A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership
in the Twenty-First Century,
By Scott Bedbury
My review from Amazon
A quick, but impactful read worth its
weight in coffee beans and sneakers, Author Bedbury manages to take
branding principles and techniques that work in the ether of
mega-branders Starbucks and Nike (and other corporate examples) and port
them down to language we can all benefit from. Packed with interesting
anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories, a New Brand World offers
helpful take-aways in the areas of commodity branding, the brand mantra,
and proven ways to live the brand.
My favorite line: When it comes to branding, “Everything matters.” Bedbury goes on to say, “For every grand and finely worded statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overheard in a hallway, or in a chat room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become psychological concepts held in the minds of the public, where they may stay forever. As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best you can only guide and influence it.”
Product Description
What
does it really take to succeed in business today? In A New Brand World,
Scott Bedbury, who helped make Nike and Starbucks two of the most
successful brands of recent years, explains this often mysterious
process by setting out the principles that helped these companies become
leaders in their respective industries. With illuminating anecdotes
from his own in-the-trenches experiences and dozens of case studies of
other winning-and failed-branding efforts (including Harley-Davidson,
Guinness, The Gap, and Disney), Bedbury offers practical, battle-tested
advice for keeping any business at the top of its game.
About the Author
Scott
Bedbury was senior vice president of marketing at Starbucks from 1995
to 1998. Prior to that he was head of advertising for Nike, where he
launched the "Bo Knows" and "Just Do It" campaigns. A resident of
Seattle, he is currently CEO of Brandstream and a speaker for the Leigh
Bureau.
My Notes from A New Brand World
“[Branding]
is a practice…that has always existed above and beyond all other
business strategies. It is an organizing principle so broad yet so
defining that it can shape and direct just about everything a company
does, and, most important, how it does it.”
“All the money [or marketing] in the world can’t buy you love and trust. You have to earn trust and love by how you behave over time.” Advertising…should help confirm what already is, not what should be.”
Definition of a commodity market: any market in which the only critical factor is price.
“Start with a great product or service that people desire and that you can sell profitably. The best brands never start out with the intent of building a great brand. They focus on building a great—and profitable—product or service and an organization that can sustain it. Once that has been accomplished, you can slam your foot on the marketing accelerator and let the whole world know about it.”
Brand Definition: (“Everything matters.”)
“A
brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy.
It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is
defined by award-winning advertising as well as the god-awful ads that
slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, slipped
into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best
employee—the shining star in the company who can do no wrong—as well as
the mishaps of the worst hire you ever made. It is also defined by your
receptionist and the music your customers are subjected to when placed
on hold. For every grand and finely worded statement by the CEO, the
brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overheard in a
hallway, or in a chat room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for
content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become psychological
concepts held in the minds of the public, where they may stay forever.
As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best you can only guide
and influence it.”
The Brand Mantra
Different from a tagline in
that it captures the essence of brand positioning that can be conveyed
to every employee and stakeholder in the organization, shared with
vendors, and used to influence and educate internal and external
audiences as to what the brand represents to the marketplace so they can
adjust their behaviors accordingly.
Nike tagline: Just Do It. Mantra: “Authentic Athletic Performance”
Disney mantra: “Fun Family Entertainment”
Starbucks Mantra: “Rewarding Everyday Moments”
Brand Extension Rule
“In
creating brandwidth, always look around your core product category
position before looking elsewhere, particularly when taking the brand
into a new distribution channel. If you do it right, the new growth will
strengthen, rather than dilute, your brand.”
Kodak is not in the film and chemical processing or printing paper or camera business. They are in the memory-storage and storytelling business. “The brand is about capturing the times of your life, not the particular equipment or processes that permit that to happen.”
Another way to express or describe brand persona
The
necktie principle. Look at a man’s necktie and you can tell whether
he’s affluent or poor, conservative or outgoing, young and hip or old
and stodgy, etc. What kind of necktie does your small business wear?
Importance of logo being brand-driven
According
to a study by Lippincott & Margulies, the consulting firm that
freshened IBM’s logo and tagline: “Brand attributes and the way they are
expressed must be closely linked. Companies that present a clear,
cohesive, distinctive, and relevant brand identity can create a presence
in the marketplace, add value to their products and services and may
command a price premium.”
Why you should include front-line employees to your brand strategy workshop
“As
brands evolve over time, they absorb the environment and karma of an
organization, not unlike the way children are influenced by the place
they call home. Both brands and small children thrive in an inspiring,
learning, caring environment where they are appreciated, respected,
protected, and understood. Small children are influenced by the values
and behaviors of their parents as well as by those of their friends. It
is no different with brands, which reflect the company they keep and the
values to which their company subscribes.”
Brand core values
- Simplicity
- Patience
- Relevance
- Accessibility
- Humanity
- Omnipresence
- Innovation
“I
highly recommend investigating all forms of media, on-line and
off-line, paid and unpaid, and work toward a strategy of omnipresence to
your core target audience. And remember to make everything ties
together.”
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