Like the adage about Mark Twain who was quoted as saying, "reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," many marketers have erroneously pronounced the death of the brand.

Driven by factors such as changing lifestyles, dramatic demographic shifts, a drawnout recessionary economy, the resurgence of private-labels and house-brands, price wars and promotional gimmicks - and, at a more fundamental level, the raging battle between manufacturers and retailers over shelf space - marketers have been lead to believe that the age of strong consumer loyalty and brand leadership is a bygone era.

"Don't count out the brand just yet," responds author Joe Marconi. In Beyond Branding, Marconi implores the reader to take a new look at how smart marketers are building and leveraging brand equity to develop new business lines and to open new markets. Despite years of "me too" product introduction and consumer-price consciousness, marketers increasingly acknowledge, that in the mind of consumers, a better-known brand is thought to be a better brand.

Marconi reinforces how critical it is for businesses intending to compete in this era of product parity to understand, build and nurture the intrinsic value of their brands through line extension.

In this visionary look at brand marketing, the reader will find keys to building brand equity; creating "top-of-mind" awareness, integrity and loyalty for the brand; judging whether a line-extension strategy is right for a company's and brand's market position and evaluating when and why brand building and line extensions have created stellar successes or abysmal failures.

How important is the brand today? Will brand equity and the ability to leverage brand image make a difference tomorrow? You be the judge - but remember, the brand is usually what consurners remember - if they remember anything at all.