BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep It Simple and Succeed by Allen P. Adamson, Martin Sorrell

Synopsis

In an era of mixed media messages, in which brands are extended to the breaking point and complex marketing theories compete for attention, it is more difficult than ever to create effective brands. Allen Adamson offers a refreshingly simple solution: Bring back the basics of good branding and ensure success. Build a brand on a good idea that you test. Make sure the design and message of your brand fits the brand’s true meaning, and stay away from unnecessary and complicated strategies. Drawing on his years of experience working with some of the world's top brands, from GE to IBM, Adamson shows how to communicate with customers and make your brand resonate. He also gives a behind-the-scenes look at his work with traditional names like Maxwell House as well as newcomers like JetBlue and iPod, explaining what they do right--and wrong.

Publishers Weekly

True to such observations as "Simple trumps everything," Adamson boils down his 25-plus years of experience in brand development to provide six clear steps to understanding what makes a good brand. Along the way, the current managing director for Landor Associates (a firm within Young & Rubicam) discusses how to sync branding signals with the "brand idea" to serve a company's business strategy. Using examples such as Apple and FedEx, he explains how the brand idea can be turned into an internal rallying cry so that the message is reinforced in the packaging and employees pass it along to current and potential customers. Throughout, he provides a dynamic first-person commentary on the thought process and activities that went into creating and repositioning iconic brands like American Express, HBO and eBay, though it can be odd in cases where he wasn't personally involved. Unlike other branding gurus, Adamson doesn't celebrate the industry's mystique and keeps his discussion jargon-free. The charts and graphs are immediately understandable and the exercises doable. The result is an unusually readable how-to book that will help anyone involved with branding understand what works and why. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Allen Adamson is Managing Director of Landor Associates, New York, a leading brand development firm within global leader Young & Rubicam. He has worked with clients including GE, IBM, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Philip Morris, and Verizon. He has appeared on The Today Show and CNBC, and is often quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, USA Today, and BrandWeek.