Working with brand managers at Holland Fast Moving Company (HFMC), we desig
ned a marketing-management-support system, BRANDFRAME. In conducting the pr
oject, we (1) examined the decision situation; (2) examined the existing ma
rketing-management-support system; (3) determined what type of decision sup
port best fits the tasks of the brand managers; (4) developed and implement
ed the software; (5) obtained feedback from the managers who worked with th
e software; and (6) adapted and extended the system. BRANDFRAME contains a
combination of academic and practical knowledge and integrates all the info
rmation needed by the brand manager in one system. The system does not repl
ace the brand manager but, in an interactive way, acts as a sparring partne
r. The system was very well received by the managers who worked with it and
has shown that customizing decision-support systems for specific marketing
jobs (in this case, the brand manager) may well be an important factor for
the success of marketing-management-support systems.