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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303417 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-25
• Released on: 2003-02-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780142001905
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.

Stephen Fenichell is the author of Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century and Other People's Money. His articles have appeared in New York, Men's Journal, Forbes/FYI, GQ, Discover, Condé Nast Traveler, and Wired.

Customer Reviews

BRANDING, FOR EXECUTIVES. READ IT FOR THE CASE STUDIES.
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, then 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 painfully clear when you reach the end of this book and wonder if you have learnt anything 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 still 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 perhaps the rapier wit "60-minutes Brand Strategist."

But as a gentle introduction for executives in to the nebulous world of branding, or as a non-technical business book for business folk in general who place less emphasis on a structured analytical framework and are more interested in a soft springboard into the field, then "Emotional Branding" and this book from Bedbury are pretty near the top of my list of recommendations.

Very accessible and insightful stuff, if you aren't expecting a summary of last decade's JCR.

Pretty much everything you need to know about branding

This is an intelligent, well-written book from a guy who has obviously had a great deal of experience marketing high-profile companies (Nike, Starbucks).

Bedbury lays out pretty much everything you need to know about branding in 190 pages. It's obvious he's a good writer and he's got great examples to back up his assertions in the book.

He is hard on Microsoft but, in my opinion, not hard enough. The reviewer who panned this book based on his treatment of Microsoft is short-sighted. This book is about much more than that. Microsoft is a very small part of the book and they are used appropriately as an example of what NOT to do in marketing.

My biggest problem with the book is Bedbury's assertion that companies are becoming more vertical. It simply isn't true. Companies are not vertically-integrating; they're outsourcing many of the tasks associated with building their products. Witness the Apple iPod. No Apple employee has ever assembled an iPod or built the circuit board. It's simply too expensive. If Apple was vertically-integrated and built the iPod, they would probably cost around $5,000.

My second biggest problem with the book is the final chapter "Brand Future." Bedbury comes out of "left" field and uses almost the entire final chapter as a kind of platform for some liberal agenda. I won't spoil it for those of you who subscribe to those ideals (I'm an independent); but, suffice it to say, the chapter felt out of place. Bedbury talks intelligently about branding for 190 pages, and then the book turns into a political white paper for the final 20 pages.

Don't let that distract you from buying the book, however. This is what business books are supposed to be: erudite, thought-provoking and entertaining. Having read hundreds of business books (I teach Business and Marketing), I can tell you that those three traits are in short supply.

Interesting information, but it gets old
This book was interesting and had some good information in it, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to read a book on Starbucks and Nike. I found myself dreading another story about how wonderful Starbucks or Nike are, and how great a manager the author was. It really starts to get old.

The principles are good, but you can read about most of them in any college marketing textbook.