David Aaker has become the guru of brand strategy with his impact research, twelve books, hundred-plus articles, consulting, and speaking. From Fargo to the World of Brands details the intellectual journey that led to a focus on brands--with stops in marketing models, market research, advertising management, emotional advertising, and business strategy--and chronicles his attempts to influence management practices. It provides a profile of academic life, the story of a brand consulting company, and a description of the rich experience associated with his second professional home in Japan. This warmhearted autobiography also describes Aaker's personal life--growing up in the Midwest in the '40s and '50s, his roots, how a Fargo boy over his head survived at MIT and Stanford, his entrepreneurial failure, his passions and relationships, and how the Aaker family evolved over forty years.