7.6 Points to Remember

1. As companies expand globally, a brand like Coke or Nike can be the greatest asset a firm has, but it can also quickly lose its power if it comes to signify something different in every market.
2. Successfully leveraging a brand’s power globally requires that marketers consider aggregation, adaptation, and arbitrage strategies all at the same time.
3. Multinational companies typically operate with one of three brand structures: a corporate-dominant, a product-dominant, or a hybrid structure.
4. A company’s international brand structure is shaped by three sets of factors: firm-based characteristics, product-market characteristics, and underlying market dynamics.
5. An effective global brand structure reflects parsimony, consistency, and connectivity.
6. Companies must also think about how to globally manage and monitor key strategic brands to ensure that they build and retain their integrity, visibility, and value.
7. A strong corporate branding strategy can add significant value in terms of helping the entire corporation and the management team with implementing its long-term vision, creating unique positions in the marketplace for the company and its brands, and signaling a commitment to a broader set of stakeholder issues.
8. The number 1 global brand on Interbrand’s 2009 list is Coca-Cola, which has topped the list for more than 20 years. Next on the list are IBM, Microsoft, GE, and Nokia. McDonald’s, Google, Toyota, Intel, and Disney round out the top 10.