Integrated Branding: Becoming Brand-Driven Through Companywide Action

(Hardback)

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To get the full benefit of branding, companies must actually live the brands they sell. This approach is called integrated branding and it's not just a communications strategy. Companies must demonstrate to themselves and their customers that its brands are what the company is. The Brand and the company are inseparable, and that realization must pervade the entire organization, from new product development to human resource management. Integrated branding is a way of operating, an overall way of doing business, and a way to make certain a company's products are based on the right answers to two mutually reinforcing questions: What do customers value and what does the company do best in relation to what the customers want The tools to accomplish these goals are called drivers. LePla and Parker show clearly and comprehensively how drivers work and how to apply them. Not just for marketing directors, strategy planners and executive policy makers will also find this to be an essential resource in their quest to increase market leadership and to enhance the bottom line. Through their integrated brand model, LePla and Parker discuss both organization drivers and brand drivers. They see the process as a research-driven one that gets everyone in the organization contributing to the effectiveness of its brands. With brand tools accepted throughout the company, people can determine more easily and accurately whether their decisions and actions will actually further the brand. The authors show how different companies apply their model in different ways. LePla and Parker also include discussions of how to determine brand structure, how an integrated brand applies to marketing communications, and how integrated brands can help companies when they go public.

Reviews

"[LePla and Parker] are two people that have led us beyond what we normally do into the realm of what we are capable of doing. I'm not alone in this; their organization's work with the software industry was awarded recognition by the Governor of Washington. I would recommend this book to any organization that is serious about finding its focus."-Kathleen P. Wilcox, J.D. President, Washington Software Alliance
"[Their] Integrated Brand Model is a comprehensive yet practical tool for any organization seeking competitive advantage in the increasingly sophisticated and crowded marketplace of the modern world. Based on their own consulting experience and extensive interviews with top branding professionals, the authors have developed a set of guiding principles focused on the benefits of building a brand-first mindset and culture. If you have brand management responsibility in your organization--you should read this book!"-David Reyes-Guerra Manager, Corporate Identity & Product Naming Xerox Corporation
"Integrated Branding is a guiding hand to those companies who wish to build a lasting brand advantage. More than abstract theory, the chapters in this book are like recipes that smart executives can follow to take brand practices off the page and into their organizations. [They] speak to the head, heart and real life choices that separate the long-term market leaders from the also-rans."-Katherine James Schuitemaker Vice President, Marketing PhotoDisc, Inc.

Author Bio

F. JOSEPH LEPLA has worked with a broad range of companies for 20 years to help develop and manage their brands./e Prior to co-founding Parker LePla, he was a corporate vice president of public relations, president of a full service marketing agency, and vice president of corporate relations for a national financial services company. LYNN M. PARKER has more than 15 years' experience in technology marketing and brand development, and was one of the earliest practitioners of high tech public relations and product positioning./e Prior to co-founding Parker LePla, she was a creative strategies director and a public relations senior writer. She has also worked as a journalist at three West Coast newspapers.