Image has never been enough

In response to Alan Mitchell’s article “Image is not enough in marketing”(MW October 11).

His review in the recent issue of how two companies re-engineered their marketing strategles was relevant and to the point, apart from one important aspect.

The fact that image is not enough in marketing is far from something new. It has never been the case, and will never be the case.

The only problem is that marketers consistently fail to realise that any brand image has to be underpinned by solid product or service advantages that are superior to competition.

This is where Andrex appears to have failed in the early Nineties, where Pepsi appears to have failed throughout most of its life and it is, in my opinion, where American Express is likely to fail if it tries to compete head on with the mainstream credit cards.

Torsten H Nilson

Nilson Consulting

Oxted

Surrey