Brand Asset Management

An executive summary for

managers and executive

readers can be found at the

end of this article

Brand Asset Management2:

how businesses can profit from

the power of brand

Scott Davis

Managing Partner, Prophet, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Keywords Brands, Assets management, Strategy, Customers

Abstract What do the most powerful corporations in the world ± Sony, Disney,

Coca-Cola, for example ± have in common? Their success has been driven largely by the

strength of their brands. As such, these and other successful organizations tend to manage

their brands as key business assets that are a crucial underpinning to the overall

corporate strategy. Scott Davis explains the rationale behind Brand Asset Management2

and explains how forward-thinking businesses that expect to dominate their markets can

put this approach to use in their own organizations.

Power of the brand

Introduction

Consider some of today's most powerful global companies: Sony. Disney.

Coca-Cola. Their brands resonate with the public, each having particular

associations for consumers ranging from innovation to family entertainment

to refreshment. The power of their brands has contributed substantially to

their continuing success. It is a fact that is widely recognized in these

organizations as well as by marketing and financial industry analysts and

helps make the case for why brand is as much of a business asset as

employees, equipment or capital ± and should be nurtured with the same

diligence.

The idea, as savvy businesses increasingly recognize, is that brand should be

supported as an asset that is essential to an organization's long-term,

underlying business strategy. It is something we at Prophet call Brand Asset

Management2 (BAM), which is a balanced, organization-wide approach for

building the meaning of the brand, communicating it internally and

externally, and leveraging it to increase brand profitability, brand asset value,

and brand returns over time. This...