Why should companies with smaller advertising budgets settle for lower quality brand thinking?
Let’s face it; advertising is not always the right weapon for brand building. There are business models where mass advertising will never be vital to the success of the brand. In fact, some of the best brands in the world have used means other than advertising to build relationships with their consumers. Starbucks and Google are arguably the most potent brands to come on the scene in the last 20 years, but in North America they have done almost no advertising compared to a typical franchise operation in fast food. So a brilliant brand strategy and successful brand can be built without a classic mass-advertising-driven approach. Still, many companies in this situation are perceived as less dedicated to marketing and branding simply because they don’t have big advertising budgets. As a result, they often find that their branding partners are not necessarily the cream of the crop. This situation leaves an obvious gap in the market. Managers that recognize the need for incisive brand think
