New technologies have revolutionized the way brands are marketed — today’s consumers have more information on brands, and companies, in turn, have more information about their consumers. 

But according to brand guru Kevin Lane Keller (photo at left), E. B. Osborn Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, one key marketing strategy remains unchanged. 

“The most important message for marketers these days is to make sure they have a deep, rich understanding of consumers and how they think and feel about brands and their products and services,” Keller noted in a recent Nielsen Q&A on current trends in brand marketing.  “It is so fundamental and may seem obvious, but unfortunately many marketers still fall way short on that score.”

In his discussion with Nielsen, Keller also offered tips for designing and implementing brand equity measurement systems, making wise marketing investments during the current economic crisis, effectively integrating traditional brand building approaches with emerging online marketing strategies, and finding fresh, new ways to create compelling brand positions via emotional appeals.

Keller’s textbook, Strategic Brand Management, is widely used at marketing and business colleges worldwide.  In conjunction with Professor John Roberts of the University of New South Wales, Keller helped Nielsen develop Winning Brands, a solution that tracks the underlying strength of relationships between customers and brands.

Read Nielsen’s full interview with Kevin Lane Keller.