Starting from P&G and Gilette merger, and their wide experience in branding, Business Magazine presents five lessons from classic companies and upstarts alike. All are thriving by managing brands differently than companies did in the heyday of the mass market.

Innovate. Innovate. Innovate.
Innovation isn’t always built from scratch. It can be done by transferring technologies from one brand to another.

Move Fast — Or Lose Out
Not only are customers hooked on innovation, they’re demanding it faster.

Minimize Exposure to Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is the key customer for any consumer product brand today. But balancing those sales with plenty of others is vital to a brand’s health: For most suppliers, the more you sell to the world’s biggest retailer, the less you make says a recent study by consultant Bain & Co.

The New Media Message
The splintering media, it turns out, hasn’t been all bad. Companies should try everything from in-store demos to pitches on Wal-Mart TV, engulfing shoppers in the brand message. The goal is to both target specific customers and to fit the medium to the message

Think Broadly
Rather than define itself by its products, companies should become solvers of consumer’s problems.