Foreword
Leslie de Chernatony
Given the research I have undertaken over the years helping managers understand
the nature of their brand and the opportunities for strategically growing brands, I
am delighted to write the foreword for this insightful and most timely book. The
authors have done an extremely thorough job, diligently working through the
brand research literature to devise seven perspectives from diverse schools of
thought about perceptions of brands. From this typology, among other things, they
consider how the all-important brand equity is created and managed. The authors
are to be congratulated on grounding this text so expertly in the literature yet still
enabling management implications to be wisely crystallized.
Seeking to elucidate the nature of a brand is a daunting task, since brands are
like amoeba, constantly changing. At the most basic, brands start life in brand
planning documents, evolving as pan-company teams revise their ideas.
Ultimately, after being finessed by stakeholders in the value chain, brands reside
in the minds and hearts of consumers – hopefully in a form not too dissimilar from
that desired by the firm. The research neatly synthesized in this text coherently
brings more understanding to the challenge of understanding a corporation’s
brand and managing its growth trajectory. It is clear from the authors’ work why
diverse interpretations exist about the nature of brands.
From this well argued text it can be appreciated that one of the challenges
managers face is finding a suitable metaphor to ensure common understanding of
the firm’s brand. Without this, supporting brand resources may not be coherently
integrated. Furthermore, under the service dominant logic paradigm, it is more
widely recognized that brands are co-created through stakeholder interactions.
Managers not only have to understand each other’s understanding and inputs to
brand building, but also to recognize the way brand communities want to shape the
brand. Again, the authors helpfully elucidate the importance of brand communities.
There is much in this book that makes it an inspirational read.
Leslie de Chernatony
Professor of Brand Marketing
Birmingham University Business School