- Email: [email protected]
A place marketing and place branding perspective revisited
PART 1 Destination Brand Concepts
C H A P T E R
A place marketing and place branding perspective revisited Philip Kotler and David Gertner
INTRODUCTION At one time, in most product categories and in most markets, consumers had somewhat limited choice of products and brands. In myriad industries, a single manufacturer or service provider enjoyed a dominant market share and was the incontestable industry leader. This was the case in the automotive, appliances, electronics, beverages, personal care, financial and banking services, airlines, and consulting industries, among others. In most cases, there were also one or two strong challengers trailing the market leader. A small share of the market, left by the two or three leading brands in the category, was usually obstinately disputed by a number of much smaller market nichers. In just a few decades, dramatic changes in the demographic, natural, economic, social, legal, and political environments, combined with unprece dented advancements in transportation and telecommunications, revolutionised most competitive environments. Suddenly, much faster than developments in past decades and centuries, the number of alternative choices available to consumers, in almost all markets, multiplied exponentially. Competition became global, rather than largely domestic. Cherished companies and brands once glorified and considered virtually invulnerable, such as GM, IBM, CocaCola, GE, Xerox, and Boeing, faced serious competition for the first time and experienced the erosion of market share. The assault to the supremacy of market leaders and chief brands was threatened not from their customary and predictable competitors. Instead, leading brands were defied on their own turfs by new and unfamiliar brand names originating in different parts of the world. In the automotive industry, companies such as Korean Hyundai and Kia, Indian Tata Motors, and Chinese Chery Automobile have challenged traditional market leaders; Chinese Lenovo and Taiwanese Acer in electronics; Korean LG in appliances; and Brazilian Embraer in the aircraft industry, to name a few.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-096930-5.10003-5
3
C H A P T E R
A place marketing and place branding perspective revisited Philip Kotler and David Gertner
INTRODUCTION At one time, in most product categories and in most markets, consumers had somewhat limited choice of products and brands. In myriad industries, a single manufacturer or service provider enjoyed a dominant market share and was the incontestable industry leader. This was the case in the automotive, appliances, electronics, beverages, personal care, financial and banking services, airlines, and consulting industries, among others. In most cases, there were also one or two strong challengers trailing the market leader. A small share of the market, left by the two or three leading brands in the category, was usually obstinately disputed by a number of much smaller market nichers. In just a few decades, dramatic changes in the demographic, natural, economic, social, legal, and political environments, combined with unprece dented advancements in transportation and telecommunications, revolutionised most competitive environments. Suddenly, much faster than developments in past decades and centuries, the number of alternative choices available to consumers, in almost all markets, multiplied exponentially. Competition became global, rather than largely domestic. Cherished companies and brands once glorified and considered virtually invulnerable, such as GM, IBM, CocaCola, GE, Xerox, and Boeing, faced serious competition for the first time and experienced the erosion of market share. The assault to the supremacy of market leaders and chief brands was threatened not from their customary and predictable competitors. Instead, leading brands were defied on their own turfs by new and unfamiliar brand names originating in different parts of the world. In the automotive industry, companies such as Korean Hyundai and Kia, Indian Tata Motors, and Chinese Chery Automobile have challenged traditional market leaders; Chinese Lenovo and Taiwanese Acer in electronics; Korean LG in appliances; and Brazilian Embraer in the aircraft industry, to name a few.
© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-096930-5.10003-5
3