Citizen Brands

Every marketing manager is looking for a way to make their brand out perform the rest, to have more market share and a longer shelf life. Research has shown that what Michael Willmott calls "Citizen Brands" will be more commercially successful than those that do not take on board societal trends. In a world where consumers are becoming more fickle and more demanding the task facing companies and brands is daunting - how to build and maintain reputation, trust and loyalty. Recent high profile corporate scandals have fuelled consumer cynicism over the motives of companies and their executives - what exactly do companies stand for and how do they relate to society as a whole? In order to build competitive and sustainable brands, companies need to understand the mindset, apprehensions and concerns of the consuming public by engaging in a much more proactive way with society and its citizens. They need to become Citizen Brands - building up a stock of goodwill and trust to maintain their reputation in the challenging and uncertain times head. Michael Willmott presents a compelling and persuasive argument - based upon an impressive array of supporting evidence - that being a better corporate citizen is the right business call. He specifically illustrates the crucial role of such behaviour in branding and the building of brand equity, and demonstrates why a whole range of macro trends will make this an even more important part of successful business management in th e future. He finishes with a 'strategy checklist' on how to become a Citizen Brand. 'Citizen Brands should be read by everyone involved in long-term business strategy and marketing.' Marketing 'Michael Willmott has written a crucuial book which will help anyone with an interest in the corporate sector understand how the issues of branding and corporate responsibility interact.' Tom Bentley, Director, DEMOS 'If you can only read one book on corporate social responsibility, this is the one.' Adrian Hosford, Director of BT Group Social Policy