Abstract:

Based on a survey of 210 pan-European brand managers, this paper presents an empirical assessment of the state of the art in so-called "global branding. Among the main conclusions, it is shown that the "global brand is a myth: some facets of such brands are standardized but not all. In addition, a brand strength index is computed. The strongest brands are not those that globalize all the facets of brand management, but those that make country-by-country or zone-by-zone fine-tuning possible. The stage of development towards standardization also differs widely among product categories and brands’ countries of origin.