Customer Reviews

New Brand World

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What's It About
The book takes the importance of branding to a new depth as it raises awareness of how a matured brand and its genetic makeup create an ever lasting experience between a business and it customers. It places much emphasis on the author's experience in the world of big business, so we caution readers that it has no mention of small business. It is a set of principles that can help improve a company's brand beyond a logo and letterhead. The author explains how a brand lends itself to everything from the day to day operations of a business right down to the smallest detail. A brand cannot be defined by any one thing. Whether a brand is built unwittingly or purposely, it can be subject to criticism, dilution, or it may achieve greatness. This book gives many examples of the principles he presents, giving a lasting experience and emphasizing the gravity of each principle.

Overall
The author is at the top of his vocation. He shares an insider's view of a decade spent developing both the "just do it" brand with Nike and helping Starbucks become an internationally known coffee experience. It was disappointing in the lack of examples of building brands in SME's and largely represents only one viewpoint. The members felt that it was a worth while read and they recommend it to others with the warning that this does not place any emphasis on SME. It gives valuable principles and important examples for building a brand that can evolve over time with a business's beliefs and values. The book was creative, sustaining, and it maintained the interest of our readers.

Style
The book was very well written and the principles flowed in an intuitive manner. It is not a handbook or guide to building and implementing a brand, but an overview of the principles involved in developing and nurturing a brand that delivers the essence of a company. The book clarified what a brand is for those members with limited knowledge in the area and included many stories on household names and their pursuit to stay on top.

Applicability to the Workplace
Even though this book focused on larger corporations, the information is valuable for organizations of all sizes and everyone felt that they will remember the book for years to come. The book explained the thought process behind building a great brand and stressed the importance of having a brand no matter the size. Everyone and everything has a brand, figuring out what the brand is and how it is to be executed successfully is another story. The book helps to raise and answer some of these questions, and its principles provide a foundation for building and maintaining a solid brand.

Rating
The opinion of the book and its rating did not vary much. Everyone gave it a credible value and the team felt it was one of the top books on branding. The club gave an overall rating of 7.9.

This pretty good book about brands and brand management is not as neat and orderly as the subtitle suggests - the so-called "8 principles" are rather vague meandering digressions. But the digressions are immensely entertaining and even educational. Learning how Nike and Starbucks handle marketing is quite worthwhile. Of course, the author oversimplifies, over-promises and over-promotes himself. But what do you expect of a marketing maven? The book's big virtue is that it repeatedly reinforces the fact that brand building boils down to having the common sense to think first about what you are trying to accomplish, and then set about doing it without getting distracted. How simple to say, how hard to do. If you want to try, we say this is just the book for you to read over your morning cup of coffee from guess who.

I have read dozens and dozens of books on branding. They are largely worthless drivel. I have taught marketing, pr and advertising for 20 years in addition to owning and running an agency for eleven years. This is the best book on branding I have ever read by far. A New Brand World is well written, insightful and filled with brilliant examples of how it is actually done by a master.

If you care about branding you must read this book. I gave a copy to every employee in my agency.

I'd give it six stars but they won't let me.

It is difficult to review a book that one has enjoyed reading and then say that it was not up to the mark (in terms, of course, of only my expectations.)

No doubt that Scott Bedbury's work is a fast paced read, his writing is lucid and quite frequently quotably light-hearted. There is a lot of material here for people in larger corporations or even general marketing folks. And where Bedbury truly shines is in the case studies he presents in the 8 chapters.

But if, like me, you set off on this book looking for some newfangled insights into the world of branding, this is not the book for you. The title claims to proffer "8 principles". Let's face it -- at the end of the day, principles are not that hard to create, and this becomes quite clear when you reach the end of the book and wonder if you have learnt something new.

But I am being unfairly critical. From his style, it seems an approachable business book was precisely what Bedbury's intended?

As a comprehensive introduction to the field of branding, I'd recommend "Strategic Brand Asset Management" by Keller. For a discussion of some innovative yet reasonable forms of brand creation, especially on a shoestring, I'd usually point to a PR related book or "60-minutes Brand Strategist."

But as a business book, to be read by executives on a plane and have ample to talk about, or as a non-technical introduction for neophytes to the branding industry who place less emphasis on a structured analytical framework and are more interested in a soft springboard into the field, "Emotional Branding" and this book from Bedbury are pretty near the top of my list of recommendations.

Good stuff, if you aren't expecting a summary of last decade's JCR.

This is a rather disappointing book with no more real insight on how to build a brand than is available elsewhere. That Mr. Bedbury was instrumental in developing both Nike and Starbucks brands is beyond dispute. He has done it--twice. However I found little in the way of advice for smaller companies that do not have the resource. Many brands are build today not using a large marekting budget. Google and Starbucks etc. I prefer 60-Minute Brand Strategist by Idris Mootee, a very interesting book on brand strategy with some unconventional thinking. I guess tha because the author's background is a strategy consultant rather than an ad agency or marketing executive.

For anyone involved in branding this book gives very practical advice. A common complaint about business books is that they are all OK in theory but contain little in the way of explanations of how to do it - this book however offers not only theory and some good case study. Overall very impressive and a must read for anyone involved in sales, advertising or marketing functions. As someone has already said these guys really know their stuff and it works!! Another book I highly recommended is 60-Minute Brand Strategist by Idris Mootee. This book is LOADED with solid, meaty real world branding insights and techniques that can are being kept as trade secrets. You will probably find this book a real eye opener. If you're looking for a more balanced marketing book, suggest going for David Aaker's books, some Kotler's books.

Thereï¿s no shortage of books on this subject and Iï¿ve probably read three-quarters of them. This one comes closest to cracking the code. In fact, the author uses that exact word in describing how marketers must go about ï¿cracking the brandï¿s genetic codeï¿.
While some may find the heavy reliance on his experiences at Nike and Starbucks limiting, I think itï¿s quite instructive. Mainly because while one of these brands, Nike, was created largely using traditional mass media, the other achieved its preeminence doing exactly the opposite.
In either case, Bedbury does a great job of defining what a brand is, why it is of such financial importance to a business, how to go about discovering its ï¿genetic codeï¿ and how to maximize a brandï¿s value and ubiquity. And he does it in a very readable fashion. Definitely something anyone who places any stock in branding will want to read.

A disappointing book with no more real insight on how to build a brand than is available elsewhere. That Mr. Bedbury was instrumental in developing both Nike and Starbucks brands is beyond dispute. However I found little in the way of advice for small corporations that do not have the marketing spend that Mr. Bedbury obviously had at his disposal when heading up the marketing departments of said companies. Furthermore I found his frequent criticism of the second most respected company in the world (Microsoft) a little tiresome as the book went on.

I agree with the previous reader - I thought the book was more aimed at a marketing tool for his consultancy business - i.e. give the readers (including prospective clients) some information but not so much as to enable them to act on their own.

I look at this book a little differently, being one who is not a career marketeer but who is interested in learning more about its concepts and applications.

Sure, Mr. Bedbury has tremendous accomplishments and credits to his name. He's definitely knowledgeable and talented. He also may be one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. But personally, I think his book was more a marketing vehicle for his consulting business than a book about branding per se.

The book contains too much of "I did this" and "I did that" for my taste. Please don't misunderstand me. As an entrepreneur, I understand that you have to toot your own horn because no one else will. However, I think the content of this book can power the wind instrument section of any orchestra.

It contains quite a bit of information but I think too much onus is put on the reader to extrapolate and infer. I think that leaves too much room for interpretation. That may be good; it may be bad. It may just "be" and that's that. I don't know.

It seems that publishing a book is a prerequisite for credibility in any consulting field... and that's OK. I just want those books to leave me feeling sated, like I've just finished a big juicy burger, rather than like Clara Peller asking, "Where's the beef?", which is how I felt after reading this book.

If you want to read a comprehensive, expansive, and thought-provoking book about branding, then I urge you to read Nick Wreden's (pronounced Vray-den) recently published book entitled, "FusionBranding: How to Forge Your Brand for the Future". It was a three-year effort and it shows. Mr. Wreden has produced a thoroughly-researched, logically-organized, thought-leading body of work. This is a thinking man's treatise on branding.

With information about building a strong brand everywhere, Scott Bedbury offers solid, back-to-basics common sense all-to-often forgotten by modern day 'brand gurus'. Recognizing that the customer is, and always has been, central to a strong brand, Scott removes all the mumbo jumbo and provides a refreshing look back to the future of branding. Emotions, likes, wants, past experiences, aspiriations, needs, and positive and negative feelings are all part of your brand. Do you know which brand attributes are most prevalent amongst the PEOPLE in your target market?

You cannot "create" the meaning of your brand through advertising, you can only hope to build upon and shape what is already in the mind of your prospects. Do you REALLY know what's on their minds?

Put on your Nikes, grab a cup of Starbucks and enjoy this read!