Much has been written about brand love. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the ultimate, most brands fall in the middle to the lower end of the scale. Here's an article from the AMA Journal about a theoretical approach to brand love.
"As the marketing power of social media grows, it no longer makes sense to treat it as an experiment. Here’s how senior leaders can harness social media to shape consumer decision making in predictable ways." APRIL 2012 • Roxane Divol, David Edelman, and Hugo Sarrazin Source: Marketing & Sales Practice
A recent Marketing Science Institute study suggests that "firms should be cautious in the pursuit of risk-laden branded house strategies, and offer evidence that the financial markets do appropriately value a house of
The two most valuable brands according to Interbrand's 2012 survey are Walmart and Target, while Apple as a retailer, is not considered, at least among the top 50. Read more at: http://www.interbrand.com/en/BestRetailBrands/2012-Best-Retail-Brands.aspx
Lady Gaga and Madonna do it. We all should The latest issue of HBR contains a great article entitled: REINVENTING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND, with six excellent tips. One is "Leverage your points of difference." It's all pretty OBVIOUS ADAMS stuff, however worth the read and reminder. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/11/how_to_reinvent_your_personal.html
Millward Brown's latest newsletter includes an informative article on brand architecture. Six critical brand characteristics are described to help you determine whether your brand architecture is optimized. For example, is your brand positioned to differentiate? See: http://www.millwardbrown.com/Libraries/MB_Articles_Downloads/Nick_Cooper_AdMap_BrandArchitecture-Feb-2011.sflb.ashx.
According to Forrester, marketers are cutting their marketing communications budgets significantly. Are their brands at risk? Yes! A soft market can be an opportunity. Companies who increase their marketing communications budgets during recession experience a drop in ROI. However, these companies achieve greater market share gains; they are in a better position to reap post-recession profitability. (Strategic Planning Institute, PIMS database) For more on Forrester go to: http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47951,00.html.