This two-part case study discusses the development of a strong brand image for software firm SAP AG, a B2B company whose culture has always focused more on product engineering than on marketing.
Fall 2009
David Rogers is the Executive Director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Brand Leadership, the leading global forum on branding issues for researchers and executives (www.globalbrands.org). There he directs research, curriculum, and conferences in New York, and with partner centers in Shanghai, Munich, Barcelona, Seoul, and Singapore. He teaches executives and MBA's on brands, market innovation, and digital strategy.
He is the host of the center’s acclaimed BRITE conference, a global series of conferences and CMO summits on branding, innovation, and technology (www.BRITEconference.com). At BRITE, Rogers brings together leaders from brands such as Dove, American Express, Nickelodeon, Burger King, and G.E.; best-selling writers such as Seth Godin, Jeff Jarvis, and Bernd Schmitt; and emerging technology start-ups such as SpotMe, TechAviv, and Boxee. At the BRITE conferences, video channel, and online social network, leaders from media and business discuss how innovation and technology are transforming the ways we build and sustain great brands.
Rogers is the co-author, with Bernd Schmitt, of the book "There's No Business That's Not Show Business: Marketing in an Experience Culture" and co-editor of "The Handbook on Brand and Experience Management." He is the author of case studies and articles on marketing and digital media. Rogers blogs at www.BRITEblog.net, and twitters at www.twitter.com/david_rogers. He is currently writing a new book on customer networks and their impact on business and market strategy.
Rogers has advised and provided strategic consulting for companies on: marketing strategy, innovation, brand architecture, customer experience, organizational alignment, and digital media. Client industries include: technology (IBM, SAP), pharmaceutical (Eli Lilly), telecom (Vodafone), defense (MITRE), advertising (Ogilvy, Interpublic), consumer electronics, (Fujifilm, Takara), consumer packaged goods (Lotte), food & beverage (Java Coffee), hospitality (Core Club), non-profit (Carnegie Hall, Architectural Institute of America), and media (Tango magazine, Dow Jones).
He speaks at conferences in the U.S., Europe, and Asia on the ways that digital media and innovation are transforming communications and branding, including: The Conference Board, Barcelona International Marketing Meeting, World Trade Week, NYC Internet Week, ESADE University, University of Munich, Yonsei University, Singapore Management University, and more.
Rogers has appeared on CNN (Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer’s "The Situation Room," CNN International, and CNN's American Morning), CNBC, Channel NewsAsia, CNNfn, WPIX New York, various national radio; in print for Reuters, Ideas Magazine, and La Gaceta de los Negocios; and online for MSN Money, ZDNet Asia, Channel NewsAsia, Internet News, Innovate, and the FastForward webinars. (See a video clip from CNN at: http://bit.ly/GvXb)
Rogers is also a composer and musician whose music ("Rhythmically vital!" - The New York Times) has been heard from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall.
Professor Schmitt researches, teaches, and advises corporations on creative strategy, branding, and customer experience management. Schmitt's books include Big Think Strategy, Customer Experience Management, and Experiential Marketing, which have been translated into more than 15 languages. He teaches the course Managing Brands, Identity and Experiences, and won an award for innovation in the classroom for the course Corporate Creativity. He has also taught several other courses including Consumer Behavior and Advertising, as well as the Marketing core course. He has held visiting appointments in China, Germany, Poland, and Singapore. Schmitt's research focuses on experiential marketing, brand management and international business.