The Brand Mindset: Five Essential Strategies for Building Brand Advantage Throughout Your Company

Rating:
Summary: The BrandStrategy Doctrine: Make It a "Way of Life"
Review: This book clearly, concisely, and thoroughly explains why a genuine brand is a "way of life" understood and lived by everyone in an organization--not just a superficial marketing or advertising ploy. One must "think like a Brand", make a BrandPromise, communicate, live, and leverage the Brand. A strategic planning mindset is emphasized. Numerous detailed examples and graphics are provided to illustrate key concepts underlying the thought process involved in a BrandStrategy Doctrine. This book is a blueprint for understanding and applying the concept of branding to an organization. Each chapter ends with a one-page action guide. The final two chapters cover topics not found in any other book on branding: branding on the Internet, with evaluation criteria for one's website, and specific tools to aid brand developers in staying connected with customers and stakeholders. These tools include quizzes, questionnaires, and checklists. No stone is left unturned to stress the importance of the brand in achieving excellent customer service, as each employee represents the brand. For example, how to answer the phone and how to most effectively communicate nonverbally are discussed, in order to "live the BrandPromise". This goes well beyond what I would have expected from a book on this subject. If you wish to buy only one book on branding from what is available, buy this one. It is comprehensive yet easy and fun to read, and makes not just the planning, but the execution and continual evaluation of a BrandStrategy seem quite "doable". After reading The Brand MindSet, I believed that any company could follow in the footsteps of other successfully branded companies.

Rating:
Summary: The BrandStrategy Doctrine: Make It a "Way of Life"
Review: This book clearly, concisely, and thoroughly explains why a genuine brand is a "way of life" understood and lived by everyone in an organization--not just a superficial marketing or advertising ploy. One must "think like a Brand", make a BrandPromise, communicate, live, and leverage the Brand. A strategic planning mindset is emphasized. Numerous detailed examples and graphics are provided to illustrate key concepts underlying the thought process involved in a BrandStrategy Doctrine. This book is a blueprint for understanding and applying the concept of branding to an organization. Each chapter ends with a one-page action guide. The final two chapters cover topics not found in any other book on branding: branding on the Internet, with evaluation criteria for one's website, and specific tools to aid brand developers in staying connected with customers and stakeholders. These tools include quizzes, questionnaires, and checklists. No stone is left unturned to stress the importance of the brand in achieving excellent customer service, as each employee represents the brand. For example, how to answer the phone and how to most effectively communicate nonverbally are discussed, in order to "live the BrandPromise". This goes well beyond what I would have expected from a book on this subject. If you wish to buy only one book on branding from what is available, buy this one. It is comprehensive yet easy and fun to read, and makes not just the planning, but the execution and continual evaluation of a BrandStrategy seem quite "doable". After reading The Brand MindSet, I believed that any company could follow in the footsteps of other successfully branded companies.

Rating:
Summary: Knapp offers in-depth view of usually superficial topic
Review: This book took me on an in-depth, scholarly and yet realistic view of a topic I've become increasingly frustrated with. Branding is a buzz word today, mostly because there are a lot of people (mainly in the communications business, from advertising and PR to logo designers, etc.) holding themselves out as experts who are not experts. It's obvious to me that Duane Knapp is an expert. Today, nearly everyone I hear talking about "branding" uses it to mean "brand image." Knapp's book talks bout how an organization's culture is changed from the development of its "brand strategy." It's the best book I've seen about branding, and we owe him a lot for helping us think more deeply about branding than we get from the advertising crowd.

Rating:
Summary: The Brand Mindset
Review: You may ask, "Brand? What is it and why is it important?" And even more significant, "How do I get one?" "Brand" is becoming one of the most popular words used in the press today relating to everything from the nightly news to business publications. The public in general is becoming more aware of the implications, benefits and the power of a well-conceived strategy for a brand. Our entrpreneurial economy has created much more interest in understanding brands and especially how to create and manage a successful brand. "The BrandMindset" was written to make it easy for anyone to understand how to "think like a brand" and to provide a practical "how to do it" process for readers to guide their organization to building a Genuine Brand. The BrandMindset concept is dedicated to the proposition that each person and every activity in any organization should be focused daily on the questions: "How am I building our brand's equity?" This question is universally applicable. "Brand" is no longer a word to be associated with only large corporations or "packaged goods," but rather a thought process and a key business strategy regardless of the size of an entity. Once everyone in an organization is focused on optimizing brand equity and delivering a distinctive brand experience, then an organization has the unique opportunity of becoming a "Genuine" Brand. What is a "Genuine" Brand? How do you create or enhance a "Genuine" Brand? How do you think like a "Genuine" Brand? We define Genuine Brand as the internalized sum of all impressions received by customers and consumers resulting in a distinctive position in their mind's eye based on perceived emotional and functional benefits. "Distinctive" is the key word to understanding the real meaning of a brand. It's not an organization that gets to decide whether or not its brand is distinctive. A brand is only distinctive if the consumer perceives and believes that their experience truly is. Thank you for your interest and I hope you find the book enjoyable and informative!