BUILDING BRANDS WITHOUT MASS-MEDIA

Costs, market fragmentation, and new media channels that let customers bypass advertisements seem to be in league against the old ways of ma rketing. Relying on mass media campaigns to build strong brands may be a thing of the past. Several companies in Europe, making a virtue of necessity, have come up with alternative brand-building approaches and are blazing a trail in the post-mass-media age. In England, Nestle's Buitoni brand grew through programs that taught the English how to coo k Italian food. The Body Shop garnered loyalty with its support of env ironmental and social causes. Cadbury funded a theme park tied to its history in the chocolate business. Haagen-Dazs opened posh ice-cream p arlors and got itself featured by name on the menus of fine restaurant s. Hugo Boss and Swatch backed athletic or cultural events that became associated with their brands. The various campaigns shared characteri stics that could serve as guidelines for any company hoping to build a successful brand: senior managers were closely involved with brand-bu ilding efforts; the companies recognized the importance of clarifying their core brand identity; and they made sure that all their efforts t o gain visibility were tied to that core identity. Studying the method s of companies outside one's own industry and country can be instructi ve for managers. Pilot testing and the use of a single and continuous measure of brand equity also help managers get the most out of novel a pproaches in their ever more competitive world.