For me while it contains lots of great nuggets the whole book is worth it for just one concept - "The Contract".
This is the unwritten contract that exists between advertisers and consumers. In the book's words this contract "promises that advertisers must give you something in exchange for their imposition on your time, attention and space. An ad might offer useful information, an insight, or a solution to a problem. It might help pay for the TV show you're watching or the magazine you're reading. It might simply entertain you. The key is that it offers some tangible benefit."
The authors explore that concept and keep coming back to it as they examine the different… Read more
It certainly benefits from timeliness - the title is based on the idea that brands are currently overvalued by the financial community in the way housing was recently in the US.
But while a certain apocalyptic scare gives the book currency, its real value is actually in the substance of its ideas. It is built round a core concept of Brand Energy. Using Y&R's amazing research database from its BrandAsset Valuator (BAV) study, which began in 1993, it shows that Energy is more important from a brand's future prosperity than awareness, trust or respect, and many brands today suffer from low Energy. The book goes on to probe the components of… Read more
