The classical brand theory stage is the initial forming stage of brand theory. In this sub-stage, it first focuses on normative research on the connotation and extension of the brand from the aspects of brand definition, naming, logo, trademark, etc. Secondly, many strategic brand theories have been proposed from the perspective of shaping, such as unique selling proposition theory, brand life cycle theory, brand image theory, brand personality theory, brand positioning theory, brand extension theory, etc.

(1) The 1950s. The main representative achievements include:

①The brand concept first proposed by Ogilvy in 1950;

②The first professional brand paper published by Gardner and Levy (1955) Product and Brand", the idea of ??emotional brand and brand personality proposed;

③ The unique selling proposition theory (USP: Unique selling proposition) proposed by Rolls Reeves (in the early 1950s). This theory has three principles, that is, through each advertisement, the same proposition is made to customers, but this proposition must be something that competitors cannot or have not proposed, and it must have enough promotional power to impress customers. Among them, finding the uniqueness of a product or service is the foundation of the USP theory. In the 1990s, advertising developed into the era of brand supremacy. Reeves re-examined USP, inherited and developed this theory, that is, the creativity of USP lies in revealing the essence of a brand and strongly confirming the uniqueness of the brand, making it invincible and unstoppable. Generally speaking, in many fields, if competition is still in its infancy, breakthrough results can be quickly obtained through USP. However, once the degree and level of competition escalate, the USP strategy will have problems. The reason is that technology updates quickly and competitors "imitate" "The speed is also very fast.

(2)1960s. The main representative results are:

①Ligh and King (1960) conducted normative research on brand connotation and denotation.

②The brand life cycle theory proposed by Manfrey Brun (in the early 1960s), that is, the brand life cycle consists of the creation, stability, differentiation, imitation, differentiation and polarization of the brand. Composed of 6 stages.

③Brand image theory proposed by Ogilvy (1963). This theory has three principles: as product homogeneity increases, consumers' rational choice of brands weakens; people pursue functional and emotional benefits at the same time, and advertising should focus on giving the brand more emotional benefits; any advertisement is A long-term investment in brand image.

④ With the further exploration of brand connotation, in the 1960s, the American Gray Advertising Company proposed the "Brand Character Philosophy", and the Japanese Professor Taisaburo Kobayashi proposed the "Corporate Character Theory", thus "Brand "Brand Character Theory" gradually took shape. This theory believes that in communication with consumers, from logo to image to personality, personality is the highest level; in order to achieve better communication effects, the brand should be personified, that is, thinking "if this brand is a person, What should it look like (find out the brand’s values, appearance, behavior, voice, etc.)?”; Shaping the brand personality should make it unique, exciting, and lasting. The key is to use what core pattern or theme Copy can express the specific personality of the brand; it is often important to find symbols that represent the brand personality.

(3)1970s. The main representative results are:

①The brand positioning theory proposed by Trout and Ries (1972, 1979), which has three laws, namely, the "law of focus", the "law of sacrifice" and the "law of extension". The concept of "positioning" was first proposed from the perspective of solving the efficiency of brand market communication. Since any corporate brand promotion activity has the function of disseminating brand information, in order to improve the brand's market communication efficiency, brand positioning must be systematically managed.

In this way, the concept of "positioning" has evolved from a simple communication method to a systematic management tool for strategic management of products or brands and increasing brand equity. The essence of positioning is to allow the brand to occupy the most favorable position in the customer's mental ladder, making the brand a representative brand of a certain category or certain characteristics. There are three main methods of brand positioning, namely, preemptive positioning, related positioning, and repositioning for competitors;

②Tauber (1979) published a paper "Brand Authorization Extension, New Products Benefit from Old Brands" , raised the ideological issue of brand extension for the first time.

(4)1980s. The main representative results are:

① Tauber, Boush, Allen, Bragg, Fiske, Broniarczyk, Aaker, Keller, Park, Sunde, Rangaswamy, Loken, Bottomley, Smith, Barone and other scholars’ research on brand extension theory Build. These studies mainly focus on consumers' attitudes towards the original brand, the relationship between the original brand and the extended brand, the impact of brand association on the extended brand, the process of consumer evaluation of extended products, the impact of brand extension on the original brand, and the impact of brand extension on the market. share and advertising efficiency.

② Western advertising academic circles have proposed the concept of "Brand Equity" from the perspective of brand management. At that time, many Western countries were facing an economic downturn, and companies had to adopt various methods to reduce costs and increase profits. Advertising expenses became the target of cuts. Companies frequently used marketing methods focusing on price reductions and promotions, although they promoted short-term sales. growth, but it has damaged the brand image and the long-term development interests of the company. Advertising academics believe that this is very dangerous. In order to remind companies to pay attention to the important role of brand in the long-term development of the company and avoid the negative impact of price promotions on the brand, the concept of brand equity was proposed. At the same time, many large-scale mergers and acquisitions with brand as the main target have also given people a more intuitive understanding of the financial value of brands (Brand Asset).

From the perspective of brand practice, between 1950 and 1960, many companies, especially consumer goods companies, implemented brand management systems and reshaped brand loyalty activities. At the same time, brand management and brand marketing played an important role in marketing. The status and role of brand management have become increasingly apparent; from 1960 to 1980, the brand manager system began to become popular around the world. The modern brand theory stage is the deepening development stage of brand theory, which mainly includes three aspects: brand equity (assets, value) theory, brand equity (assets, value) management theory and brand equity (assets, value) management operation model. .

(1) Brand equity (assets, value) theory. Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, theoretical research on brand equity (assets, value) has become a new and important academic hot spot. At present, in foreign literature, there are several concepts related to brand equity, such as Brand Asset, Brand Equity and Brand Value. Generally speaking, the relationship between them is: brand equity is a static description of the brand from the perspective of financial accounting of asset classification, which is a resultant concept; brand equity describes the dynamic process of brand asset formation and the relationship between various influencing factors. Interaction is a process and relational concept; while brand value describes the fundamental reasons for the existence of brand equity from the origins of philosophy and economics, laying a theoretical foundation for the study of brand equity and brand equity, and is a causal concept.

①Brand Asset research mainly focuses on the financial value assessment of brand assets (Brand Valuation), which is the price assessment of brand assets. This method is to estimate the price of brand assets by imitating the method of evaluating other intangible assets of the enterprise. Brand pricing is involved or required in property rights transaction activities such as company mergers and acquisitions, brand licensing and franchising, joint venture negotiations, infringement lawsuits and claims.

Out of this need, many asset appraisal companies have been involved in brand appraisal and developed many appraisal methods, including cost method, market method and income method. Research representatives in this field include scholars such as Hill, Lederer and Keller (2001), Davis (1999, 2002) and Franklin (2003);

② Brand Equity has become the most widely used but also the most ambiguous in the field of branding concept. Among them, Marketing Science Institute (MSI), Farquhar (1989), Aaker (199l, 1995, 2000, 2004), Kamakura and Russell (1991), Keller (1993, 1998, 2002), Park and Srinivasan (1994) , Kapferer (1998, 2004), Feldwiek (2002) and other scholars’ definitions are the most representative. Research in this field mainly focuses on the formation mechanism and evaluation of brand equity, that is, starting from exploring the components and interrelationships of brand equity, and looking for the essential driving factors hidden behind the economic value of brand equity. This type of method focuses on the causes and process of the formation of brand equity, focusing on qualitative research on the interaction between brands and customers. The main core literature includes management decision-oriented evaluation methods developed by consulting companies such as Yamp; 》, Aaker's (1991, 1995) five-star model of brand equity and ten-factor model of brand equity (Brand Equity Ten), Keller's (1993, 1998) consumer-based brand equity model (Customer-basedBrand Equity), etc.;

③Brand Value research mainly focuses on describing the use value and value of brand assets from the origin of economics. Among them, use value is represented by its identification function, competition function and value-added function. Value includes cost value and value-added value. However, there is a lack of exploring a series of systematic issues such as the essence, evaluation, classification, selection, orientation, creation, evolution and management of brand value from the perspective of value philosophy. Research representatives in this field include Nilson (1998), Elwood (2002), Mozota (2004), Arvidsson (2005), Turkel (2006), Lehu (2006) and other scholars.

(2) Brand equity (assets, value) management theory. With the in-depth study of the concepts and theories of brand equity, assets and value, people realize that in order to ensure the effective formation and long-term development of brand equity, assets or value, special organizations and standardized guidelines must be set up for management. To this end, theoretical research on brand equity, assets and value management emerged as the times require.

The main research results in this area include: Aaker's book "Managing Brand Equity" (1991), Kapferer's book "Strategic Brand Management: A New Approach to Creating and Measuring Brand Equity" (1998, 2004), Keller's book "Strategic Brand Management" (1998, 2002) and the paper "Brand Report Card" (2000), Davis's book "Brand Asset Management: Driving Profit Growth through Own Brands" (1999, 2002), Nilson's book "Competitive Branding: By Increasing Brand Value Wins Market Position" (1998), Hill and Lederer's "Infinite Assets: Managing Brands to Build New Value" (2001), Ellwood's "Branding Essentials: 10 Techniques for Increasing Brand Value" (No. Edition)" (2002), Mozota's book "Design Management: Using Design to Build Brand Value and Company Innovation" (2004), Haig's book "Brand Loyalty: How the World's Top 100 Brands Thrive and Survive" (2004, 2006), Durkin's book "The Advantages of Loyalty: Essential Steps to Energizing Companies, Consumers, and Brands" (2005), Lehu's book "Brand Maintenance: How to Prevent Brand Aging by Protecting, Strengthening, and Adding Value to Your Brand" (2005) 2006), Turkel's book "Building Brand Value: Seven Simple Steps to Profit Delivery" (2006), etc.

(3) Brand equity (assets, value) management operation model. Based on the above-mentioned theoretical research on brand equity, assets and value management, the practical community, especially the consulting community, has put forward a number of operating models around how to manage brand equity (assets, value) well, such as Ogilvy’s “Brand Steward” (Brand Stewardship)", Saatchi's "Global Brand Strategy", Dentsu's "Brand Communication", Dapis' "Brand Wheel", JWT's "Total Branding", etc. . Generally speaking, at this stage, branding begins to rise as a significant emerging area in corporate strategy and management. The contemporary brand theory stage is the comprehensive development stage of brand theory. In addition to the further innovation, improvement and mutual penetration of classical brand theory and modern brand theory, it mainly includes brand relationship and brand power theory, brand building methods, strategic brand management theory, Category brand theory (derived from the continuous expansion of brand extension) and other emerging brand ideas and other aspects.

(1) Brand relationship and brand power theory. Since the mid-1990s, with the gradual transformation of marketing understanding from functional theory and transactional marketing to process theory and relationship marketing, as well as in-depth reflection on the formation mechanism of brand equity (assets, value) and the influence of emerging strategic management theories (such as interest (stakeholders, organizational ecosystem, etc.)), the academic community began to see an upsurge in “brand relationship” as the research center. Looking at the research paradigm and development history of brand relationship theory, it can be roughly summarized as “two types”, “ Three stages" and "five levels", namely physical brand relationship and ecological brand relationship, traditional brand relationship stage, deep brand relationship stage and ecological brand relationship stage, the relationship level between brand and product/market, brand and related The relationship level between brands, the relationship level between brands and customers/stakeholders, the relationship level between brands and resources, and the relationship level between brands and the environment. Among them, the ideological roots of the first two stages are mainly. One-sided thinking and perspective based on "physics".

The main results are:

① In the traditional brand relationship stage, it is believed that brand relationship is the first aspect of the relationship between brand and product/market, or brand and customer. There are many documents, such as traditional logo theory, trademark theory , brand extension theory, brand positioning and brand origin theory, etc.; the core literature in the second aspect includes, such as the relationship marketing theory of Webster (1992), Mokenna (1997) and Gordon (1998); the strategic brand communication theory of Schultz and Barnes (1997, 1999); Peppers and Rogers' customer relationship management (1993, 1997); Blackston and Max's conceptual model of brand relationship (1992, 1995); Foumier's brand relationship analysis framework (1994, 1998); Blattberg (1996), Rust and Zeithaml's (2001) customer equity theory; Vaidyanathan and Aggarwal's research on brand relationship communication norms (2001); Lu Taihong and Zhou Zhimin's brand relationship index model (2003); McAlexander, Schouten and Koenig's brand community theoretical model ( 2002) etc.

② The deep brand relationship stage believes that in addition to the traditional view, brand relationship should be the relationship between the brand and customers/stakeholders, or the brand and related brands. The core literature on the first aspect includes. Such as Duncan and Moriarty's brand value category concept and integrated marketing model (1998); De Chematony (2000). Nicholas Ind (2004), Sartain and Schumann (2006)'s brand-employee relationship theory; Shin Kwang Yong's integrated marketing communication Strategic Thought (2001); Foley and Kendrick's brand-stakeholder equilibrium relationship theory (2006), etc. Core literature on the second aspect includes, for example, Aaker and Joachimsthaler's concept of brand groups based on a single enterprise, brand identity theory (1995), brand relationship spectrum and brand structure model (2000)n, and Aaker's brand portfolio strategy (2004) [ 53 J; Hill and Lederer's molecular model of brand combination based on corporate ecosystem (2001); Blackett and Boad's brand joint thinking (1999), etc.

③ The ecological brand relationship stage believes that brand relationship is the relationship system between the brand and branded things/markets, related brands, customers/stakeholders, resources, and the environment. Core literature includes: Davison's brand iceberg concept (1997); Winkler's brand ecological environment thought (1999); Wang Xingyuan's famous brand ecosystem theory (1999, 2000, 2004); Zhang Rui's brand ecological concept (2002), brand ecology System structure model (2003), brand ecological management thought (2003), ecological brand relationship framework model (2005); Chen Yungang's brand resource composition model, brand environment composition model (2004); and environmental theory in marketing, etc.

④Brand voice communication believes that to build a brand, you must be good at expressing your own brand voice. It is a long-term brand communication plan based on the cyclic interaction between enterprises and consumers. Through the combination of enterprise and consumer goals, it listens to the voices of consumers and understands their needs, and continuously integrates and refines the core of the brand. Value, shape the unique value system between enterprises and consumers, create a strong origin of brand voice, and then innovatively use various modern communication methods to build a strong brand voice area and deliver it to consumers in a targeted manner Consistent and meaningful positive brand voice, thus forming a highly "magic" brand voice circle that continues to act on consumers, allowing consumers to gradually rise from initial sensory recognition to silent worship of the brand. dissemination process.