PART 1 Destination Brand Concepts

C H A P T E R
3
A place marketing and place
branding perspective revisited

Philip Kotler and David Gertner

INTRODUCTION
At one time, in most product categories and in most markets, consumers had
somewhat limited choice of products and brands. In myriad industries, a single
manufacturer or service provider enjoyed a dominant market share and was the
incontestable industry leader. This was the case in the automotive, appliances,
electronics, beverages, personal care, financial and banking services, airlines,
and consulting industries, among others. In most cases, there were also one or
two strong challengers trailing the market leader. A small share of the market,
left by the two or three leading brands in the category, was usually obstinately
disputed by a number of much smaller market nichers.
In just a few decades, dramatic changes in the demographic, natural,
economic, social, legal, and political environments, combined with unprece­
dented advancements in transportation and telecommunications, revolutionised
most competitive environments. Suddenly, much faster than developments
in past decades and centuries, the number of alternative choices available
to consumers, in almost all markets, multiplied exponentially. Competition
became global, rather than largely domestic. Cherished companies and brands
once glorified and considered virtually invulnerable, such as GM, IBM, Coca-
Cola, GE, Xerox, and Boeing, faced serious competition for the first time
and experienced the erosion of market share. The assault to the supremacy
of market leaders and chief brands was threatened not from their customary
and predictable competitors. Instead, leading brands were defied on their own
turfs by new and unfamiliar brand names originating in different parts of the
world. In the automotive industry, companies such as Korean Hyundai and
Kia, Indian Tata Motors, and Chinese Chery Automobile have challenged
traditional market leaders; Chinese Lenovo and Taiwanese Acer in electronics;
Korean LG in appliances; and Brazilian Embraer in the aircraft industry, to
name a few.

© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-096930-5.10003-5