Brands & Branding promises answers to current brand questions

That's the promise from The Encyclopaedia of Brands & Branding in South Africa's publisher, Ken Preston, with less than six weeks to go before the 2008 edition is launched in Johannesburg.

Brands & Branding contains the results of all the major brand marketing research undertaken during the year to provide a comprehensive overview of the current brandscape and the standing of over 100 leading brands.

“Our objective is to provide insights and inspiration through a narrative of brand development and success in this country - to assist branding and marketing professionals make informed decisions when it comes to their brands,” says Preston.

“We believe that knowing how successful brands like KFC, Discovery Health, Mercedes-Benz, Coca-Cola and Kulula continuously reinvent themselves while staying relevant and retaining the trust of their customers is invaluable, so we've compiled over 100 brand profiles and case studies to refer to.

“We've also commissioned articles that address issues currently impacting on brands and their relationships with South African consumers to give readers a more in-depth understanding of the factors at play. For example, ‘What is Generation X thinking about?', ‘What is Cool?', ‘How environmentally conscious are today's consumers?', ‘Seven ways to avoid brand extinction' and ‘How do you approach building a global FMCG brand?'

“In addition, we take a detailed look at ‘brand trust' using the Brand Trust Index, a concept we pioneered in the last edition in association with Ipsos-Markinor to provide a list of most trusted brands.

“The 2008 edition identifies these brands, explores how trust is built and highlights how brands which score highly on the index are performing in this difficult economy. You may be surprised to learn that the top 10 brands in the Trust Index achieved marginally higher trust levels than in 2007. We're certain that topics like these - as well as a look at how Pepsi is positioning itself in South Africa for the long term, the science of semiotics and the advances in sensory branding, among others - will provide marketers and brand builders with the knowledge they need to stay at the front of the pack,” he says.

Brands & Branding is completely rewritten every year to offer truly encyclopaedic information about brands in South Africa, it carries over 1 200 pictures, 25 articles and 100 brand profiles.

For further information or to order an advanced copy with a R100 discount, email affinity@iafrica.com or call +27 11 442 2366 before the end of September. Extracts from the wide-ranging content of the 2008 edition will be presented on www.brandsandbranding.co.za.