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Brands as a factor of progress

verfasst von: Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Enthalten in: Professional Book Archive

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The authors of this book are top executives in the luxury goods industry. In an environment in which brands have come under attack they argue that brands can be factors of progress if they are correctly managed. The book includes an analysis of brand nature and history and highlights the importance of semiotics in the management of brand identity. In summary they argue that brands cannot be held responsible for the imperfections and excesses of the worldwide economic and political systems, but that they can be signs of excellence and differentiation and vectors of values which favour multicultural understanding and put people in a position to generate progress.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction

Introduction

Abstract

Some consumers will literally walk a mile for a Camel, or wait in line for hours to buy the new Swatch watch. Others have carried on real intimate relationships with a make of automobile or motorcycle; meanwhile all their children can talk about for months at a time is a certain clothing label that’s all the rage at school.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

The World of Brands

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. What is a brand?

Abstract

Emile Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames ¹ published in 1883, tells the story of the rise and fall of a great department store. The concept of ‘brand’ is not yet present in the novel, but we do find practices that are still in use today in the mass-retailing sector: economies of scale, accelerated rotation of capital, lowered profit margins, advertising campaigns, product assortment strategies, sales and end-aisle displays.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 2. Anti-brand communication

Abstract

You have surely been struck, as we have, by the proliferation of hostile graffiti on advertising posters and billboards in the street or in public transportation. “Subvertisement” — the détournement of advertising — is becoming an unavoidable component of our urban landscape. Contemporary artists see it as an esthetic principle. Satirists, on television, regularly subvert familiar spots to make fun of some celebrity or other. Organized activists make wide use of this process to disseminate their boycott calls.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 3. From value to progress

Abstract

The current of anti-brand activism we see emerging today has a paradoxical side. On the one hand, critics denounce the brands’ hegemony in the contemporary world; on the other, they point to their increasing vulnerability — the result of growing reputation coupled with their dependence on consumers. The more a brand becomes visible, the more it leaves itself open to public bashing and consumer backlash. This being the case, it’s difficult to see where the hegemony really is.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Brand Management

Frontmatter

Chapter 4. Brand identity

Abstract

What is the identity of a brand? Our first answer might be that it is what the brand “says” to consumers — making a distinction between what it says and how they understand it. The notion of identity is still too little used by managers, and that’s a shame, because to our way of thinking it offers some very useful and concrete glimpses into the essence of the brand phenomenon itself. It constitutes the foundation and the federating element of all the activities we have designated as being manifestations of the brand.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 5. The brand life cycle and the global dimension

Abstract

In a book called Je me souviens (I Remember),¹ Georges Perec paints the portrait of a generation through the archeology of its collective memory. He lists memories that appear useless, yet engrave themselves on our memories without our knowing quite why, and finally become part of us: the name of an athlete injured in a game that has remained famous, a detail of a short news item that caused a scandal — and, of course, reminiscences of brands and slogans that have disappeared today.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 6. The brand audit

Abstract

We have looked in turn at the characteristics of brand identities and the dynamics of their life cycle. This has led to our focusing on various aspects of the relationship between the brand and the consumer, and on the need for managers to take it into account. Now can we assemble all these considerations into a synthetic and coherent methodology, one that can increase the probabilities of performance and that can be applied to any brand, regardless of business sector?

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

The Role of the Consumer

Frontmatter

Chapter 7. Consumers’ behavior

Abstract

The Rimbaud lines we’ve chosen as epigraph to this chapter are from a poem entitled, somewhat ironically, “To a reason.”¹ Though their scope is much more universal, we feel they are something a brand manager should keep in mind. With their startling concision, they cast alarming doubt on the soundness of our motives, whatever they may be, and regardless of the act they may motivate.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 8. Consumers’ power

Abstract

What if the act of purchase proved to be the revolution of the twenty-first century? In this chapter and the following one, we will describe the emergence of a new type of power consumers wield on the playing field of globalized trade. We have finally come to the development of the third proposition of our thesis: when consumers behave responsibly, they can make brands reinforce actions that generate social, cultural, economic, and even moral progress.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Chapter 9. Structured consumer action

Abstract

Consumers are better informed about brands and about the purchases they make than is generally thought. Consumer isolation and passivity are not inevitable. Since the birth of the consumer movement in the 1960s, prosperous and powerful organizations have been working to inform consumers, assist them in choosing, and provide them with the means to compare the different product and service offerings available. These movements also do much more than that. They bring consumers together, giving them a chance to make their point of view heard and get organized. In certain cases, they can organize boycott campaigns to force companies to change their behavior.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Conclusion

Frontmatter

Chapter 10. Brands and globalization

Abstract

What makes people want to attack McDonald’s? The poor eating habits it promotes? The chain is no temple of gastronomy, of course, but the major fast-food brands stand out because of their criteria of hygiene and respect for the refrigerated food distribution chain, which are much better than what is to be found in traditional fast-food outlets. The hegemony of multinational capitalism? Of the 25,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the world, 80 percent are managed as franchises by local operators from the regions where they do business. In France, McDonald’s buys 80 percent of its supplies on the national market.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Postscript

Abstract

We would like to add a more personal note. At the end of a book largely devoted to the concept of value, it seems only natural for us to state our own.

Michel Chevalier, Gérald Mazzalovo

Backmatter

Titel: Pro Logo
verfasst von: Michel Chevalier
Gérald Mazzalovo
Copyright-Jahr: 2004
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-0-230-50889-7
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51411-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230508897