How to use brands to gain and sustain competitive advantage.
Companies today face a dilemma in marketing. The tried-and-true formulas to create sales and market share behind brands are becoming irrelevant and losing traction with consumers. In this book, Gerzema and LeBar offer credible evidence--drawn from a detailed analysis of a decade's worth of brand and financial data using Y&R's Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), the largest database of brands in the world--that business is riding on yet another bubble that is ready to burst--a brand bubble. While most managers still see metrics like trust and awareness as the backbone of how brands are built, Gerzema asserts they're dead wrong--these metrics do not add to increased asset value. In fact, by following them, they actually hasten the declining value of their brands.
Using a five-stage model, The Brand Bubble reveals how today's successful brands--and tomorrow's--have an insatiable appetite for creativity and change. These brands offer consumers a palpable sense of movement and direction thanks to a powerful "energized differentiation." Gerzema reveals how brands with energized differentiation achieve better financial performance than traditional brands have. Plus, Gerzema helps readers develop energized differentiation in their own brands, creating consumer-centric and sustainable organizations.
John Gerzema (New York, NY) is Chief Strategy Officer for Young & Rubicam Brands. He joined Y&R from Fallon Worldwide, where he created that firm's global expansion strategy. A member of The Council of Foreign Relations, he is the recipient of more than a half-dozen industry awards and has appeared frequently on/in CNBC, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and various industry publications. Ed Lebar (New York, NY) is the CEO of BrandAsset(r) Consulting Group for Young & Rubicam Brands. He oversees the implementation of BrandAsset(r) Valuator, consulting across all lines of business, global accounts, and joint ventures. He founded StrategiConnections Inc., a firm specializing in brand positioning. He began his career at Y&R 32 years ago and has held the position of professor of economics at CCNY and Finch College.
