Abstract:

Since the early nineties brand management has become a very topical issue (Leuthesser 1988 Aaker 1991 Kapferer 1993 Dimitriadis 1994). However researchers' attention has been mostly focused on mass consumer brands. Industrial branding is one of the most neglected parts of marketing and a field in which industrial firms have much less experience than consumer goods firms. Yet, in a context of growing competition, internationalisation and a rapid evolution in technology, industrial firms increasingly need to manage their brands as a leverage for market success. This paper focuses on approaches needed for the management of industrial (business-to-business) brands from a global perspective. Several aspects of industrial markets call for such an integrated approach to branding: - the buyer is an active seeker of information about suppliers, integrating all forms of information (technical, financial, advertising), - industrial firms often use corporate names as brands. Such strategy creates the need for a global communication approach integrating different targets (direct and indirect clients of course, but also all the other partners of the firm, as well as internal targets) and different communication levels (corporate, brand, product). The paper reports insights from a managerial study on industrial branding issues and presents a framework in which (a) brand analysis integrates both buyer's (client's) and seller's (supplier's) perspectives, (b) brand strategy definition accounts for cross- functional issues.