the biggest customer for many leading companies, including Kraft, Gillette, and Procter & Gamble. For these and 450 other suppli- ers, the relationship to Wal-Mart is so vital that they have offices in or near Bentonville, with another 800 such branch offices planned to open in the next five years. Wal-Marts reach is still expanding. Even though it has already captured 8 percent of all U.S. retail sales (excluding auto dealers and restaurants), it has set its sights on banking, used car sales, travel, and Internet access, and there is no reason to believe its effect in these industries will be any less staggering than in those in which it already operates. In order to support its expected growth, Wal-Mart plans to hire an additional 800,000 workers over the next five years, which in any economy, especially a stalled one, is a positive brand attribute in and of itself.       The Value of KISSing   The successes of Wal-Mart and KISS demonstrate that the most effective strategies are often simple, but involve brilliant approaches for relating to consumers. When implemented with excellence, win- ning strategies give advantages competitors cannot readily replicate, and often they succeed before the competitors even know they have k is s: k e ep i t s i m pl e, s t up i d |     been engaged. When a strategy is brilliantly conceived and executed with precision, an organization-whether a musical group or any other organization-dominates with a differential advantage that is difficult to duplicate. Jerry Garcia, late leader of the Grateful Dead, was once asked how the group became known as the best at what they do. He replied, "Our goal is never to be considered the best at what we do; our goal is to be considered the only one that does what we do." Sam Walton and Gene Simmons would have to agree.       The Rolling Stones:   Branding Strategies beyond Satisfaction were very conscious we were in a totally new era. Rock and