BOOK

Winning Through Platforms: How to Succeed When Every Competitor Has One

TED MOSER

Summary

Digital platforms are no longer for just the tech elite. They’re spreading to every company and industry, powered by the growth of sensors, streaming data, and AI. Platforms are to the 2020s what websites were to the 2000s. Websites let a company watch a prospective customer shop, interact with them as they explore, and add enough value during consideration to earn customer choice. Platforms – enabled by sensors, cloud hosting, and algorithms –light the valuable customer user journey that was formerly dark. They enable the company to watch the customer use what they have acquired, interact with the customer as they and others use, and add enough value to energize customer lifetime value growth.   

Just as companies wouldn’t have been able to thrive without deploying a website, going forward, they won’t be able to thrive without deploying a platform approach to business.   

How will you use platforms to drive your business success? And how will you succeed competitively when your markets get platform-crowded? Learn how to achieve uncommon growth with the help of the first competitive strategy and growth playbook written for current and aspiring platform companies. In the book, Prophet senior partner Ted Moser uses his years of advising many of the world’s leading technology companies, to reveal how to win through platforms.  

“Winning Through Platforms” decodes growth moves from a decade of platform competition, then communicates those moves through a platform playbook. It includes 24 proven platform strategies―such as customer coalition design, in-use enrichment, AI branding, and more.  

These playbook strategies are delivered through engaging stories of over 50 companies, plus proprietary frameworks and workshop-style questions that lead you to act. 

This impactful playbook will teach you how to: 

  • Use platforms to recharge your business portfolio 
  • Design platforms that are compelling to customers and hard for competitors to match 
  • Accelerate in-market growth through brand and demand engagement that spans your customer’s entire Choose and Use platform journey 
  • Innovate in high-impact areas that differentiate your platform and drive ROI 
  • Elevate your customer’s personalized platform interactions 
  • Transform your enterprise, operations and culture to drive superior performance 

CEOs, innovators, go-to-market leaders, and aspiring professionals alike will gain valuable insight from this book. Whether your company is just starting on its first platform journey or is a born platform disruptor, this book will transform your ability to win. 

Learn the platform playbook. Find and apply your plays. 

Take a sneak peek and read an excerpt from the Introduction here. 

Endorsements

“If you value fresh thinking, you’ll love this playbook. I’ve led platform initiatives across multiple industries – architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and trust intelligence – and the book’s platform plays apply insightfully to each one. It’s a thought-provoking guide, supported by compelling business examples, that can help you unleash broad growth opportunities through the power of digital platforms. It seamlessly leads you from strategic business decisions that unlock growth to best-in class-execution that produces tangible results.”

Lisa Campbell
One Trust CMO; former CMO & EVP – Business Strategy and Marketing, Autodesk 

“I wish I’d had Winning Through Platforms while I was at Microsoft evaluating our opportunities to apply AI for business and build ecosystems for platforms like Power BI. Creating shared value through cloud platforms is never accidental; fortunately, the authors systematically explain to readers how to creatively make platforms their catalyst for future growth, across industries. This playbook is an important new tool for leaders as they make strategic choices for the future of their business.”

Greg Nelson
Former Microsoft VP- Partner Ecosystem and General Manager -Business AI

“Winning through Platforms isn’t just any playbook – it’s a conceptual and practical blueprint for creating value in a world that increasingly runs on digital innovation. As a healthcare executive who leads systems transformation, I’ve found the book to be an indispensable strategic ally. It will speak to everyone charged with developing platform approaches to business. The clear and actionable ideas it provides for navigating the human dimensions of platform change are essential for every executive.”

David Grandy
VP-Strategic Innovation, Kaiser Permanente  

BOOK

The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding 

BY DAVID AAKER

Learn how to guide, inspire and enable effective communication of a purpose-driven branding program.

In his book, “The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding,” branding expert, David Aaker, shows a pathway to business and social program leadership and offers five branding “must dos” to guide, inspire and enable effective communication of the program. The book includes:  

  • A thorough case for why social programs are the secret weapon to helping business leaders build stronger brands and more connected work cultures, while supporting important social causes 
  • Powerful case studies from organizations leading with exemplary social programs
  • Tools and insights for integrating social programs into the organization and business 
  • Five branding “must dos” when building signature social brands 

Download the first chapter today.  

Loved the first chapter? Order the book on Amazon.

About the Author 

David Aaker is the author of more than one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized global authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world. 

Connect 

Want to interview David Aaker or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David directly. 

Reach out to learn how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business create signature social programs that capture the hearts of leadership, customers, employees and brand followers.  

BOOK

The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding

BY DAVID AAKER

Read the book to learn five branding “must-dos” to guide, inspire and enable effective communication of the social purpose and program.  

Summary

Winners in the future will embrace social program leadership … or fade into irrelevance with customers, investors and employees. It’s not enough for companies to commit to reducing energy or have an ad hoc budget for grants and volunteering. The world needs the resources and agility of large businesses to address existential threats in society with imaginative and impactful programs. 

In his book, “The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding,” branding expert David Aaker shows a pathway to business social leadership that include four strategies:  

  • Employ resources to address the most pressing societal challenges – like climate change and identity inequalities 
  • Create impactful, inspiring, and mission-driven signature social programs that will help business leaders build brands that are more relevant and purpose-driven as well as impact important social challenges 
  • Integrate the signature social programs into the business to bolster the organization’s brand as a mission-driven enterprise that is “doing good”
  • Create and manage a portfolio of signature social brands that inspire, engage and communicate with passion and clarity by using the five branding “must-dos” 

Highlights 

  • A thorough case for why social programs are the secret weapon to helping business leaders build stronger brands and more connected work cultures while supporting important social causes 
  • Powerful case studies from organizations leading with exemplary social programs 
  • Tools and insights for integrating social programs into the organization and business 
  • Five branding “must-dos” when building signature social brands 

Take a sneak peek and read the first chapter here.

Endorsements

“David Aaker, the branding guru, shows how to leverage signature social programs using vivid case studies. Integrating the social program into the business creates a win-win infinity loop.  ‘The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding’ is a must-read book for the purpose era.”

Joe Tripodi 
Former CMO at Coca-Cola, Allstate and MasterCard

“Every company should adopt a social cause beyond profit-making. Aaker has written the perfect book to help you find that cause and build a unique program and brand that makes a difference.”

Phil Kotler
The Father of Modern Marketing

“This is a roadmap for nonprofits who want to build an inspiring brand and attract active business partners. The five branding “must dos” are game-changing.”

Eve Birge
Exec Director, White Pony Express, “All of Us Taking Care of All of Us”

 

About the Author 

David Aaker is the author of more than one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized global authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods of brand building that are used by organizations around the world. 

Connect 

Want to interview David Aaker or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David directly. Reach out to learn how David and Prophet can help your business create signature social programs that capture the hearts of leadership, customers, employees and brand followers.  

BOOK

The Definitive Guide to B2B Digital Transformation

FRED GEYER

Summary

Sustained, profitable growth is increasingly uncommon for B2B companies as they face changing market dynamics and the threat of digital disruption. This book guides B2B leaders along a step-by-step path to uncommon growth through three transformative shifts:

  • The Digital Selling Shift to digital demand generation
  • The Digital Experience Makeover to digital customer engagement
  • The Digital Proposition Pivot to data-powered, digital solutions

Prioritizing customers over technology is the key to success.

The current paradigm of technology-led transformation is a recipe for failure. Successful digital transformation puts technology at the service of customers.

Rich case studies from Maersk, Michelin, Adobe and Air Liquide with best practices from IBM, Salesforce.com, Johnson & Johnson, ThyssenKrupp, and scores of leading B2B companies to illustrate in this book how putting customers at the heart of digital transformation drives uncommon growth.

Order Your Copy Here

Why B2B Leaders Need This Book

Endorsements

Vincent Clerc
CEO, Maersk Ocean & Logistics

“A thought provoking exploration of three crucial transformational shifts for B2B companies.”

David Aaker
Renowned brand strategist and bestselling author of Owning Game Changing Sub-Categories

“This book illuminates the secret sauce of digital transformation in the B2B space: the thrust should come from customers and how digital could improve their experience and relationship with the brand.”

Dr. Lars Brzoska
Chairman of the Board of Management, Jungheinrich AG

“This is a great guide to applying best practices to the formidable challenge of digital transformation in complex markets and supply chains. It provides the tools leaders need to move ahead.”

Lindy Hood
Chief Customer Experience Officer, Zurich Financial North America

“By providing case examples and step by step assistance in determining where to play, how to win, what to do and who to win, this book fulfilled my need for inspiring and pragmatic transformation guidance.”

About the Authors

Fred Geyer is a senior partner at Prophet. He has helped B2B clients in the financial services, healthcare, and technology industries – including Zurich Financial, AXA, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, Medtronic, and Avery Dennison – undertake customer-first transformations and address the challenges of digital disruption. Fred’s prior experience as president of Crayola Canada and chief marketing officer, North America, of Electrolux Floor Care, enables him to bring a practitioner’s perspective to making digital transformation work in the real world.

Joerg Niessing is a member of the faculty at INSEAD and is a globally recognized expert and strategic advisor on digital transformation, digital strategy, customer-centricity, and data analytics. He is the program director of INSEAD’s flagship programs “B2B Marketing Strategies” and “Leading Digital Marketing Strategy.” Over the past five years, Joerg has engaged with more than 3,000 executives from a wide range of companies in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia, including Google, Kone, Roche, Maersk, Michelin, IBM, Thales, PwC, and Kion.  Joerg’s prior experience as head of Prophet’s Insight and Analytics practice, along with his previous work as a marketing data scientist, inform his insights on ensuring that digital transformations are data-driven, customer-centric, and drive sustainable growth.

Connect

Want to speak to Fred about how to become more consumer-centric and implement the essential shifts needed to unlock growth? Contact us today. And if you’re a leader looking for more insights into the B2B sector then visit the B2B Digital Transformation resource hub here.

BOOK

Owning Game-Changing Subcategories

DAVID AAKER

Summary

The only way to grow (with rare exceptions) is with “must-haves” that define game-changing subcategories. These subcategories must offer new or markedly superior customer experiences or brand relationships, an exemplar brand that positions the subcategory and creates barriers to competitors.

Subcategory-driven growth has exploded in the digital era because of technological advances and the fast, inexpensive market access made possible by e-commerce and digital communication.

The alternative, “my brand is better than your brand” competition, rarely generates growth because markets are so stable and difficult to disrupt. The book includes case studies from numerous companies including Airbnb, Etsy, Warby Parker, Prius and Muji to illustrate how subcategory creation has led to uncommon growth.

Highlights

  • Explanation of why growth almost always involves “must-haves” defining new subcategories, earning exemplar brand status, and creating competitor barriers
  • Tips for finding “must-haves” and examples with case studies featuring notable leading brands
  • Deep dive into how digital tech trends like e-commerce, the Internet of Things, brand communities and more that drive growth through subcategory formation

Endorsements

I really LOVE this book!! It is so right for organizations looking to drive growth. Through compelling insights, Aaker shows how to employ the Digital Revolution to create and own  Subcategories highly relevant to customers. A MUST READ book for our Digital times!

Joe Tripodi
Former CMO of Coca-Cola, Allstate, MasterCard, and Subway

David Aaker uses economics and case studies to show how growth comes from inspired breakthroughs that create new subcategories and not from expanding market programs.  Use the 20 takeaways to find your own subcategory breakthrough.

Philip Kotler
The Father of Modern Marketing

David Aaker teaches us how to grow in the digital era by harnessing the power of subcategories. A must have for all business leaders.

Yong-Jin Chung
Vice Chairman, Shinsegae Group (Korea’s Largest  Retailer)

Media

“From Brand to Subcategory Competition” in European Journal of Marketing, Fall 2018

“Winning in the Sharing Economy—Six Keys to Airbnb’s Success, ‘ Journal of Brand Strategy, February, 2019.

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of more than one hundred articles and 17 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized global authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

Explore how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business create game-changing brands that resonate with both your customers and employees.

BOOK

Making the Healthcare Shift: The Transformation to Consumer-Centricity

SCOTT DAVIS, JEFF GOURDJI

Summary

As the industry sits on the edge of disruption, healthcare organizations need to transform to stay relevant.

Healthcare organizations now have both the motive and means to empower, engage, equip and enable consumers. While healthcare organizations have recognized the need to change, they have struggled to get started and sustain the effort. Based on conversations with leading healthcare organizations such as Mayo Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare, Geisinger, Anthem, Aetna, Pfizer, Novartis and more, the book identifies five required shifts organizations can make to better compete in this evolving landscape.

Through case studies and practical examples, Making the Healthcare Shift provides healthcare leaders across the healthcare ecosystem with a playbook to make their organizations more consumer-centric.

“Making the Healthcare Shift: The Transformation to Consumer-Centricity” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play or wherever books are sold.

Highlights

  • Identifies the five shifts healthcare companies need to make to become more consumer-centric.
  • Offers case studies and practical advice on how to make these five shifts become a reality.
  • Reveals how traditional healthcare organizations (payers, providers, pharma companies) can prepare for the changes to come and re-invent how they engage with consumers.
  • Provides practical advice for healthcare leaders across the globe who have the fortitude to transform their organizations to both compete and win in the age of healthcare consumerism.

Endorsements

Andrew Dreyfus
Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

“The time has come to put the consumer at the center of everything. Scott and Jeff offer a guide to that important change. It’s grounded in consumer relationships that are built on partnership and collaboration”

Kevin Kumler
President of Health Systems, Zocdoc

“Our partners are getting more than the technology we provide – we help healthcare organizations become more digital and agile in nature. Scott and Jeff do a great job providing practical advice on how healthcare organizations can successfully partner with digital health companies.”

David Edelman
Chief Marketing Officer, Aetna

“Living the transformation in health, I know the path is not simple” That is why it is so refreshing to see the learning Scott and Jeff have brought in an extremely useful guide for change.”

Peter Corfield
Chief Commercial Officer, Spire Healthcare, U.K.

“…This book will help healthcare leaders – in any geography – win with consumers in their markets.”

About the Authors

Scott Davis

Scott is the Chief Growth Officer of Prophet, a leading strategic growth firm.  In over 25 years of brand and marketing strategy consulting, he has worked across an array of clients, including, GE, Allstate, Hershey’s, Microsoft, Boeing, Sara Lee, NBC Universal, the NBA, Target, Gulfstream, United Airlines, the City of Chicago. His work in healthcare includes Johnson & Johnson, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Mayo Clinic, Novant Health and an array of provider systems in the US and across the globe. Scott is a frequent guest lecturer at MBA programs across the country and served as an adjunct professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Scott is a contributing columnist at forbes.com and is the author of 3 previous books, including The Shift:  The Transformation of Today’s Marketers into Tomorrow’s Growth Leaders.

Jeff Gourdji

Jeff is a Partner and co-leader of the healthcare practice at Prophet.  With over 20 years of leading high-impact marketing & strategy projects, Jeff brings a breadth of experience that comes from working across many industries as a marketing practitioner, management consultant and political strategist. Jeff has worked extensively across the health care value chain across an array of growth challenges.  His current and past clients include Mayo Clinic, Northwestern Medicine, Encompass Health, Anthem, Eli Lilly & Company and several Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. Jeff is a frequent speaker and writer on healthcare topics and has been published or cited in Becker’s Hospital Review, Modern Healthcare, Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M), PM 360 and the Chicago Tribune. Jeff received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Connect

Want to speak to Scott or Jeff about how to become more consumer-centric? Contact us today.

BOOK

Creating Signature Stories

DAVID AAKER

Summary

Stories are a hot topic in marketing because they gain attention, persuade and are easily remembered. That is particularly true in the digital world where content is king and stories draw people in.

The concept of a signature story – an intriguing, authentic, involving narrative – applies the power of stories to strategic messaging.

Communicating the organization’s brand vision, values and strategy is a way to create a connection with customers and inspire and guide employees; something that is nearly impossible to do with a set of facts. Learning to create and leverage signature stories has truly become a “must-have” management competence.

“Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging That Persuades, Energizes and Inspires” is available at AmazonBarnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, or wherever books are sold.

Highlights

  • Defines a new concept, signature stories, that helps organizations introduce storytelling into strategic messaging both internally and externally.
  • Explains the power of storytelling to energize, gain visibility, persuade and inspire.
  • Explains how to find or create signature stories, evaluate their potential and leverage them over time.
  • Leverages a variety of case studies to illustrate concepts and provide examples.

Reviews

Linda Boff
VP & CMO at GE

A great story for storytellers everywhere. David Aaker’s in-depth look at what makes a great story plus his powerful examples are a shining example for brands, marketers and all of us who recognize the power of signature stories to inspire, motivate, sell and drive our companies forward.”

Cheryl Burgess
CEO, Blue Focus Market

“The father of modern branding, David Aaker argues persuasively that in our hyper-growing but fragmented digital, social and content worlds, effective brand storytelling cuts through the noise, and skepticism to connect with the hearts and minds of today’s employees, consumers and customers.”

Peter Guber
Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, author of “Tell to Win”

“Aaker, the branding guru, demonstrates how to find or create signature stories that are intriguing, authentic and engaging, and how to manage them to energize your brand to persuade and inspire to action employees and customers.”

Media

About the Author

David Aaker is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

Explore how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business create signature stories that resonate with your customers and employees.

BOOK

Three Threats to Brand Relevance: Strategies That Work

DAVID AAKER

Summary

From branding guru David Aaker comes “Three Threats to Brand Relevance: Strategies That Work,” a provocative new offering in the Jossey-Bass Short Format series. In Three Threats Aaker reveals that the key to an organization’s sustained growth is to learn what it takes to bring “big” innovation to market and create barriers to competitors.

Aaker also shows how well-established companies can avoid becoming irrelevant in the face of the continuing parade of marketing dynamics led by others. Building on his full-length book “Brand Relevance”, Aaker offers a guide for confronting the three threats if they emerge and shows how to put in place the strategies that will keep the threats at bay. David Aaker says,

“Threats to brand relevance are always lurking around the corner. Your brand is virtually never immune from the risk of fading instead of being energized or being damaged instead of strengthened.”

The Three Threats to Brand Relevance

Threat #1:

A decline in category or subcategory relevance. Customers simply no longer want to buy what you are making, despite the fact you are offering a quality product and some customers love it.

Threat #2:

The loss of energy relevance. Without energy the brand simply does not come to mind as other more visible brands and a decline in energy can create a perception that it is locked in the past, suitable for an older generation.

Threat #3:

The emergence of a “reason-not-to-buy.” The brand may have a perceived quality problem or be associated with a firm policy that is not acceptable.

“Three Threats to Brand Relevance: Strategies That Work” is available at AmazonBarnes & Noble, Books-A-Million or wherever books are sold.

Highlights

  • 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

Media

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

Explore how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business build a more relevant brand.

BOOK

Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant

DAVID AAKER

Summary

David Aaker, the father of branding, 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. He shows how to eliminate the competition and become the lead brand in your market.

“Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or wherever books are sold.

Highlights

  • 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

Endorsements

Joe Tripodi
Chief marketing and commercial officer, Coca-Cola

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.

Jim Stengel
Former chief marketing officer, P&G

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.

Ann Lewnes
Chief marketing officer, Adobe

Aaker has hit the nail on the head with Brand Relevance. You’ve gotta take the leap or risk getting left behind.”

Tony Hsieh
Author, Delivering Happiness and chief executive officer, Zappos.com, Inc.

Brand Relevance shows how finding a higher purpose, a characteristic of great companies, can affect which brands customers perceive as relevant.”

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

Explore how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business build relevant brands.

BOOK

Aaker on Branding: 20 Principles That Drive Success

DAVID AAKER

Summary

“Aaker on Branding” presents in a compact form the twenty essential principles of branding that will lead to the creation of strong brands. Culled from the six David Aaker brand books and related publications, these principles provide the broad understanding of brands, brand strategy, brand portfolios and brand building that all business, marketing and brand strategists should know.

This book is a source for how you create and maintain strong brands and synergetic brand portfolios. It provides a checklist of strategies, perspectives, tools, and concepts that represents not only what you should know but also what action options should be on the table. When followed, these principles will lead to strong, enduring brands that both support business strategies going forward and create coherent and effective brand families.

Those now interested in and involved with branding are faced with information overload, not only from the Aaker books but from others as well. It is hard to know what to read and which elements to adapt to. There are a lot of good ideas out there but also some that are inferior, need updating or are subject to being misinterpreted and misapplied. And there are some ideas that, while plausible, are simply wrong if not dangerous especially if taken literally.

“Aaker on Branding” offers a sense of topic priorities and a roadmap to David Aaker’s books, thinking, and contributions. As it structures the larger literature of the brand field, it also advances the theory of branding and the practice of brand management and, by extension, the practice of business management.

“Aaker on Branding: 20 Principles That Drive Success” is available at Amazon (US/UK), Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or wherever books are sold.

Endorsements

Ann Lewness
CMO Abode Technology

“Nobody knows brand strategy better than David Aaker. Aaker has taken all of the essential principles of branding and collapsed them into one epic brand book. Whether you’re a seasoned brand marketer or just getting started, this book will provide you with a practical path to creating, nurturing and leveraging strong brands.”

Joseph V. Tripodi
Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Coca-Cola

Professor Aaker has truly given the business world a gift: A highly concise and wonderfully cogent and insightful tutorial on the principles of brand stewardship and leadership.”

Richard Lyons
Dean, Berkeley-Haas School of Business Administration.

I am a devoted user of David Aaker’s work over many years, I like many of you have benefitted from his insights in chunks. Here those chunks are all pulled together, and seasoned with years of his own applied work. It’s just outstanding.

MaryKay Kopf
Global CMO of the Electrolux Group

Addresses ten strategic brand challenges including created a compelling brand vision, getting digital brand building right, and building the brand internally.

Elisa Steele
CMO Consumer Apps and Service, Microsoft

David’s new book is for learners and experts alike; a knowledge center for branding principles and strategies every marketer needs to know and practice. Why go anywhere else?

Steven Althaus
Director of Brand Management

Provocative, rooted in substance, a guiding star for modern marketers!

Sue Shim
Global CMO, Samsung Electronics

David Aaker provides 20 core principles and practical steps to create, enhance and leverage powerful brand asset, which can bring sustainable growth. It is a must read for businessman who want to find a key to future success led by power of brand.

Larry Light
CMO Consumer Apps and Service, Microsoft

David Aaker has created a must-read review of enduring principles and current challenges for 21st Century marketers.

Jim Stengel
Former Global Marketing Officer

David Aaker’s many books have been helpful guideposts for my career in business and marketing. Here is a great book that succinctly summarizes what he has learned in his storied career about building enduring, successful brands. Apply David’s 20 principles, and your brand will be more successful, and you will be a better leader guaranteed!

John Wallis
CMO Consumer Apps and Service, Microsoft

I found the book to be compelling reading for any CMO in this ever changing time and world. It touched raw nerves of challenges we are facing as a company and increased my to do list. And it connected the dots of the evolving role of marketers in organizations.

Philip Kotler
co-author of Marketing Management, 14th ed

The real test of marketing genius is not to produce a successful product but to build a lasting brand. Dave Aaker has done more to help us understand brand building than anyone else.

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy, and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

Explore how David Aaker and Prophet can help your business create signature stories that resonate with your customers and employees.

BOOK

Managing Brand Equity

David Aaker

Summary

In a fascinating and insightful examination of the phenomenon of brand equity, Aaker provides a clear and well-defined structure of the relationship between a brand and its symbol and slogan, as well as each of the five underlying assets, which will clarify for managers exactly how brand equity does contribute value.

The most important assets of any business are intangible: its company name, brands, symbols and slogans, and their underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness, customer base and proprietary resources such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships. These assets, which comprise brand equity, are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings, contends David Aaker, a national authority on branding. Yet, research shows that managers cannot identify with confidence their brand associations, levels of consumer awareness or degree of customer loyalty. Moreover in the last decade, managers desperate for short-term financial results have often unwittingly damaged their brands through price promotions and unwise brand extensions, causing irreversible deterioration of the value of the brand name. Although several companies, such as Canada Dry and Colgate-Palmolive, have recently created an equity management position to be guardian of the value of brand names, far too few managers, Aaker concludes, really understand the concept of brand equity and how it must be implemented.

He opens each chapter of “Managing Brand Equity” with a historical analysis of either the success or failure of a particular company’s attempt at building brand equity: the fascinating Ivory soap story, the transformation of Datsun to Nissan, the decline of Schlitz beer, the making of the Ford Taurus and others. Finally, citing examples from many other companies, Aaker shows how to avoid the temptation to place short-term performance before the health of the brand and, instead, to manage brands strategically by creating, developing and exploiting each of the five assets in turn.

“Managing Brand Equity” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever books are sold.

Endorsements

William Wells
Executive Vice-President, DDB Needham Worldwide

Brand equity is among the hottest topics in advertising and marketing today. This book is the most comprehensive and most insightful source available.

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

BOOK

Brand Portfolio Strategy

DAVID AAKER

Summary

In this long-awaited book from the world’s premier brand expert and author of the seminal work Building Strong Brands, David Aaker shows managers how to construct a brand portfolio strategy that will support a company’s business strategy and create relevance, differentiation, energy, leverage and clarity. Building on case studies of world-class brands such as Dell, Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Dove, Intel, CitiGroup and PowerBar, Aaker demonstrates how powerful, cohesive brand strategies have enabled managers to revitalize brands, support business growth and create discipline in confused, bloated portfolios of master brands, sub-brands, endorser brands, co-brands and brand extensions.

Renowned brand guru Aaker demonstrates that assuring that each brand in the portfolio has a clear role and actively reinforces and supports the other portfolio brands will profoundly affect the firm’s profitability. Brand Portfolio Strategy is required reading not only for brand managers but for all managers with bottom-line responsibility to their shareholders.

“Brand Portfolio Strategy: Creating Relevance, Differentiation, Energy, Leverage, and Clarity” is available at Amazon or wherever books are sold.

Highlights

  • Brands are underleveraged
  • The business strategy is at risk because of inadequate brand platforms
  • The business faces a relevance threat caused by emerging subcategories
  • The firm’s brands are tired and bland
  • Strategy is paralyzed by a lack of priority among the brands
  • Brands are cluttered and confusing to both customers and employees
  • The firm needs to move into the super-premium or value arenas to create margin or sales volume
  • Margin pressures require points of differentiation

Endorsements

Bernhard Eggli
Head of Brand Management, UBS

There’s no authority on branding to equal David Aaker, and here he shows again his weight of experience and keenness of insight. This is a thoughtful exploration of how to structure, manage, and extend a brand portfolio for maximum value. The passages on how to energize and differentiate a brand are especially illuminating. Excellent.

Sam Hill
President, Helios Consulting; former Vice Chairman, DMB&B

Brand portfolio optimization will be the value-creating management approach of the next decade, and will change the way we do business as fundamentally as has business process reengineering or six sigma. Dr. Aaker has written a simple and pragmatic guidebook that will be tremendously useful to strategists. He has almost single-handedly transformed branding from an art into a science, and no one is better qualified to lead the discussion on brand portfolio strategy.

Anna Catalano
Group Vice President, Marketing, BP

Aaker’s epilogue of 20 takeaways should be a bible for all brand managers who want to drive business success.

Peter Sealey Ph.D.
Former Chief Marketing Officer, The Coca-Cola Company

Brand Portfolio Strategy hits the mark dead center into the most relevant and hotly debated topic in marketing today. Aaker builds on his previous trilogy of seminal branding books with his best offering yet — a great strategic and practical read.

Philip Kotler
Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Brand Portfolio Strategy is a ‘must’ read for any company saddled with brands whose roles and relationships go begging for clarification and wiser direction. David Aaker, our most original conceptual thinker on branding, has again pushed brand management into exciting new territory.

About the Author

David Aaker, is the author of over one hundred articles and 18 books on marketing, business strategy and branding that have sold over one million copies. A recognized authority on branding, he has developed concepts and methods on brand building that are used by organizations around the world.

Connect

Want to interview Dave or feature him on your next podcast? Please connect with us or David Aaker directly.

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