What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest

Introduction

The most important lesson of history, it’s been said, is that people don’t learn very much from history.1 That thought has occurred to me at times when I’ve heard the offhand comment that Kodak, one of the greatest brands on Earth not that long ago, was ruined by the digital camera. Anyone who believes that a great brand can be undone by mere changes in technology doesn’t fully understand what makes great brands great.

Kodak ranked as one of the four most valuable brands in the world in 1996, just behind Disney, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s.2 It had earned that ranking after decades of being the dominant U.S. maker of affordable cameras and photographic film. Kodak was known as “America’s storyteller,” and its advertising delivered ...