What Great Brands Do shows how companies as diverse as IBM, REI, Starbucks, Lululemon, and more have all used their exceptional brand platforms as management tools to fuel, align, and guide every task they undertake and have achieved higher-than-average profit margins as a result. What do these great brands have in common? What Great Brands Do shows how these firms rely on a brand-as-business management approach to grow and succeed in tough economic climates, regardless of the size of their marketing budgets. What Great Brands Do distills their approach into seven guiding principles and accompanying best practices to provide a thoughtful and practical methodology for putting a company's brand in the drivers seat of the organization. The seven principles are: Great brands start inside Great brands avoid selling products Great brands ignore trends Great brands don't chase customers Great brands sweat the small stuff Great brands commit and stay committed Great brands never need to give back Research suggests that only a small portion of companies practice brand-building the way great brands do a recent survey of marketing executives revealed that 64 percent feel that their brands do not influence decisions made at their companies. Nearly two-thirds of companies are pouring millions of dollars into marketing and advertising without aligning their business strategies with the brand values and attributes they're communicating. As a result, the full business value of those brands is going unrealized. What Great Brands Do intends to change the ways readers think about and work with brand-building, and the book is essential reading for any business leader who wants to ensure that current brand activities help lay the foundation for continued growth.