IIFT students' book on branding launched internationally

Four students from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade have taken inputs from Kevin Keller himself for their latest book on branding.

The book, called The Titans of Branding, is based on a set of interviews of nine stalwarts in the world of branding. Those interviews represent a global view and hail from all over the world including the US, the UK and New Zealand.

For the students  Nishant Gupta, Apramey Dube, Vividha Kaul and Esha Mehra, it was the chance of a lifetime when they were asked to co-author a book as part of an international research project in association with the Emory University, USA and Hanken University, Finland.

The book was launched recently at a seminar held at Helsinki in Finland which the students attended. They also made a presentation to the august gathering of attendees on the new ideas suggested by them. The four students are graduated this year from IIFT

The students realised that all these international voices had never been brought together on a common platform, and the idea of a book began to crystallise.

"Kevin Lane Keller has co-authored Marketing Management book with Philip Kotler. In the second year, we read another of his books where we studied a lot about David Aaker. Jagdish Sheth is a man whose names always pipes up during some lecture or the other. To be actually interviewing these people and then writing a book on that was a dream come true for us," said the student authors said in a statement.

The main idea behind the book is to generate new ideas and look at creating a new path towards branding and innovation in a world that is as globalised as it is today. The USP of the book, of course, is the diversity of its voices- academicians whose views are respected all across the world.

The voices whose views have been amalgamated into the book include the likes of Kevin Lane Keller, David Aaker, Don Schultz, Jagdish Sheth, Leo Berry, Bernt Schmitt, Raj Srivastava, Rod Brodie and Leslie de Chernatony. All of them are world-renowned academicians from some of the best B-schools in the world like those at Northwestern University, Berkeley, Emory University, Dartmouth College, Auckland and Birmingham.

The The Titans of Branding reflects innovative strategic thinking in the field of global branding. It is a unique presentation of the views of nine renowned experts. Through interviews, the book brings together perspectives from global branding leaders, linking brands to globalization and innovation.

Kevin Keller's books on marketing have been the bible of marketing and part of all B-School's curricula. 'Marketing management' from Kotler & Keller has redefined marketing for generations globally.

The nine branding stalwarts interviewed for the book were:

1. Kevin Lane Keller, E B Osborn, professor of marketing at The Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

2. David Aaker, E T Grether, professor of marketing and public policy, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

3.Jagdish Sheth, Charles H Kellstadt,  professor of marketing , Goizueta Business School, Emory University

4. Don E Schultz, Professor Emeritus, integrated marketing communications, Northwestern University

5.Rod Brodie,  associate dean, University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand

6.Rajendra Srivastava, Roberto Goizueta Chair in e-commerce and marketing, Goizueta Business School, US

7.Leslie de Chernatony, Professor of brand marketing, Birmingham School of Business, Birmingham

8.Leo Berry, Oklahoma State University

9.Bernd Schmitt, Robert D Calkins Professor of International Business, Columbia Business School, New York

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) was set up in 1963 by the government of India as an autonomous organisation to help professionalise the country's foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources.