Unmanageable Tourism Destination Brands?
-- Bodil Stilling Blichfeldt

Increasingly researchers and practitioners adopt branding to build and manage tourism destination images. However, we have yet to ask the question: Is it possible to build and/or manage destination brands? This crucial question is addressed by means of: (1) Recourse to the origins of branding; (2) explication of fundamental differences between such origins and destinations; and (3) exemplification by means of resident-tourist interactions. This paper reflects that destination brands may not be manageable at allor at least, destination brands are so distinct from consumer brands that specific elements of destination brands are unmanageable to an extent hence suspecting much of the established "destination branding" knowledge. Consequently, the paper discusses what branding/brand management can(not) do for destination image building and management.

© 2003 University of Southern Denmark and Bodil Stilling Blichfeldt (www.sam.sdu.dk). Reprinted with permission.

A Brand Building Literature Review
-- Francisco Guzmàn

Building strong brands realizes right away how crucial a brand identity is in today's competitive world. The competition is not only changing fundamental ideas about customers, relationships, brands etc., but also, is triggering the need for new brand building strategies. Over the last two decades, researchers, academicians and marketers have made enormous effort in the brand building research. This article surveys the literature on brand building done by the brand gurus.

© 2005 Francisco Guzmàn (http://www.brandchannel.com). Reprinted with permission.

Exploring the Concept of Retro Branding
-- C S V Ratna

Consumers tend to be receptive to familiar things to which they have experienced sometime in the past. They feel nostalgic when old brands are revived and thus are more receptive and more likely to purchase revived brands. Retro branding which means revival of old brands, hopes to cash in on the nostalgia and fin-de-siecle effect associated with them. This paper tries to understand the various concepts associated with retro branding, its popularity and the reason why companies go for retro branding (discussed through various examples in India over the past few years). Through examples like Volkswagen, Beetle and Star Wars, the concept as discussed by prominent researchers in the field like, Brown, Sherry Jr., and Kozinets, is highlighted and explored. The paper also explores the linkage between cult brands and retro branding.

© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Perceptual Dimensions of Brand: A Study with Reference to Mobile Users
-- R Shanthi

Consumers may rely on certain signals when judging product performance. Attributes such as brand name, price and warranty may be interpreted as signals of product quality. Many do presume quality of product depending upon the brand name. In this paper, the perceived values of the brand from the customers' point of view are measured using five point Likert Scale. The paper also attempts to measure the awareness and loyalty level towards the brands.

© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Case Study

Beetle: The Birth, Growth, Death and Revival of a Cult Brand
-- A Neela Radhika

"No other auto in history has changed so little and lasted so long."

-Thomas Karig, Volkswagen Spokesperson, Puebla (Mexico), in July 2003

"It is a certain type of person who drives a Beetle. All people who have Beetles are very open to ideas; they love life."

-George Memetov, Founder of Classic Beetle Club in Minsk (Belarus), in July 2003

"One thing is sure: The Beetle never will disappear from the roads of our planet and, above all, it never will disappear from the hearts of millions of people all over the world."

-Mattia Zamana, an Italian fan of Beetle, in July 2003

© 2003 ICMR. All Rights Reserved. For accessing and procuring the Case Study, log on to www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk or www.icmrindia.org

Interview

What according to you is the role of branding in services? What are the challenges in branding of a financial product like insurance?

-- Ram Kiran

Branding plays a major role in creating a product identity. Branding to an extent explains the features of the product which proves to be effective in the insurance sector. As services are intangible, it is extremely difficult to encapsulate and communicate the core issues are intangible, it is extremely difficult to encapsulate and communicate the core issues involved. Branding, to a great extent, also helps in creating uniformity of services. As every product offered by us caters to different requirements of the customers, we have given individual names to our products which very few players in the markets have done.

© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Research Summary

Life Would be a Lot Easier if we were a Kit Kat: Practitioners' Views on the Challenges of Branding Financial Services Successfully

Products today have utilized brand names effectively to differentiate themselves. Branding has a unique role to play in case of services as well. Though the principles of branding remain the same in services and products, yet there are some challenges in branding of services, especially financial services. This paper discusses the need to establish financial service brands. It also discusses the challenges in establishing a financial service brand in the retail sector.

This is a research summary of an article published in Journal of Brand Management in September 2004 by James Delvin and Sarwar Azhar from Nottingham University.

© 2004 Henry Stewart Publications Ltd. (www.henrystewart.com). All Rights Reserved. IUP holds the copyright for the summary.

Book Review

Defending the Brand: Aggressive Strategies for Protecting Your Brand in the Online Arena
-- Brian H Murray

Information Technology has seen a huge growth in the last decade. Internet has connected people and facilitated massive amounts of information exchange. It has transformed the rules and opportunities in the global business. However, this boom in Internet and convergence has come with its own dangers and challenges. It has exposed the companies to new kinds of risks and perils. Many large brands and organizations are being exploited by illegal and unethical web offenders. The damage can be in the form of unwanted brand associations, product piracy, unauthenticated views and many other forms of online brand abuse. This book "Defending the Brand" discusses the different forms of web crimes and how they affect the brand image. It also suggests many strategies that can be adopted by companies to protect and defend their brands from such misuse. With the help of many real-life cases and examples, the book provides invaluable information and guidance to defend the organization's one of the most valuable assetsthe Brand.

© 2004 Brian H Murray. All Rights Reserved. The IUP holds the copyright for the review.