Commentary: A Perspective on Brands

Explores the problems facing the advertising industry in the 1980s,notably the charge that advertising was not effective enough. Compares advertising with promotion, before discussing the value of brands, the nature of brands and brand equity. Concludes that the consumer was rightly placed at the centre of all advertising and marketing efforts by advertising agencies during the 1980s, and that advertising agencies will become increasingly “brand‐focused” throughout the 1990s.