The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design

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Summary: Brilliant Book
Review: I just read "The Brand Gap" and thought it a brilliant book. Marty, thanks again for sharing your thoughtful insight and elegant brevity. Straight, focused and contempory views on the theory of branding. I've already sent copies to my several of my colleague and clients.

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Summary: The Strunk and White of branding
Review: I liked the book a lot. The back cover makes a comparison to McLuhan, but it reminded me of Strunk and White in The Elements of Style. What Strunk and White did for writers, Neumeier has done for branders by compressing the best thinking into a slim volume that delivers the fundamentals in an entertaining way. He also follows the Strunkian dictum to omit needless words. How many marketing books can you say that about? McLuhan did not hold up well over the years. I think Neumeier will.

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Summary: Doesn't Bridge the Gap
Review: I purchased this book because of all the good reviews, but if you are a graphic designer, this is waaay too basic. It gives you an outline of what branding isn't, but doesn't go much into what branding Is, or any critical information on how to build a brand. Honestly, it left me more perplexed than before! I did learn a couple of things hence the three stars, for instance, logo's are dead, and icons or avatars are better, and the theory of the "Living Brand" was right on. The author said that he wanted to take out the fluff, but I think he left it a little too light.

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Summary: A quick, concise, enlightening and even enjoyable read
Review: I read this book one afternoon at a coffee shop. It skips all the fluff and instead makes its point in a straightforward and entertaining manner. In fact, the book itself is a good example of the ideas presented its pages. The use of graphic elements to help get a point across, especially when well conceived, should never be underestimated. Do youself a favor and buy this one the next time you place an order. I wish all of my MBA textbooks could have been so clearly and entertainingly written. Mr. Neumeier doesn't really present any radical ideas. Rather, he brings together many prevailing schools of thought and presents them simply, logically and concisely. I'm going to make it a point to read all of the books he recommends. Good stuff ... and the content is very revelant. Pick up a copy for your boss(es) as well!

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Summary: This one puts it all together.
Review: I've read Aaker, Porras, Trout, Ries, Schmitt, Peters, et al on brand strategy, but this is the first book I've seen that shows how to turn brand strategy into customer delight. Every author seems to come at brand from a single point of view, while Neumeier shows how all those points intersect to make a brand. If you want a prescription, this isn't your book. But if you want insight, you've got to have it on your shelf. It's truly the "Elements of Style" for brand-building.

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Summary: branding for the rest of us
Review: If you need to understand branding, you need this book. Unlike many business tomes that read like consultant voodoo, this one is authoritative, practical and as gratifying to look at as it is to read. I finished Neumeier's book energized with new ideas and ways to apply them.

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Summary: Highly Recommended Read
Review: Marty Neumeier's book is one of the best books I've come across on topics dealing with business strategy and design. A great read -- I highly recommend it!

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Summary: Great explanation of Brand as a corporate-consumer interacti
Review: The book takes what is traditionally called Product Advertising, transforming it from the level of a barking carnival salesperson, into an intelligent man's activity called Corporate Branding. For those of us who were taught advertising in collage in the 1970's Brand Management is a larger concept that replaces advertising as the leading conceptual framework for company-consumer interaction. If one book covers the most important points then this book is it. Those who hope to produce a brand in the real world will appreciate the chapter arrangement since each chapter covers, as a management conceptual overview, how to do implement the corporate brand activity within a corporate environment. It is not a book on esoteric mathematics like some management schools like to produce. Instead it is a fine conceptual overview of the brand management activity itself though not a step by step book. I would be cheating you to give a summary of its points here. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Beyond Trout and Ries
Review: The Brand Gap picks up where Trout and Ries leave off. It gets into areas that traditional marketing and positioning books fear to tread, namely the role of aesthetics in building brands. As a 30-year veteran of Madison Avenue, I've learned the hard way that it doesn't matter how great your strategy is---it's execution PLUS strategy that moves products. Neumeier is one of the first to recognize this simple but elusive truth. It's enough to give one hope for the future of the marketing business. For that matter, for the future of business. Period.

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Summary: This one sent my mind spinning with new ideas.
Review: The few dollars and 4 hours you spend reading this book will pay you back BIG TIME by changing your whole concept of what a brand is, what makes a great brand, and how to market your brand.

If you want your business to be sucessful, buy a copy of this book for every single employee.