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`Big change in brand building is the reduced role of media'
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 10/18/2006 10:35 AM
Following the success of previous forums, the Global Brand Forum, or ""The Davos of Branding"", is being held in Singapore on Nov. 6-7 at the Ritz Carlton. For the first time in Asia, the Global Brand Forum is bringing together famous business leaders and brand icons, such as Rudi Giuliani, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Bennis, Al Reis, Deepak Chopra, Anita Roddick, Lee Kuan Yew, Tom Peters, Scot Bedbury.
This year the Global Brand Forum will bring together a formidable speaker lineup comprising the world's most powerful brand gurus, such as Faith Popcorn (world's No. 1 brand trend forecaster), David Aaker (world's most influential brand strategy guru), Martin Lindstrom (technology branding guru), Jack Trout (creator of brand positioning) and many more luminaries in brand thought leadership on one platform. The following is The Jakarta Post's contributor Harmandar Singh interview with David Aaker.
Question: How should small and medium enterprises measure brand value?
Answer: A brand value will depend on its visibility, relevance to the customer, image and loyalty levels. All these can be measured by customer research. Its hard to put a financial value on a brand, and usually not very worthwhile. However, a brand value is obtained by placing a value on the business driven by the brand and partitioning that value into tangible assets, brand value and other intangible assets (like distribution, IT, people, etc.).
How do you encourage brand loyalty other than providing good quality and prompt delivery?
By creating links to your best customers through programs that involve them with the brand. Some categories like motorcycles, beer and cars have brands that create intense loyalty that can be influenced by programs. For example, Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle firm, has bi-annual parties where 100,000 Harley riders gather and a website where pictures of a rider's trip can be posted. So Harley does much more that provide good quality and delivery.
With a low advertising budget, how should a company go about branding their products?
Advertising is actually less of a factor for all firms than it once was because of the fragmentation of media. So the importance of alternative ways to build brands is increasing. The most important in some markets is the Internet, sponsorships and promotions. Local small and medium enterprises are stereotyped as enterprises that have difficulty attracting good staff, offer limited prospects for career development, with limited financial resources and are not tech-savvy. A smaller firm can offer more of a generalist position, one with broader scope and more responsibility. In a larger firm, you can be stuck with a very specialized job with little chance of quickly gaining a broad set of experiences.
This whole definition of what a brand means is a puzzling one, to some it is tangible, to others it is abstract. What's your take?
A brand identifies who is behind the offering. The important thing is to know that the offering is more than attributes and functional benefits. It includes emotional, self-expressive and social benefits as well.
Tell us a little of the magic you'll bring to the Global Brand Forum please.
I will talk about the major reasons to transform a brand to gain differentiation, energy and relevance and how to accomplish each.
What does it take to become a brand strategist?
In addition to a knowledge of brands, brand strategy and the products involved, an intense interest in and knowledge of customers because customer insight is a key driver of brands and business strategy.
How will technology impact brand building in time to come, particularly as consumers' attention span keeps coming down?
Technology can drive innovation and market trends and is one factor to look at when analyzing markets. The big change in brand building is the reduced role of mass media.
You created the concept of brand equity. How would you define it?
Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities such as awareness, image and loyalty linked to a brand that add to or subtract from the value provided by the product or service.
The Global Brand Forum 2006 is targeted at CEOs, marketing directors, brand custodians, creative directors, bureaucrats and entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific who are concerned with creating, defending and growing their brands. This is a once in lifetime opportunity to interact with, listen to and get practical brand ideas directly from the world's most influential brand gurus and practitioners who have created and advised the world's most powerful brands.
Through a series of intellectually stimulating speeches, panel discussions, extended Q&A sessions and knowledge, sharing opportunities held over two invigorating days, this inspirational and transformative experience will encourage debate, foster reflection and ultimately engineer change in the way companies in Asia manage their brands and business.
For information about the forum visit www.globalbrandforum.org
