Ankle-deep branding
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This book reminds me of when my older brother told me about sex when I was about eight years old: he didn't really know what he was talking about, but it sounded great at the time. Sure, read this book to stimulate thoughts about branding, but make sure you question every sentence in it, and when you realise how shallow it is, throw it away...
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Brand management made easy
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A really simple and enjoyable book to read and every point is robustly backed up with real life examples of how to do and not to do things.
The writer makes the difference between the sucess and failiure of brands seem so simplistic it makes you wonder why on earth companies waste £millions on ideas that have been proven not to work or seriously harm future sales.
A real eye opener.
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The place to start
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How can a book which has almost no pictures be the ultimate introduction to branding?
I was highly sceptical, and only added it onto to my list of branding books to buy because it was cheap. How wrong I was.
In 172 readable, small-paperback pages, Al Ries and his daughter Laura unveil the fundamentals of branding, stripping away the most powerful myths and demonstrating with a mixture of brand successes, failures, falls and rises, that they know what they are talking about. What's more, what they say made sense of many things I have been dimly feeling towards in my 20 years as a communications professional.
I suspect that this book oversells itself slightly. The title made me suspicious, and the definitiveness of statements which go against what you find in other books makes you wonder, at points, if what it's saying is really this cut and dried. I probably would have disregarded this book if I'd read it ten years ago: but practical industry experience convinces me that what it is saying is right, and the other books, which focus on choosing your name and redesigning the logo, are the ones which only understand a part of the picture.
It took me about an hour and a half to read this book, and I will never see branding the same way again. That's good value for you. On the other hand, I probably won't be reading and re-reading it avidly. It makes its points, which can be quickly revised from the chapter headings. Now it's time to move on.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants (or needs) to learn about branding. I can't imagine a better introduction to the subject for someone who already has enough industry experience to recognise what it is talking about. I wouldn't recommend anyone to _only_ read this book: it is an extremely sound beginning, not an encyclopaedia.
In terms of what this book is trying to be, I don't think there could be any higher recommendation than that.
Superb.
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A stunning piece of work!
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Let's face it, the title and subject matter of this book is unlikely to leave most of us hanging on the edge of our seats. Indeed, I think one of the great ironies of this book is that it possibly suffers from its own branding problems! But don't let that fool you- the book is absolutely fantastic and I would urge anyone who runs or is thinking of starting up their own business to drop all your tools and read this book IMMEDIATELY. Throughout the book, the authors draw upon countless examples from household names to illustrate the various branding laws that the authors are trying to put foward. After reading the first two chapters (i.e., laws) you'll understand how companies like Starbucks have became the world's leading coffee shop brand within just a few years. You'll appreciate how ventures like Google.com have managed to become overnight megabrands without spending a penny on advertising. Conversely, the book will unveal the costly branding blunders that have recently been made by the likes of Pepsi, Mercedes Benz and Miller. The authors even go so far as to predict the death of Kodak and any other global superbrands who are currently failing to obide by the laws of branding. Perhaps most intersting of all, for me, was the suggestion that we are now living in a brave new age in which the companies that thrive are not going to be those that have the best logos or the best advertisments or the best salesmen or even the best service- it will be the companies with the best brands. This book took a subject that I was mildly interested in and made it utterly fascinating. This is my ever first five star review and a well deserved one at that!
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Simple, not simplistic
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This is one of the simplest yet most important books I read on branding. Al and Laura Ries outline 22 short rules for success in branding - or failure, if you go against them. Some of these rules are very obvious, such as The Law of Credentials and The Law of the Name. Others are not and will you will have to take the odd deep breath and ask yourself if that really was what the authors meant. Once you think it, though, it all makes perfect sense and you're already on the next chapter. The authors didn't even have to drown the reader with useless, obscure case studies, when examples of brands everyone knows about are so plentiful. The language is simple and relaxed and so very effective. So, if you're not hoping for a treaty on marketing this is the right book for you. It doesn't matter if you're a student, a seasoned marketer or a consumer who wants to know what some people are doing to consumers' minds: you will find this highly informative, blunt, enlightening and very fun to read.
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