Brand-Building Awards, Conference Planned

San Francisco-based Venture Strategy Group launched the first Brandy Awards and the Build Brand Value conference, a conference focusing on building breakthrough brands.

The company said it wants to recognize companies that have proven that building brands is more than an advertising campaign and the ubiquity of a logo, and is the key to achieving business success and creating sustainable customer relationships.

The conference and Brandy Awards will be held on March 23 and 24 at San Francisco’s Ritz Carlton hotel.

All brands are eligible for the awards. A brand can be anything: a product, service, store, or technology. There is no fee for the Brandy Award nominations. Self-nominations are encouraged, as are those from suppliers, consumers, and others who work with “branded” businesses.

Judges will come from the academic, professional, and financial communities.

“These awards are built on building a sustainable business. A great brand is more than image and the value of it no longer correlates directly to media spending,” said Bill Rosenzweig, chairman of the judging panel and director of Venture Strategy Group’s strategy consulting practice.

Eighteen awards will be given in the following six categories: Outstanding Brand Stewardship, Brand Loyalty, Brand Culture, Brand Citizenship, Brand Reach, and Brand Personality.

The conference is for CEOs and senior executives who want to achieve and maintain brand dominance and category leadership. Speakers will include Howard Schultz, Starbuck’s chairman and CEO; Francis Ford Coppola, filmmaker and vintner; Dennis Carter, Intel’s director of the “Inside Intel” campaign; David Aaker, author of Building Strong Brands and a professor at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley; and Faith Popcorn, futurist and best-selling author of The Popcorn Report.

Co-hosts are Heidrick & Struggles, Van Kasper & Company, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, Cooley Godward LLP, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation/UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, PrimoAngeli Inc., Rosewood Capital, L.P., and Union Bank of California.

For more information contact: Melinda Platt, Build Brand Value Conference, Venture Strategy Group, 1550 Bryant Street, Suite 510, San Francisco, 94103, phone 415-558-8600, or visit buildbrand.com