Empowered Does Not Mean Engaged, Says Dartmouth’s Kevin Lane Keller
Customers might have more control, but only a few take advantage of that brand power to do something with it, says Kevin Lane Keller, who is considered to be one of the best business school professors today.
This is the second installment of three back-to-school master podcast classes in marketing, providing industry insight through conversations with some of the greatest academic minds in the discipline.
This week my conversation is with Kevin Lane Keller, the E.B. Osborn professor of marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Considered to be one of the best business school professors today, he’s the author of “Strategic Brand Management,” which is referred to by many as the “branding bible,” and co-author of the classic textbook “Marketing Management.”
Keller’s passion for marketing comes through in many of the observations he made during the podcast. Two aspects of that passion are empathy and curiosity. He developed empathy while growing up, he said, and for him that boils down to “being able to really understand how other people think.”
Meanwhile, his curiosity bleeds through when he talks about marketing itself: “If you love marketing, there’s always something happening that you want to think about.”
Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include:
- What consumer psychology, a competitive nature, and delivering value have in common for Keller. (1:34)
- Why “painting a picture in the minds of consumers about your brand” matters. (3:13)
- The role of purpose in building a brand today. (9:20)
- “Five things I know about marketing”—Keller articulates his views on brands. (13:50)
- The challenges of brand architecture. (26:30)
- Keller keeps his eye on “hall of fame” brands. (33:50)
- Art or science—or art and science? Keller’s thoughts about the future of marketing. (35:59)