Jean-Noël Kapferer

Executive Insights: Real Differences Between Local and International Brands: Strategic Implications for International Marketers

In the current context of globalization, firms have concentrated their efforts on the development of international brands. As a result, international brand portfolios have been restructured, and many successful local brands have been eliminated. This articles objective is to improve the understanding of local brand differences and competitive advantages relative to international brands. To achieve this, the authors reanalyzed the Young & Rubicam database Brand Asset Valuator and examined more than 744 brands across the four largest countries in Europe: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. The authors discuss the managerial implications of the findings for international marketers as they develop their ideal international brand portfolios.

A MASS POISONING RUMOR IN EUROPE

For more than ten years, a rumor has been spreading in Europe. Transmitted from hand to hand on a leaflet, this rumor accuses ten well-known brands of food products of being toxic and producing cancer. Because of its persistence, extensiveness, and tangible nature, the rumor lends itself to empirical research. This article presents the most significant results of a number of studies assessing the rumors penetration, its modes of diffusion, and its behavioral effects.

More on Luxury Anti-Laws of Marketing

In 1989 Ford bought the Jaguar brand, symbol of British luxury worldwide, endowed with heritage, status, glamour, prestige, almost a cult brand with iconic models, for 2.2 billion dollars. Nine years later, on March 26th 2008, after having spent 6 billion dollars [15], Ford sold it to the Indian conglomerate Tata, along with another mythical British brand – Land Rover – for 2.3 billion dollars. As Land Rover brand was estimated at 2.5 billion dollars, it means that Jaguar brand was just given for free: meanwhile it had lost its pricing power, its glamour and was still not profitable. Surely there are many causes of such a failure: a brand turn over is a difficult endeavor.

Paris as a Brand

In an interview in The Economist (2008), John Ross, the economic consultant to the London Mayor, reacted to the old rivalry between Paris and London by stating: ‘We do not consider ourselves competing with Paris anymore. We have won that battle. Now we measure our strength against New York.’

Les disparitions de Mourmelon. Origine et interprétation des rumeurs

Jean Noel Kapferer : Die Verschwundenen von Mourmelon. Ursprung und Auslegung der Geruchte. ; ; Seit Januar 1980 sind mehrere Wehrpflichtige in der Nahe der Truppenlager Mourmelon verschwunden. Diese Erscheinungen gaben zu Geruchten Anlass. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz untersucht der Verfasser den Inhalt dieser Geruchte aus dem Gesichtswinkel der in ihnen erscheinenden Stereotypen, der Archetypen, auf die sie sich beziehen, und ihrer sozialen Funktion. Er pruft, warum gewisse Behauptungen als Erklarung zu diesem wiederholten Verschwmden zu offentlichen Geruchten werden und warum ander,. zunachst ebenso plausibel, nicht zu Geruchten werden konnen.

Is luxury sufficient to create brand desirability? A cross-cultural analysis of the relationship between luxury and dreams

A key feature of the luxury industry is its ability to sell dreams, such that consumers often refer to luxury products as desirable dream objects. This study aims to assess the empirical validity of this proposition. Does luxury actually fuel dreams? Because brands are manifestations of these dreams, this study examines if the dream value of an expansive set of brands relates directly to perceptions of them as luxury brands. More than 3,200 real luxury buyers, from six countries, participated in interviews about 60 luxury brands. The results reveal a strong correlation between luxury perceptions and the dream value of brands, across all countries. Yet, despite being categorised as luxury representatives though, many brands are not endowed with as much dream value as might be expected. Being perceived as a luxury product is not sufficient to evoke dreams and boost brand desirability. This is important for luxury brand management.

How rumors are born

This article deals with rumors. Rumors arise when information is scarce. In the exchange of information constituted by rumors are the principles that rule all forms of exchange. Information circulates because it has value, because it is worth its weight in gold. Many rumors stem from secrets that have been more or less intentionally leaked. The source of many rumors is troubling because rumors mobilize a groups attention. In the course of successive exchanges, the group tries to reconstruct the puzzle of scattered pieces gathered there and there. The fewer the pieces, the greater the role of the groups unconscious plays in their interpretation.

The impact of increased brand penetration on luxury desirability: a dual effect

Despite some temporary slowdowns, variations by region, and slower growth rates in recent years, the modern luxury market has shown striking growth worldwide since 1994. One determinant of this growth is luxury brands’ efforts to sell not just function or performance but also dreams of a privileged, exclusive life, achieved through the ownership or consumption of hedonistic products, services, and experiences that feature the marks of well-known brands with high symbolic capital. Yet ever-growing sales seemingly might dilute the desirability of luxury brands. Using the perceptions of 1286 affluent Western consumers of 60 luxury brands, this study conducts a partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis to unveil a dual effect of increased brand penetration on the luxury dream: It empowers product-related brand perceptions, but it endangers the extrinsic facet of brand prestige. This study recommends some solutions to rebuild the luxury dream and offset the potential for eroded desirability of luxury brands.

The End of Luxury as We Knew It

Few articles on luxury appeared in Journal of Brand Management before 2000. Since then, the flow has been nearly constant, even as the number of conferences dedicated to luxury topics multiplies, and business schools increasingly offer courses and curricula focused on luxury management. Why does this sector, which originally aimed at a small minority of extraordinary consumers, attract such widespread attention today? The answer is in the subtle, rarely mentioned shift in the luxury concept, from worshipped ateliers to a true industry. The sector itself has changed; since 1995, it has based its impressive and steady growth and profitability on mass sales, thereby abandoning rarity as a source of value, as the current chapter details.