Brands and Branding
First Edition
- Stephen Brown - University of Ulster, UK
August 2016 | 296 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
A fun and humorous introductory book, written in Stephen Brown's entertaining and highly distinctive style, that introduces curious readers to the key components of brands and helps them to begin to make sense of them - what they are, what they do, why and how - using plenty of examples and references drawn from a wide range brands such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Gucci, Nike, Nintendo, Starbucks, Swatch and The Worst Hotel in the World.
With 3,000 branding books published each year, why would you (or your students) want to read Brands & Branding?
Here are seven reasons why:
- It’s introductory, aimed at undergraduate students or postgrads without a bachelor degree in business and assumes nothing more than readers’ awareness of high profile brands such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Chanel
- It’s indicative, focusing on the basics and thus being a more reliable revision aid than Lucozade
- It’s immersive, taking readers on a journey and, working on the assumption that they have smartphones or tablet computers to hand, the print text links to images, articles and academic publications to give emphasis and context where appropriate.
- It’s inclusive, considering articles and reports but also blogs, novels, newspapers, reviews, social media and other sources
- It’s irreverent – branding is not always a deadly serious business!
- It’s intimate, Stephen speaks to you directly and together you will pick your way through the sometimes weird and unfailingly wonderful world of brands and branding using examples rather than abstract ideas to illustrate points.
- It’s inspirational, celebrating the curious and successful stories of brands from Cillit Bang to Cacharel
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1: The Rudiments of Branding
PART I: COMPONENTS
Chapter 2: Brand Names Matter
Chapter 3: Emblems, Slogans, Mascots and More
Chapter 4: Brands Tell Stories
PART II: COMMANDMENTS
Chapter 5: Brands are Living Things
Chapter 6: Consumers Beware
Chapter 7: Brand Management
Chapter 8: Expanding the Brand
PART III: CONSTRAINTS
Chapter 9: The Brand Stops Here
Chapter 10: The Dark Side of the Brand
Chapter 11: Pop Goes the Brand
CONCLUSION
Chapter 12: The Brand Finale
Brown's Ten Commandments of Branding offer a concise roadmap of dos and don'ts for brand success! [The book] devotes chapters to the components of brands (logos, names), their roles (they tell stories), their lives (brands are alive!), etc. Along with offering helpful reading lists at the end of each chapter, [and] "brand task" exercises to get you to think about brands from a variety of perspectives. One of my favorite passages is his overview of Robert Cialdini's views on persuasion and how they are relevant to brands.
Quirk's Marketing Research Review