Publications

T2 has written extensively on the subject of the role of brands in business – and specifically on the topics of brand equity, marketing accountability, the role of brand strategy in mergers, and the importance of intangible assets.

Our articles have appeared in top tier business and academic publications including the Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Journal of Marketing, the International Marketing Review, the Journal of Business and Intellectual Asset Management.

Jonathan Knowles is the co-author of Vulcans, Earthlings and Marketing ROI (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008).

Jonathan is also the principal contributor to Brands: Visions and Values (Wiley & Sons, 2001).

His latest publication is the chapter on “Orientation and Marketing Metrics” in the Sage Handbook of Marketing Theory which he co-authored with Tim Ambler of London Business School. This was published in December 2009.

Our principal areas of focus are the topics of brand equity and marketing accountability. Set out below are some of the other articles that we have authored on each topic.

Brand Equity

“Varying Perspectives on Brand Equity” highlights the differences in the accounting, financial and marketing definitions of brand equity. It was the cover article in the July/August 2008 edition of Marketing Management.

We reviewed a number of the leading methodologies for brand equity measurement in our article “In Search of a Reliable Measure of Brand Equity” in the July 2005 edition of MarketingNPV.

Clarifying the difference between brand equity and corporate reputation was the topic of our article “Don’t Confuse Reputation With Brand” in the Winter 2008 edition of the MIT Sloan Management Review.

A fundamental component of brand equity is trust – “Credit for Credibility” describes the four major dimensions of trust. The article was published in the McKinsey special report for the 2003 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Brand equity is often driven by emotional factors. Debunking the conflict between reason and emotion was the topic of our article “Emotion is Not the Opposite of Reason” that appeared in Fall 2005 edition of M50 Vista magazine.

Brand portfolio management is an important element in how to satisfy different customer needs. “Achieving the Ideal Brand Portfolio” was published in the Winter 2005 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Marketing Accountability

Alleviating the tension between marketing and finance was the focus of our article “Reconcilable Differences” in the June 2007 edition of Harvard Business Review.

Brand valuation is often assumed to be proof of the business impact of branding. “Don’t Waste Time With Brand Valuation” cautions against unrealistic expectations of what brand valuation can do, and describes the relatively limited number of circumstances in which a formal brand valuation is required. This article was published in the October 2004 edition of MarketingNPV.

We returned to the topic of brand valuation in the November 2008 edition of MarketingNPV. “My Brand’s Bigger Than Your Brand” documents the worryingly high level of variation in the values attributed to the leading brands in the three most popular brand valuation league tables.

“Brand Valuation: What it Means and Why it Matters” appeared in the May 2004 edition of Intellectual Asset Management.

Brand Strategy During Mergers

The role of brand strategy in mergers is also a major area of focus. The benefits of having a senior marketer involved in the M&A process was the topic of our article “M&A Blind Spot,” published in the June 16 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

A detailed analysis of the 10 corporate branding options available to merging companies was the subject of our article “Merging the Brands and Branding the Merger” in the Summer 2006 edition of the MIT Sloan Management Review.