On the 26th of November 2010, our colleagues at Icon Added Value held the 18th annual Congress in Nuremburg, Germany. The topics covered at this year’s event provided inspiration for attendees on many of the key areas of strategic brand management and development.
The Swiss Energy Market will likely be opened up to small business and private customers by 2014. A big challenge for Axpo, a government energy provider. Axpo was established 10 years ago and mainly used as a holding company in German-speaking Switzerland. However, recognising the need to adapt to the changing landscape, Axpo embarked on a strategic corporate rebranding process in 2008, with one key focus: to be ready for the changes facing their market.
Audi is perhaps most famous for its ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ – progress through technology. The Audi journey has always been about progress. From a well respected mass-market brand to a desired premium badge of success. And cutting edge technology has been a critical part of the story. From the obsessive engineering vision of the product planning and design functions in Germany to the temples of automotive excellence it has rolled out around the world.
Interview in the w&v-magazine about the tension zone between “Internet and Market research” with Dr. Hildegard Keller-Kern, Managing Director Icon Added Value Germany. Published in April 2009
Last month, we talked about how corporations are waking up to the opportunity offered by new models of innovation. This month we focus on the impact of change on the core brand management function and whether ‘brand mobilisation’ is a concept better suited to today’s environment.
Published in: MARKENARTIKEL edition 4/2008
Author: Dr. Oliver Nickel
Brand stories and consumers aspirations need to find a balance again otherwise we run the risk of loosing the foundations of marketing work. Even brand management is subject to fashion and zeitgeist. It’s about gaining competitive advantage following the “Survival of the fittest” principle. Is one level of advantage exhausted, look for the next one and scale it. Key success factors in this context are: relevant offer, clear structures, significant differentiation, a consistent core, noticeable momentum, a credible story and the translation of the brand promise into perceivable emotions. The combination of these success factors is in the end more than the sum of all components. The brand as the object of the company’s success is often the heart of the entire value chain. For managing brands the so-called identity-oriented approach has prevailed. But this apparent clarity also has its down side. Because “identity-oriented” brand management sometimes concentrates too much at the identity of the brand only – and forgets that identity is worthless if not anchored in needs and motivations of consumers.
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Published in: Absatzwirtschaft – Marken 2007
Authors: Dr. Oliver Nickel und Kai Lockermann
There is no doubt that successful brand management in today’s performance and competitive oriented time is not easy, especially for SMEs that do not posses the millions from a large corporation to invest in advertising or product development. The classical laws of branding applies to large or small companies and it is quite possible for a medium-sized company to get off the ground, find its place and maintain it. Thereby it’s important to keep some success drivers in mind when one wants to effectively retrieve their “SME brand potential”.
For more information please contact Anne-Kathrin Kirchhof
Published in: marketing journal special edition Innovationen (Issue 2006)
Authors: Christoph Prox, Dr. Hildegard Keller-Kern and Andreas Ebeling
