[The Superbrands Council]
PROFESSOR DAVID DUNNE
Marketing, Joseph Rotman School of Management University of Toronto
What Makes a Great Brand?
Consumers make a brand great. A great
brand is like a great opera, where the orchestra,
soprano and chorus merge to bring the audience
to a crescendo of emotion. Similarly, for a
brand to be great, everything has to work: the
product, the advertising, the trade deals, the
service. But the key to greatness is what the
brand’s opera produces in consumers hearts.
That’s why Apple is a great brand: it connects
with its audience. Who cares if it isn’t market
leader? Its users love it and will pay for it.
IKEA furniture looks great and saves its customers
money, and they travel far and wide to
find an IKEA store. To marketers of great
brands, customers aren’t just market segments:
they are real, living, feeling human beings.
Knowing your customers like you know your
own family: that’s the stuff of greatness.
