Putting It All Together: Why and How to Build an Iconic Brand

Although most companies aspire to build brands that eventually get etched in the culture of the society and become cultural icons, very few succeed in this endeavor.1 Iconic brands have captured much attention from marketing practitioners and consumers alike, and one can easily find numerous recommendations from marketing consultants for building iconic brands. Unfortunately, because these recommendations often lack a strong theoretical basis, they are very difficult to implement without the help of the expert advice proposing them. A key reason for this state of affairs is the ambiguity in the definition of an iconic brand. The label “iconic” is frequently used when referring to powerful brands with dominant positions in their markets and very high levels of brand awareness.2,3 Iconic brands have also been referred to as timeless brands with long-standing traditions.4 These popular conceptualizations of an iconic brand are not very distinctive because they are just synonymous with brands with a recent or long history of high brand equity (see chapter 1).