John Gerzema Today’s housing bubble and the tech stock bubble from the last decade reveal a widening gap between market speculation and how typical Americans value things.

If you thought those bubbles were bad, get ready for another, even bigger one on the horizon that represents over $4 trillion dollars in S&P market capitalization. That alone makes it twice the size of the sub-prime mortgage market. But, unlike other bubbles, the assets that are at risk cannot be traded away or hedged against uncertainty. Rather, they are the fundamental drivers of competitive advantage for most companies—their brands.

About the author:
John Gerzema is Chief Insights Officer at Young & Rubicam Group. John and Ed Lebar have written The Brand Bubble: The Looming Brand Crisis and How to Avoid It, which was published in October 2008 by Jossey-Bass. More details at thebrandbubble.com including free access to BAV data on over 500 brands in our study.