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What do brands like Ferrari, Apple and Starbucks have in common? Consumers don’t just love their products—they love their brands.

At a recent ACA webinar, Graham Robertson, author of Beloved Brands, explored the concept of building a brand idea and how it helps brands truly connect with consumers.

Who remembers the movie Moonstruck staring Cher and Nicholas Gage? It is a Norman Jewison directed romantic comedy about a woman engaged to one man but falls in love with his estranged younger brother. A little messy and a little perplexing especially for the woman’s grandfather, who, upon hearing the news towards the end of the film proclaims sympathetically, “I’m so confused”.

This must be how most marketers feel these days. Their professional lives are becoming increasingly complex on so many levels.

Consumer research, which was simply either quantitative or qualitative now has the added dimension of big data. One of the most cited pain points expressed by marketers is the amount of information they feel compelled to digest. They simply don’t have the time or recourses to properly exploit it. Big data can often cause big headaches.

I was recruited as a marketing assistant. I was the assistant to the assistant product manager. We helped the product manager research, write and defend marketing plans designed to sell more of our portfolio of products. We worked on frozen foods, Swanson and Pepperidge Farm Dessert brands.

Our focus was on selling product. We were measured on sales and market share gains. Perhaps we inherently knew we were building brands but that was not our focus. Our focus was on selling stuff. Brand value wasn’t discussed.

How the world has changed in the nearly 4 decades since. Lining my bookshelf today, next to the Campbell Soup mug, are some twenty-five books on brands. Over the course of my career product managers were replaced with brand managers.

By Theresa Treutler, President & CEO, TVB We invite you to be our guest at TunedIn 2014 on Thursday, April 3, 2014 at the Carlu to gain insight. Engage with industry thought leaders sharing the latest research, learning, and insights on how to grow brands in this multi-screen world. We’ve assembled a stellar line-up of […]

Let’s stop the craziness.

After sitting on the sidelines attending a variety of industry conferences over the past five years and listening to more than one pundit state emphatically that companies don’t create brands customers do, it’s time to call balderdash.

Times have changed but brand creation has not. If companies have relegated the creation, management and nourishing of brands to consumers I’d argue they’re just plain lazy.