Building Strong Brands

Aaker (marketing, Univ. of California- Berkeley) has written a sequel to his Managing Brand Equity (Free Pr., 1991). In this latest offering he tells how to deal with the fragmentation of markets by building brand identity, creating brand personality, and managing a brand system. With extensive case studies and illustrations of companies' ads, he emphasizes positioning a brand personality to match that of the consumer being targeted. Kingsford, known for its charcoal, tried to move into a line of foods but failed, unable to shake its charcoal image. Healthy Choice created the perception that healthy foods can taste good. Saturn developed from a new company in an old industry and had to "sell the company, not the car." Aaker's well-written book is for specialists in the field of marketing. Recommended for large business collections.