customer are buying or 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.
Synopsis
This ground-breaking book clearly defines the concept of brand relevance and shows what it takes to channel innovation and manage the competitive arena so that competition is reduced or eliminated.
Throughout the book, branding guru David Aaker explains how brand relevance drives market dynamics using dozens of illustrative case studies involving brands such as Asahi Beer, Prius, Whole Foods Market, Hyundai, Zappos, Wheaties Fuel, Zipcar, Muji, Cafe Steamers, GE, SalesForce.com, and Apple. He reveals how brand teams have turned away from destructive brand preference competition by making other brands irrelevant.
Adopting Aaker's brand relevance model—in which innovative offerings form categories and subcategories—provides dramatic opportunities for brand teams with insight and the ability to lead the market. As Aaker explains, successful brand relevance competition involves four vital tasks: concept generation, concept evaluation, creating barriers to the competition and, critically, actively defining and managing the new category or subcategory. It also involves being on top of the market, the competition, and the technology so that they get the timing right, a crucial element of a successful brand relevance strategy.
Brand relevance is a threat as well as an opportunity to firms facing dynamic markets. Aaker shows how to avoid having a brand go into decline because people no longer consider it relevant.
Brands that can create and manage new categories or subcategories making competitors irrelevant will prosper while others will be mired in debilitating marketplace battles or will be losing relevance and market position.
About the Author
David A. Aaker is vice chairmanof Prophet Brand Strategy, an executiveadvisor to Dentsu Inc., and Professor Emeritus of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Winning the Brand Relevance Battle.
Cases: The Japanese Beer Industry and The U.S. Computer Industry.
Gaining Brand Preference.
The Brand Relevance Model.
Creating New Categories or Subcategories.
Levels of Relevance.
The New Brand Challenge.
The First-Mover Advantage.
The Payoff.
Creating New Categories or Subcategories—Four Challenges.
The Brand Relevance Model Versus Others.
2. Understanding Brand Relevance: Categorizing, Framing Consideration, and Measurement.
Categorization.
It's All About Framing.
Consideration Set as a Screening Step.
Measuring Relevance.
3. Changing the Retail Landscape.
Cases:
Muji.
IKEA.
Zara.
H&M.
Best Buy.
Whole Foods Market.
The Subway Story.
Zappos.
4. Market Dynamics in the Automobile Industry.
Cases:
Toyota's Prius Hybrid.
The Saturn Story.
The Chrysler Minivan.
Tata’s Nano.
Yugo.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Zipcar.
5. The Food Industry Adapts.
Cases:
Fighting the Fat Battle.
Nabisco Cookies.
Dreyer’s Slow Churned Ice Cream.
P&G’s Olestra.
From Fat to Health.
General Mills and the Health Trends.
Healthy Choice.
6. Finding New Concepts.
Case: Apple.
Concept Generation.
Sourcing Concepts.
Prioritizing the Analysis.
7. Evaluation.
Case: Segway's Human Transporter.
Evaluation: Picking the Winners.
Is There a Market—Is the Opportunity Real?
Can We Compete and Win?
Does the Offering Have Legs?
Beyond Go or No-Go—A Portfolio of Concepts.
8. Defining the Category or Subcategory.
Case: Salesforce.com.
Defining a New Category or Subcategory.
Functional Benefits Delivered by the Offering.
Customer-Brand Relationship—Beyond the Offering.
Categories and Subcategories: Complex and Dynamic.
Managing the Category or Subcategory.
9. Creating Barriers: Sustaining the Differentiation.
Case: Yamaha Disklavier.
Creating Barriers to Competition.
Investment Barriers.
Owning a Compelling Benefit or Benefits.
Relationships with Customers.
Link the Brand to the Category or Subcategory.
10. Maintaining Relevance in the Face of Market Dynamics.
Case: Walmart
Avoiding the Loss of Relevance.
Product Category or Subcategory Relevance.
Category or Subcategory Relevance Strategies.
Energy Relevance.
Gaining Relevance—The Hyundai Case.
11. Innovative Organization.
Case: GE.
The Innovative Organization.
Selective Opportunism.
Dynamic Strategic Commitment.
Organization-Wide Resource Allocation.
Epilogue: The Yin and Yang of the Relevance Battle.
Notes.
Index.