New Aaker Book: Winning the Relevance War

SAN FRANCISCO, January 19, 2011 - Today more than ever, it's relevance, not preference, that ultimately
wins the hearts and minds of customers and builds businesses, and noted brand
guru David Aaker shares how to get there in his just-released new book.

"Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant"
(www.prophet.com/thinking/view/483-brand-relevance - Jossey-Bass,
January 2011, $32.95), shares four key undertakings that will enable
businesses to attain and win the relevance war.

"Relevance is what makes the difference between winning by becoming
isolated from competitors versus being mired in a difficult market
environment where differentiation is hard to achieve and often short-lived,"
says Aaker.

Aaker is Vice Chairman of Prophet (www.prophet.com) and Professor
Emeritus of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Prophet is a strategic brand and marketing consultancy that helps clients win
by delivering inspired and actionable ideas.

The book, Aaker's 15th, uses more than two dozen case studies of brands
and businesses that have won the relevance war - Prius, Whole Foods Market
and the iPod among them. The four key ways he examines for achieving it are:

    - Find new concepts by becoming proficient in creative thinking and
      cultivating organizational creativity.
    - Evaluate a concept's promise by examining three key questions: Is there
      a market? Can we compete and win? Will a market leadership position
      endure?
    - Define and manage the category/subcategory so as to differentiate it
      from others, appeal to customers, deliver benefits and drive choice
      decisions.
    - Create barriers to others' entry to prolong relevance. Barriers can
      range from investment hurdles to difficult-to-replicate customer
      relationships.

"It's increasingly hard to win the preference battles today," says Aaker.
"Lasting success comes from offering something so different and special that
it creates its own unique category - and customers see no alternatives to
consider."

As a leading and award-winning thinker on brands, Aaker has published
over 100 articles in addition to his books. A columnist with the American
Marketing Association's Marketing News, he is often quoted on brand topics.
He also delves into brand and marketing issues in his blog, Aaker on Brands,
(www.davidaaker.com), and via Twitter @davidaaker
(www.twitter.com/davidaaker).

Media contact: Sally Saville Hodge, Hodge Media Strategies,
shodge@hodgemediastrategies.com or +1-773-325-9282.

Sally Saville Hodge of Hodge Media Strategies, +1-773-325-9282, shodge at hodgemediastrategies.com, for David Aaker