Short, to the point, and with great illustrations to help internalize the ideas being shared.
If you are in marketing, design, or any other endeavor where business meets creativity, you’ll get a lot from this book.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 4/5
Mindset: 4/5
Some of My Highlights:
“Logos is Greek for Word.”
“But consistency alone does not create a brand.”
“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It’s a GUT FEELING because we’re all emotional, intuitive beings, despite our best efforts to be rational.”
“When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand.”
“In other words, a brand is not what YOU say it is. It’s what THEY say it is.”
“Brand management is the management of differences, not as they exist on data sheets, but as they exist in the minds of people.”
“The degree of trust I feel towards the product, rather than an assessment of its features and benefits, will determine whether I’ll buy this product or that product.”
“It took another hundred years before we were ready to accept Federal Reserve Notes as a substitute for Silver Certificates. These were;t backed by reserves at all, but by pure faith in the brand called America.”
“Trust creation is a fundamental goal of brand design.”
“Trust is the ultimate shortcut to a buying decision, and the bedrock of modern branding.”
“…it takes more than strategy to build a brand. It takes strategy and creativity together.”
“Aesthetics is so powerful that it can turn a commodity into a premium product.”
“…the attention of marketing has shifted from features, to benefits, to experiences, to tribal identification.”
“…pay more attention to “UBS” (the Unique Buying State of their customers).”
“You can belong to the Callaway tribe when you play golf, the VW tribe when you drive to work, and the Williams-Sonoma tribe when you cook a meal.”
“An unfocused brand is one that’s so broad that it doesn’t stand for anything.”
“Yet focus is difficult to achieve because it means giving something up.”
“Brand extensions make sense when new additions to the family serve to strengthen the meaning of the brand, adding mass and definition to whatever is it that makes it different.”
“Resist, because the long-term survival of a brand depends on staying focused.”
“It takes a village to build a brand.”
“A drawback of an integrated marketing team is that it requires a strong internal team to run it.”
“Soon every knowledge-based business will adopt some version of the Hollywood model, and, years from now, many will undoubtedly agree with Noel Coward’s statement that ‘work was more fun than fun.'”
“Not all Hollywood movies are hits, but very few are bombs.”
“Branding projects use prototypes as well. Instead of a script, brand collaborators rely on a creative brief; instead of a storyboard, they use mockups or drafts.”
“Prototypes create a playground for collaborative ideas, allowing ample space for the right side of the brain to work its magic.”