Building A+ Brands (HBR Article Collection)

Safeguarding your brand equity has become harder than ever. Consumers are buying more non-branded products. Globalizing companies are having difficulty determining which offerings, in which countries, will yield the biggest profits. And many brand managers don't provide the care and feeding that leading brands require--such as making sure all marketing communications deliver a consistent message about a brand. How to protect your brands? Avoid using repeated discounting to boost sales if price-sensitive consumers are straying from your brand. Instead, beef up your advertising, new product development, and distribution strategies. Analytically determine which products, marketed in which countries, will deliver the best ROI. Then dedicate most of your marketing budget to high-ROI scenarios. Understand the 10 traits shared by the world's strongest brands--then ensure your brands get high grades on each trait. Boost your brand value, and you win customers' enduring devotion and the profits that come with it. The Harvard Business Review articles in this collection are: "If Brands Are Built over Years, Why Are They Managed over Quarters?" by Leonard M. Lodish and Carl F. Mela, "Optimal Marketing" by Marcel Corstjens and Jeffrey Merrihue, and "The Brand Report Card" by Kevin Lane Keller.