Summary: How Brands Grow (Part 2) by Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp
How Brands Grow Part 2, authored by Jenni Romaniuk and Byron Sharp from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, builds on the first book's theories about brand growth and focuses on applying these theories in real-world scenarios.
Initially, it revisits the key principles from How Brands Grow Part 1, such as:
Double Jeopardy Law
Law of Buyer Moderation
Pareto Law
Natural Monopoly Law
Duplication of Purchase Law
These concepts are briefly summarised in How Brands Grow (Part 2).
The book then delves into five main topics:
Purchase Barriers: This involves identifying and removing obstacles that prevent customers from purchasing, like poor quality, high cost, bad experiences, or negative perceptions. Understanding and addressing these barriers is crucial for increasing market share.
Category Entry Points (CEPs): These are the scenarios or triggers that make a consumer think of a brand when considering a purchase. Identifying CEPs involves understanding the ‘why, when, where, with whom, and with what’ aspects of purchase decisions, and then linking brands strongly to these entry points.
Distinctive Brand Assets (DBAs): These are unique elements like types, logos, sounds, that instantly remind customers of the brand. Effective DBAs are well-known (meaning that many people recognise them) and uniquely associated with a specific brand (people immediately think of the brand when they see the asset). These assets need to be carefully created, regularly evaluated for their impact, and consistently maintained over time.
Physical Availability: This refers to how easily a brand can be found and purchased by consumers. It encompasses presence (availability), prominence (visibility and ease of finding), and relevance (suitability for the consumer’s needs). Without physical availability, mental availability efforts may not yield full results.
Word of Mouth (WOM): The book outlines three truths about WOM: Positive and negative WOM are almost equally impactful, though positive is more common; current users mainly drive positive WOM, while non-users drive negative; and WOM is linked to market share, with larger brands receiving more positive WOM.
How Brands Grow Part 2 also covers additional topics like luxury marketing, e-commerce, and strategies for small brands.
You can pick up the book here.