Defending Your Brand Against Imitation: Consumer Behavior, Marketing Strategies, and Legal Issues

Brand imitation is widespread in today's marketplace and clearly is a threat. It is important for brand, marketing, and other corporate managers to understand the history of this problem, its evolution, and its prevalence in today's market. In this well-written and useful book, the author addresses these important topics and others in detail, drawing upon extensive research in consumer behavior.Of special interest to marketing managers is the background information Zaichkowsky provides on the issue and her proposed methods for guarding against brand imitation. The reasons why brand imitation pervades the marketplace and why consumers are easily confused by imitations are discussed, and the author reviews a selection of "passing-off" cases. Ways to test for brand imitation are offered, and issues are addressed that, to this point in the literature, were inadequately explored. The insights and information presented in Defending Your Brand Against Imitation provide an abundance of material for other researchers to investigate. Corporate management as well as attorneys and academics will find this informative summary a useful weapon against brand imitation.