Coca-Cola. Harley-Davidson. Nike. Budweiser. Valued by customers more for what they symbolize than for what they do, products like these are more than brands--they are cultural icons. How do managers create brands that resonate so powerfully with consumers? Based on extensive historical analyses of some of America's most successful iconic brands, including ESPN, Mountain Dew, Volkswagen, Budweiser, and Harley-Davidson, this book presents the first systematic model to explain how brands become icons. Douglas B. Holt shows how iconic brands create "identity myths" that, through powerful symbolism, soothe collective anxieties resulting from acute social change. Holt warns that icons can't be built through conventional branding strategies, which focus on benefits, brand personalities, and emotional relationships. Instead, he calls for a deeper cultural perspective on traditional marketing themes like targeting, positioning, brand equity, and brand loyalty--and outlines a distinctive set of "cultural branding" principles that will radically alter how companies approach everything from marketing strategy to market research to hiring and training managers. Until now, Holt shows, even the most successful iconic brands have emerged more by intuition and serendipity than by design. With How Brands Become Icons, managers can leverage the principles behind some of the most successful brands of the last half-century to build their own iconic brands. Douglas B. Holt is associate professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School.

“Iconic brands” (ie: Coca-Cola, Volkswagon, Corona) have social lives and cultural significance that go well beyond product benefits and features This book distills the strategies used to create the world’s most enduring brands into a new approach called “cultural branding". Brand identity is more critical than ever today, as more and more products compete for attention across an ever-increasing array of channels. This book offers marketers and managers an alternative to conventional branding strategies, which often backfire when companies attempt to create identity brands.

The author explains why the most successful brands--whether products, services, or organizations--create a culture of belief, in which the consumer develops a powerful emotional attachment to the brand as the best of its kind.

"Here are the stories of iconic products along with anecdotes highlighting what made them shine above the rest. A vivid color photograph that captures the essence of the brand accompanies each story. Listings containing the "vital statistics" of each brand - who owns the company, where it is located, its number of employees, annual sales, and top managers - make this an indispensable reference."--BOOK JACKET.

The days of the image brands are over, and new marketing has gone mainstream. The worlds biggest companies are pursuing a post-advertising strategy, moving away from advertising and investing in leading edge alternatives. In the vanguard of the revolution has been John Grant, co-founder of the legendary agency St. Lukes and author of The New Marketing Manifesto, whose radical thinking has informed a generation. Now Grant is set to stun the industry again. In The Brand Innovation Manifesto, he redefines the nature of brands, showing why old models and scales no longer work and revealing that the key to success today is impacting peoples lifestyles (think Starbucks, iPod and eBay). At the heart of the book is the concept of the brand molecule to which new cultural ideas can be constantly added to keep pace with change. Cataloguing 32 classes of idea, Grant presents a practical approach to mixing and matching them within your own market to develop new brand ideas - and new ideas for existing brands.

Nation Branding, Public Relations and Soft Power: Corporatizing Poland provides an empirically grounded analysis of changes in the way in which various actors seek to manage Poland’s national image in world opinion. It explores how and why changes in political economy have shaped these actors and their use of soft power in a way that is influenced by public relations, corporate communication, and marketing practices. By examining the discourse and practices of professional nation branders who have re-shaped the relationship between collective identities and national image management, it plots changes in the way in which Poland’s national image is communicated, and culturally reshaped, creating tensions between national identity and democracy. The book demonstrates that nation branding is a consequence of the corporatization of political governance, soft power and national identity, while revealing how the Poland "brand" is shaping public and foreign affairs. Challenging and original, this book will be of interest to scholars in public relations, corporate communications, political marketing and international relations.

Discover how brands are created, managed, differentiated, leveraged, and licensed Whether your business is large or small, global or local, this new edition of Branding For Dummies gives you the nuts and bolts to create, improve, and maintain a successful brand. It'll help you define your company's mission, the benefits and features of your products or services, what your customers and prospects already think of your brand, what qualities you want them to associate with your company, and so much more. Packed with plain-English advice and step-by-step instructions, Branding For Dummies covers assembling a top-notch branding team, positioning your brand, handling advertising and promotions, avoiding blunders, and keeping your brand viable, visible, and healthy. Whether you're looking to develop a logo and tagline, manage and protect your brand, launch a brand marketing plan, fix a broken brand, make customers loyal brand champions—or anything in between—Branding For Dummies makes it fast and easy. Includes tips and cautionary advice on social media and its impact on personal and business branding programs Covers balancing personal and business brand development References some of the major brand crises—and how to avoid making the same mistakes Shows brand marketers how to create brands that match their employers' objectives while launching their own careers If you're a business leader looking to set your brand up for the ultimate success, Branding For Dummies has you covered.