Comments on: Don’t do away with Brand Managers… Just start to embrace marketing again http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/10/12/dont-do-away-with-brand-managers-just-start-to-embrace-marketing-again/ A Brand Management blog by Dave Knox @daveknox Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:57:11 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Sarah Miller http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/10/12/dont-do-away-with-brand-managers-just-start-to-embrace-marketing-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2891 Sarah Miller Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:55:31 +0000 http://www.hardknoxlife.com/?p=2020#comment-2891 Hey, I really like your post. I am sort of new to this type of thing. You know it really impresses me how much information is out on the internet. You can basically learn anything online nowadays. Hey, I really like your post. I am sort of new to this type of thing. You know it really impresses me how much information is out on the internet. You can basically learn anything online nowadays.

]]> By: 1day1brand http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/10/12/dont-do-away-with-brand-managers-just-start-to-embrace-marketing-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2716 1day1brand Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:30:08 +0000 http://www.hardknoxlife.com/?p=2020#comment-2716 We just received the Forrester report on Adaptive Marketing yesterday. I read it on the subway home. The recommendation that marketing take on a federated model, with more empowerment all round for making marketing decisions could bode well for the brand manager or be his/her new level of hell. Personally, I found that the singling out of the "brand manager" role was not really particularly meaningful. The report basically spells out a new reality for ANYONE in Marketing. We just received the Forrester report on Adaptive Marketing yesterday. I read it on the subway home. The recommendation that marketing take on a federated model, with more empowerment all round for making marketing decisions could bode well for the brand manager or be his/her new level of hell. Personally, I found that the singling out of the "brand manager" role was not really particularly meaningful. The report basically spells out a new reality for ANYONE in Marketing.

]]> By: eskimon http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2009/10/12/dont-do-away-with-brand-managers-just-start-to-embrace-marketing-again/comment-page-1/#comment-2640 eskimon Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:19:27 +0000 http://www.hardknoxlife.com/?p=2020#comment-2640 Good man! I had a similar reaction when I read the AdAge article too. Your post from 2008 gets straight to the point: far too few 'marketers' understand (or implement) strategic marketing. Rather, their skills lie in coordinating the various agencies that bring their brands to life. There's no doubt that these skills are of significant value the the organisations who employ them, but they're not marketing skills. They're project management skills. Richard lamented the situation in a similar appraisal over on his adliterate blog recently - his points make a great addition to this whole discussion: <a href="http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2009/09/who_is_to_blame.html#more" target="_blank">http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2009/09/who_is...</a> While I recognise that the project management approach delivers significant value in certain circumstances, we need to accept that it requires a very different approach and produces very different outcomes. Critically however, and as you point out in the post, 'brand managers' are either one or the other. Lastly, I think the opening point in the AdAge article about consumers being "the real arbiters of brand meaning" implies the opposite to what the author seemed to be implying. I'd suggest that this is the perfect reason for having a brand 'manager' - a function that can guide conversations and manage people's perceptions so that they tend towards the favourable. Devolving ownership of the brand to the consumer seems like a sure-fire route to monumental blandness and commoditisation. So, rather than messing around with titles and silo structures, it seems like there's a much more obvious solution: brand managers need to become better versed in marketing mix fundamentals. Good man! I had a similar reaction when I read the AdAge article too. Your post from 2008 gets straight to the point: far too few 'marketers' understand (or implement) strategic marketing.

Rather, their skills lie in coordinating the various agencies that bring their brands to life.

There's no doubt that these skills are of significant value the the organisations who employ them, but they're not marketing skills. They're project management skills.

Richard lamented the situation in a similar appraisal over on his adliterate blog recently – his points make a great addition to this whole discussion: http://www.adliterate.com/archives/2009/09/who_is...

While I recognise that the project management approach delivers significant value in certain circumstances, we need to accept that it requires a very different approach and produces very different outcomes. Critically however, and as you point out in the post, 'brand managers' are either one or the other.

Lastly, I think the opening point in the AdAge article about consumers being "the real arbiters of brand meaning" implies the opposite to what the author seemed to be implying. I'd suggest that this is the perfect reason for having a brand 'manager' – a function that can guide conversations and manage people's perceptions so that they tend towards the favourable.

Devolving ownership of the brand to the consumer seems like a sure-fire route to monumental blandness and commoditisation. So, rather than messing around with titles and silo structures, it seems like there's a much more obvious solution: brand managers need to become better versed in marketing mix fundamentals.

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