Brandsimple: How the Best Brands Keep It Simple and Succeed

By Allen P. Adamson

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1403984905
• ISBN13: 9781403984906
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Chock full of stuff you can use to make you better at your job

Being the founder of a creative consultancy, I face the difficult challenge of differentiating my client's products and services everyday. Most of the books I've read on this topic are rather theoretical and, therefore, not very useful. Allen Adamson's "BrandSimple" is quite the opposite. It is chock full of stuff I can use to make me better at my job. It illustrates how a simple brand idea can cut through the clutter like a hot knife through butter. It also provides valuable techniques to help you get there. Real life case studies from clients such as GE, FedEx and Baby Einstein beautifully illustrate the points made in the book. I would recommend it to both marketing professionals and students alike. In fact, I have put "BrandSimple" on the required reading list for the graduate course I teach at Columbia University.

Simple, relevant and readable

As a senior marketing executive I read a lot of books about branding, all trying to outdo one another with complexity and jargon. Adamson cuts to the chase with tried and true simplicity. His breadth of experience allows him to offer example after example of branding case studies, with an insider's insight and a look into problems that many brands face and can learn from.

BrandSimple warrants serious attention

Books about brands and branding come across my desk all the time. All are well-intentioned, most have some wisdom to impart, many are simplistic, and few have the focus or wide enough range of experience to warrant serious attention. Allen Adamson's "BrandSimple" warrants serious attention. Adamson is Managing Director of Landor Associates, one of the pioneers in brand development that is part of the Young & Rubicam family. With brand (Lever) and ad agency (Ogilvy & Mather, Ammirati & Puris, DMB & B) experience, and client involvement at Landor alone with Citigroup, Diageo, IBM, P & G and Pfizer, among others, Adamson is in a position to provide an insider's perspective. And he delivers one. "BrandSimple" combines theory and case study to amply illustrate the book's subtitle: "How the best brands keep it simple and succeed." The anecdotes are fascinating and instructive, and the descriptions of some of the tools available to brand marketers open new ways of evaluating brand performance. (OK, it's a little self-promoting --others have similar tools to Y & R's BrandAsset Valuator and Landor's Brand Journey mapping. But Adamson gives clear explanations of these and other processes. Understanding them will help any reader approach a brand, or the process of branding, better.) The highlights are in the details. The almost off-hand observation that, "When a brand has a higher degree of relevance than differentiation, the brand has become a commodity." Common sense to a brand professional? Of course. But how often do we overlook common sense when caught up in the day-to-day crunch? Adamson also pointedly differentiates between a brand, and branding -- the latter being "how you go about establishing your brand's differentiated meaning in people's minds. . . the transmission of the idea" that defines the brand itself. Branding has to do with logos, packaging, and so on. The BrandSimple concept has to do with clearly defining that differentiated meaning in the first place -- the critical step too many brand managers don't fully appreciate. Adamson poses series of questions throughout the book that constitute a must-have checklist for any brand marketer. To take them out of context here would make them sound simplistic. Take my word, when used properly, those questions will help you define your brand, your marketing objectives and your success on a whole new plane. (As published in the e-letter Mayer On Marketing, 11/1/06; copyright 2006 EPM Communications, Inc.)

Sensible practical read...

Simple ideas sell best, whether you're managing brands or people. So critical to success today, yet too often ignored. In BrandSimple you'll learn how and why simple ideas break through the clutter and make for powerful and profitable brands. It's a wonderfully interesting book, full of relevant examples and very practical advice.

A new book on brands worth paying for

In the marketing section of any book store, you'll be confronted with a bonanza of books on branding. If the subject is new to you, start with David Aaker. But if you are ready for some of the newest thinking on the topic, this is a good addition to your collection. Adamson combines good writing with excellent insights and examples. His book is highly informative and, simply put, a good read. Certainly worth the price of admission!