T his book consists of a set of papers delivered at a conference on advertising and building strong brands that was held in May 1991—the 10th annual advertising and consumer psychology conference.

Our concept is based on the idea that much can be gained by combining advertising and marketing professionals with academic researchers in advertising, marketing, and consumer behavior. Professionals can gain an insight into the new theories, measurement tools and empirical findings that are emerging. Academics can benefit from the insights and experience that professionals describe and the research questions that they pose.

Brand equity, a concept born in the 1980s, has aroused intense interest among marketing managers and business strategists from a wide variety of industries. The Marketing Science Institute, a consortium of over 50 leading firms, considers brand equity one of its top research priorities. For this reason, substantial research effort has been channeled into defining, measuring, and understanding the antecedents and consequences of building strong brands. This book is one result of that effort. The topic is prominent because of (a) the financial community's interest in placing a value on brands, and (b) reaction against the frequency of short-term price competition that dominates many industries.