Earlier in my career, I believed that Marketing, Finance and Accounting inhabited different universes and spoke mutually unintelligible languages. But the topic of Brand Equity has convinced me that these worlds are actually aligned.
In Accounting, the focus is on the reporting of value; in Finance, the focus is on capturing value; and in Marketing, the focus is on the creation of the customer value that is the precursor to either measure of financial value.
It is therefore appropriate that the each discipline has its own definition of Brand Equity that corresponds to its specific definition of value. This definition broadens from the trademark (recognized by accounting), to brand-induced customer behavior (recognized by Finance), to the potential for value due to brand preference (recognized by Marketing).
I used to see the topic of Brand Equity as the battleground for the mutually incompatible world views of Accounting, Finance and Marketing. I now see that their respective definitions represent different points on a single spectrum, and that this perspective provides a powerful basis for the effective collaboration between the three disciplines.
