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| Source: Ullrich Appelbaum |
After languishing in the shadow of demand generation marketing for more than two decades, B2B brand marketing is experiencing a renaissance. Several recent research studies have provided insights about B2B buyers and the B2B buying process that make the value of a strong brand abundantly clear.
Most of what we know about building strong brands originated in B2C companies. In the 1930s, Procter & Gamble invented the business function that would come to be called brand management, and by the late 1950s, brand management practices had been widely adopted by U.S. consumer package goods companies.
Given the B2C origin of brand management, it's not surprising that many B2B marketers don't have extensive experience with some of the core principles of brand building.
If you're a B2B marketer who wants or needs to learn more about one of the fundamental concepts of building strong brands, you should put Ullrich ("Ulli") Appelbaum's new book on your reading list.
The Science of Brand Associations: Win Minds, Win Markets (2025) provides a practitioner-focused primer on the vital role that brand associations play in building a strong brand.
Ulli Appelbaum has more than 30 years of experience in creating brand strategies and building brands. He is the founder of First The Trousers Then The Shoes, a brand research, strategy, and training boutique. Previously, he held senior strategy roles at several leading advertising agencies, including BBDO, Leo Burnett, Fallon Worldwide, and SapientNitro.
What's In the Book
The Science of Brand Associations contains four major sections.
In the first section (Chapters 1-4), Ulli Appelbaum provides a scientific definition of "brand" and "Brand Association Networks," and he uses principles of cognitive psychology and neuroscience to explain how brands are formed in people's brains.
He then describes how brands can carry meanings that extend beyond their functional attributes, and he shares research demonstrating the benefits of building strong and rich brand association networks.
The second section (Chapters 5-9) discusses how to use brand association networks to build strong brands. Appelbaum describes the types of associations brands should focus on (Chapter 5) and the critical role that distinctive brand assets play in building a strong brand (Chapter 6). In Chapter 9, he lays out 14 proven principles of brand growth.
In the third section of the book (Chapters 10-11), Appelbaum describes the reasons brands fail, and he discusses five strategies marketers or brand managers can use to overcome negative brand associations.
The fourth section (Chapters 12-13) addresses how to research and measure brand associations.
My Take
The Science of Brand Associations will be a valuable resource for any marketer who is responsible for driving revenue growth at their organization. The book is short - just over 100 pages - and Ulli Appelbaum's writing style makes the book easy to read.
Advances in neuroscience and the behavioral sciences over the past several decades have given us a deeper understanding of how humans learn, how our brains store and retrieve information, and how memories impact human decision-making. To be effective, marketing must be designed to leverage how humans think and make decisions.
Appelbaum forcefully argues that brand associations are the single most important concept in marketing. He writes:
"In fact, understanding how brands are formed in the mind of consumers . . . and how to create and nurture strong and rich association networks around your offering . . . is the foundation of everything else we do in marketing and successful brand building."
Appelbaum supports this central argument with numerous references to the work of cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, as well as high-regarded research firms (including Ehrenberg-Bass, Ipsos, and Kantar) and respected marketing experts (including Byron Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, and Kevin Lane Keller).
The Science of Brand Associations is purpose-written for practitioners. Appelbaum describes his book as "a sort of operating manual" that translates scientific research and evidence-based marketing principles into "practical and applicable actions intended to help brand stewards make better strategic choices and decisions . . ."
To support practitioners, Appelbaum includes several detailed "scorecards" that marketers can use to apply the principles and techniques he discusses in the book.
Appelbaum also includes several real-world examples in his book to illustrate various points. However, these examples are not very detailed. I wish that he had included at least a few detailed and rigorous case studies to support his most important points.
Even with this caveat, I strongly recommend that you take the time to read The Science of Brand Associations.
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