Description and Prescription

This article is a robust rejoinder by Andrew Ehrenberg to the critics of his brand share theories. He comments on the reality of Brand Equity, prescription vs description, Double Jeopardy, deviations from law-like relationships, what drives market share, and the confidentiality of data.

Description and Prescription

Andrew Ehrenberg

The controversy continues. Dyson, Farr, and Hollis, and Baldinger and Rubinson (Dyson, Farr, and Hollis, 1997; Baldinger and Rubinson, 1997) have responded to my doubts and criticisms (1997a) of their search for the Holy Grails of either Brand Equity or Attitudes-Predicting-Behavior (Dyson, Farr, and Hollis, 1996; Baldinger and Rubinson, 1996). Their points include:

  1. That there is a need for some kind of Brand Equity concept (eg, 'Strong' and 'Weak' brands).
  2. That prescription is preferable to ...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands