SPONSOR PROJECTS
Eli Lilly: Answers that Matter
When Eli Lilly embarked on a campaign to promote a new brand identity for the entire corporation both externally and internally, it asked the Center on Global Brand Leadership to work with it through each stage of the project.
First, the Center was involved in CEO Sidney Taurel's initial launch of the new logo and brand line ("Answers That Matter"). The Center was also involved in formulating an approach that would guarantee the global consistency of brand communications during the worldwide roll-out of the identity. As part of the internal branding campaign, the Center advised the H.R. function within Eli Lilly about internal brand communications, using Experiential Marketing to create advertisements and motivate employees. The Center was involved in planning for Eli Lilly's Leadership Meeting which brought together more than 100 key decision makers in the company, and where the brand initiative was presented and linked to leadership behavior.
Eli Lilly has also presented the work on their brand identity at the Center's "Conference on Brand Relationships and Experiences" as well as in the "Managing Brands, Identity, and Experiences" class at Columbia Business School.
SAP
In 2000, SAP hired Martin Homlish to transform marketing worldwide and spearhead a strategic branding initiative. Homlish's challenges were to align the organization and communicate the brand consistently, as well as to build a brand strong and flexible enough to continually support changing business objectives. Homlish established SAP Global Marketing, based in New York City, and launched a comprehensive effort to build a powerful global brand.
This effort has produced impressive results for SAP. According to BusinessWeek's
annual brand rankings, the value of the brand rose $2.86 billion, or 46%, between
2000 and 2005, making SAP the only software company to gain brand value for
five years in a row. The complete case study, "SAP: Building a Leading Technology
Brand," written by Center Executive Director Bernd Schmitt, and Director
David Rogers, is available to download from our web site as a .pdf file.
Dow Jones
Dow Jones worked with the Center on Global Brand Leadership to develop a consulting project for MBA students in the class "Managing Brands, Identity, and Experiences." The assignment was to develop a communications strategy that would allow the Wall Street Journal Online to better reach out to younger business people and leverage the website's interactive features and added depth beyond the content of the print newspaper. Six teams of students each worked to develop a set of strategic recommendations for Dow Jones.
Mercedes Benz
Mercedes Benz USA worked with the Center on Global Brand Leadership to develop a consulting project for MBA students in the class "Managing Brands, Identity, and Experiences." The assignment included an assessment of brand strategy, focusing on whether the company should continue to pursue a "luxury" positioning strategy in the US market, in contrast to the "premium" positioning strategy used by the brand in Europe. In addition, students examined the impact of previous product quality concerns on the current brand image, and developed strategies to mitigate such impact. Six teams of students each worked to develop a set of strategic recommendations for Mercedes Benz.
