Great Brand Stories

John Simmons, the author of "Great Brand Stories," a new series of books on brand icons, has an interesting piece in the Guardian. Here are some key takeaways:

Brands still divide opinions. Perhaps because they use shorthand descriptions, symbols and visual representations as their stock-in-trade, there is a tendency to dismiss branding as emotional manipulation rather than rational asset management. Of course it is both - and perhaps that is the real reason why branding continues to create divisions. To truly appreciate their potential you need to combine the hardest-nosed business instincts with natural powers of imagination and vision.

[...]

But what is a brand? No definition rolls off the tongue. Jeff Bezos of Amazon comes close when he says: 'It's what people say about you when you're not in the room.'

[...]

Brands are commercial creations, though they also have social and political power. They are, however, subject to a democratic process that doesn't depend on the vagaries of hanging chads or postal voting.

[...]

Brands succeed because they generate a degree of loyalty greater than can be explained by the functional attributes they offer. The more we live in a service culture, the more important brands become.

//Billy McCormac