Title: Living the Brand (third edition)
Author: Nicholas Ind
Published by: Kogan Page
Clear, concise and easy to put into action are words that best describe Living the Brand. Nicholas Ind presents everything you need to know branding in a nutshell based on his own experiences and research on leading organisations. The key here is that you do not do the actual work – instead, you invite every person in the company to get involved.
A brand is not something to be built; it exists in the minds of the receiver. Likewise, values can’t be created; they simple are whether an organisation likes them or not.
To find out what your brand stands for – ask your customers. They know exactly. If you want to know what your company stands for – ask your employees. It’s not a top down process, although these can work, but much more a bottom-up approach that allows individuals to move closer to self-actualisation. Why are they working for this company in the first place?
Ind makes it simple. He covers the essential of good brands – interweaving Patagonia as a flagship example of how to do things right. It’s about unleashing individuals to use their imagination, within limits, to make a brand come to life.
Brand values need to be experienced by each individual everyday to achieve engagement. And storytelling is one effective mechanism to encourage ongoing engagement, as it helps us concentrate on the core.
Although you may have seen much of the information before in theoretical branding bibles, Ind’s crisp style gives it a fresh twist. His step-by-step guidelines remove any confusion around really living the brand.
By Lisa Kettman-Kervinen, director of EMEA Collaboration, Worldwide Partners
11-02-08
