| The Crisis of Branding and the Theory Needed to Solve It |
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Abstract:
The branding practices used by corporations have evolved through several
eras since 1900. These eras represent periods of relative equilibrium
between the branding behavior of firms and the response to those tactics
by consumers. However, there are periodic crises in which the old branding
tactics become counterproductive, and the firms that win are those that
successfully innovate new branding practices that better meet the reality
of consumer attitudes to branding. Today we face a crisis of branding
driven by growing consumer cynicism. The management practices and theories
that marketers use today yield almost no insight into how to address this
crisis or how to profit from its resolution. Marketers need tools and
techniques based on social theory, not on an engineering view of the enterprise.
The branding example illustrates the general bias in management practice
towards engineering-based approaches and shows how those practices are
inadequate for addressing the future business environment in which effective
management of human, intellectual and brand capital is key to competitive
advantage. While tools and techniques to better manage increasingly automated
and information-intensive business processes will be useful, they are
incomplete: we also need tools and techniques that can help managers make
informed choices about their behavior in multi-player networks. Social
theory appears to provide a bedrock for such tools, much as Industrial
Organization theory did for strategy.
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Biography
Paul Magill is Vice President, Marketing, for IBM Global Services, where
he leads the Marketing and Strategy functions. His responsibilities include
worldwide marketing management, market research, strategy, marketing communications,
brand management, and marketing operations across IBM Global Services.
In addition to his roles in IBM Global Services, Mr. Magill is a member of
IBM's Senior Leadership Team and serves on IBM's Global Marketing Board.
Mr. Magill joined IBM in March 1999 as Vice President, Marketing Strategy where
he was responsible for the development of marketing strategy at the corporate
level; assisting business units with their marketing strategies; brand strategy;
overseeing the transformation of IBM's marketing management activity; and corporate
identity and design.
Mr. Magill was previously an officer of Monitor Company, an international management
consulting firm serving corporations and governments on the subject of competitive
strategy. Prior to joining Monitor, Mr. Magill was a consultant with Bain &
Company.
Mr. Magill was born in England and holds a B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University
in Geography and Law (1984), and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1988).
He is married with twin boys.
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