by: Jonathan Salem Baskin
"Mass-affluent" brands like Burberry, Tiffany, and Coach are hurting in this dicey economy of ours, just like their lesser-branded competitors.
I guess I still don't understand the branding equation: expenditures on branding are an investment because they imbue products and services with attributes, associations, and a substantive equity that should somehow supercede competitive comparisons of function or price.