THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a âcharismatic brandââa brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you’ll learn:
• a new definition of brand
• the five essential disciplines of brand-building
• how branding is changing the dynamics of competition
• the three most powerful questions to ask about any brand
• why collaboration is the key to brand-building
• how design determines a customer’s experience
• how to test brand concepts quickly and cheaply
• the importance of managing brands from the inside
FROM THE BACK COVER
Not since McLuhan’s THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE has a book compressed so many ideas into so few pages. Using the visual language of the boardroom, Neumeier presents the first unified theory of brandingâa set of five disciplines to help companies bridge the gap between brand strategy and customer experience. Those with a grasp of branding will be inspired by the new perspectives they find here, and those who would like to understand it better will suddenly âget it.â This deceptively simple book offers everyone in the company access to âthe most powerful business tool since the spreadsheet.â
âThe surprise book of the year!â âJohn Moore, Fast Company
âThe first book on brand that seems fresh and relevant.â âRic Grefe, executive director of AIGA, the professional association for design
âA pleasure to read.ââDavid A. Aaker, author of BRAND PORTFOLIO STRATEGY and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS
âCuts to the heart of what brand is all about.â âSusan Rockrise, worldwide brand director, Intel
âRead this book before your competitors do!â âTom Kelley, general manager, IDEO
FROM THE INSIDE FLAPS
âA pleasure to read. THE BRAND GAP consistently provides deep, practical insights in a light, visual way. Discover the power of imagery and the role of research in building a heavy-duty brandâwithout the heavy-duty reading.â âDavid Aaker, author of BRAND LEADERSHIP and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS
âFinally, a book that cuts to the heart of what brand is all aboutâconnecting the rational and the emotional, the theoretical and the practical, the logical and the magical to create a sustainable competitive advantage.â âSusan Rockrise, Worldwide Brand Director, Intel
In THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier reminds us that the ultimate moment of truth for all brands is the customer experience. Customer perceptions trump our own perceptions.â âKurt Kuehn, senior VP of worldwide marketing and sales, UPS
âThis is not just another book on brand. This is the ONLY book you’ll need to read in business, engineering, and design school.â âClement Mok, design entrepreneur
âA well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful companyâand Neumeier shows us exactly how to do it. Read this book before your competitors do!â âTom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, co-author of THE ART OF INNOVATION
âTHE BRAND GAP couldn’t be more timely. Just when we’re at our most skeptical about corporate motives, along comes a book that shows how to evaluate and develop a brand in a straightforward and honest manner.â âDavid Stuart, co-founder of The Partners, co-author of A SMILE IN THE MIND
âMust-reading for anyone who wants to understand how their business strategy will succeed or fail when put to the ultimate test: âDo customers perceive a difference that’s desirable?’â âSteve Harrington, director of strategy and operations, Hewlett-Packard
âThe book slices like a hot knife through all the turgid, pseudo-academic nonsense that surrounds branding. It’s now on the course list for my graduate students, and new members of my team at Ogilvy get a copy with their training materials.â âBrian Collins, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
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- why me-too brands are doomed to fail
- how to "read" customer feedback on new products and messages
- the 17 steps for designing “difference” into your brand
- how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “trueline” to drive synergy
- the secrets of naming products, services, and companies
- the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios
- how to “stretch” your brand without breaking it
- how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycle
From the back cover:
In an age of me-too products and instant communications, keeping up with the competition is no longer a winning strategy. Today you have to out-position, out-maneuver, and out-design the competition. The new rule? When everybody zigs, zag. In his first book, THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier showed companies how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. In ZAG, he illustrates the number-one strategy of high-performance brands—radical differentiation.
ZAG is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA. For a quick peek inside ZAG, go to www.zagbook.com.
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This is the third in the author’s bestselling series of “whiteboard overviews.” In his first, THE BRAND GAP, he addressed the gulf between business strategy and customer experience. In his second, ZAG, he explored the number-one strategy of high-performance brands. In the third, THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY, he shows how design thinking can build a culture of nonstop innovation. “If you wanna innovate,” he says, “you gotta design.”
<table border="0" width="95%"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="4"><span class="h1">Excerpts from The Designful Company
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This is the perfect book to get your whole team on the same page, or to simply keep on your shelf as a handy reference tool.
]]>why me-too brands are doomed to fail
how to "read" customer feedback on new products and messages
the 17 steps for designing "difference" into your brand
how to turn your brand's "onliness" into a "trueline" to drive synergy
the secrets of naming products, services, and companies
the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios
how to "stretch" your brand without breaking it
how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycle.]]>
In this DVD video, brand guru Marty Neumeier presents concepts from his three bestselling “whiteboard” books—THE BRAND GAP, ZAG, and THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY—to give you the tools you’ll need to thrive in the new economy. Using memorable principles and simple exercises, he’ll lead you and your team on a lively journey from traditional business thinking to “designful” thinking. You’ll come back to these ideas again and again as you transform your company into a powerhouse of nonstop innovation.
What you’ll learn:
- Why the old business rules no longer apply
- How to beat the twin foes of speed and clutter
- The modern definition of “brand”
- How brands create barriers to competition
- Why “charismatic” brands are more valuable
- The three questions that can focus any company
- How to find and harness your “onliness”
- Why innovation depends on design thinking
- How “making” improves “knowing” and “doing”
- How everyone in the company can be a designer
- The modern definition of “design”
- Why you need to spend time in the “dragon gap”
- The qualities that make for good design
- How to move design up the ladder of leverage
- How design can solve “wicked problems”
- Why shareholder value starts with vision
- How to activate the “corporate drivetrain”
- How to use stories to shape company success
- How a “metateam” can begin to connect silos
- Why every company needs a CBO
- The 16 levers that can jumpstart innovation
What you’ll get:
<ul><li>DVD with 45 minutes of content and exercises--enough activities for a one-day workshop!
</li><li>Downloadable materials, including exercise sheets and supplementary content</li></ul>This is a video DVD.
Run time: 47 minutes
Languages: English
Closed Captioned in English]]>