Editorial

Citation

Leventhal, R.C. (2006), "Editorial", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 15 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm.2006.09615daa.001

Editorial

Information, as it concerns the marketplace, is perhaps one of the more important aspects of creating and maintaining a successful brand. What types of information should marketers be concerned with? Needless to say, both qualitative and quantitative information should be included in any of our marketing efforts. However, this then leads us in the direction of raising another question – “How much information is enough?”. With the explosion of technology, the ease of ascertaining and/or communicating information has become commonplace. Therefore, the right type of information, as it pertains to a specific brand, tends to make the difference between success and failure in our marketing efforts. Thus, it is imperative to not only know who uses our brand, but also how our brand is perceived in terms of our competition. Too much is riding in the global marketplace on assuming that what has once worked, will work again.

Simms and Trott have examined the main aspects of perceptions of the BMW Mini brand in the UK. The authors study the importance of the symbolic elements of a brand’s image. They found that the brand’s appeal is largely at an emotional level based on the brands symbolic image and key associations. Associations are key to stakeholder’s perceptions of the brand, especially as it relates to the brands heritage. This is important, as new challenges were created through the brand being sold to new ownership and the launch of the new version of an old classic brand.

Reppel, Szmigin and Gruber explore the potential for learning from customers of a market leader through qualitative marketing research. The authors used an online laddering technique, and found that this methodology can combine both the effectiveness of qualitative research with the cost efficiency of quantitative research. This allowed for a more realistic and practical method for understanding a market leader through the eyes of its customers. A company that has yet to employ ways of discovering why consumers are attracted to competing products should find this method both useful and cost effective.

The pharmaceutical industry is constantly facing the challenge of how to minimize a drug’s risk during the product’s life cycle. In this issue you will find a most interesting case study of how one company has addressed this issue in terms of its global marketing efforts.

In this issue, you will also find another thought provoking Beyond product brand management section as well as our Book review section. Also, please be sure to review the Pricing strategy & practice section.

Richard C. Leventhal