The brand-supportive firm: An exploration of organisational drivers of brand updating
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RAISA YAKIMOVA is a PhD candidate at Monash University. Her dissertation examines brand evolution.
MICHAEL BEVERLAND is a senior lecturer (Marketing Group) with the Department of Management, University of Melbourne. He received his doctorate from the University of South Australia. He has published papers in Business Horizons, European Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and Journal of Product Innovation Management. His research interests include authenticity, luxury branding and managing brand evolution.
Abstract The maintenance of brand equity over the long term receives little attention in the brand management literature. This paper examines examples of evolutionary and revolutionary brand changes. A classification strategy is offered for brand-supportive versus non-brand-supportive firms. In addition, the combinations of capabilities of distinguishing firms that continually grow brand value are also examined through case studies of brand repositioning. Brand-supportive firms are characterised by brand-updating capabilities. That is, they are able constantly to keep their brands relevant through day-to-day adjustments in their marketing programmes. A brand-updating capability consists of a brand-supportive dominant logic, a market orientation and a generative learning style to allow firm members to reflect constantly on the effectiveness of current brand strategies. Longitudinal research identifying the tacit practices underpinning brand management is called for.
INTRODUCTION
Raisa Yakimova Department of Marketing, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Victoria 3145, Australia Tel: ⫹61 (0)3 040 968 6506 E-mail: [email protected]
A paradox facing brand managers is how, in the face of continual change, to reposition their brand, while simultaneously remaining true to the brand’s core values.1 For example, Australian surf brands such as Billabong and Ripcurl constantly struggle with the need to expand the brand, while also remaining true to their original values of amateurism and commitment to hard-core surf cultures. This is difficult because the mass-market adoption of such brands is off-putting to many surfers who see these brands as selling out. How do timeless brands such as Coca–Cola, Disney or Louis Vuitton
manage to face trouble and recover, or avoid trouble altogether?2 Little is known about how to manage a brand successfully in the long term.3 The ongoing, day-to-day management of brands remains a neglected area of research.4 A critical question for managers is, ‘how can I keep my present brands strong and growing?’.5 The lack of research on the strategies and processes needed to manage brands successfully reflects this concern.6 As Keller states, ‘a relatively neglected area [is the] prescriptive analysis of how different types of firms should best be organized for brand management’.7 Also, these processes need identifica-
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