Branding, Culture, Politics, and Everything in Between

1. Douglas Holt – How Brands Become Icons. A must read for all those who have gone a bit too gaa gaa for viral marketing. A really eye-opening book, it’s extremely well argued and researched. I’m writing my master’s thesis combining this book’s theory with some much older research in a pretty cool way, even if I do say so myself. I’ll write more about my thesis once I get it rolling and find a company who’s willing to collaborate with me. I’ll just say that the only real weakness this book has is that it shows you how to identify brands performing myths (the core notion of building iconic brands) after the fact, but it doesn’t really give you clear guidelines how you could identify the right myth for YOUR brand and start building one. It sort of assumes you know which myth you should be practicing with your brand. I’m trying to change that with my thesis. Wish me luck.

2. Malcolm Gladwell – The Tipping Point. Yes, I know it’s been out for ages now and it’s a cliché to list it. But it really is one of the better “biz” books ever written. Marketers have studied the book’s teachings on how to create social epidemics to death, but I think the most valuable advice is on how you should organize your workforce (the 150 rule). I’m somewhat surprised that we haven’t heard more organizations try and incorporate some of the ideas this book is suggesting. I guess it’s one of those books that everybody agrees is brilliant, but very few take back to the office and actually put to good use. I sure as hell plan to if I ever get the chance. A must read.

3. Chip & Dan Heath – Made to Stick. You know it’s a good book when you’ve read only 60 odd pages (like I have, so I guess I’m a liar considering this posts title) and you feel that it could top this list easily. It’s somewhat similar to Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” in style and even content – the authors even mention Tipping Point as a source of inspiration. When reading this I just started thinking how unnecessarily hard we make “the sell” sometimes. I guess we have this inbuilt need of convincing people the hard way; I know I like to argue (in a nice way) and try to convince people through reason and facts. With this book, you won’t have to. The situations where you could apply the book’s teachings seem endless. I’m already a fan and I’m not even done yet. Highly recommended, anyway.

4. Malcolm Gladwell – Blink. I already mentioned this in one of my previous posts on NBA officiating. The unofficial sequel to The Tipping Point, it’s almost every bit as good as its predecessor. This book is more crucial for sociologists and politicians, but I still found it very relevant to marketers and other business people as well. It further confirms my belief in intuition being way underrated in marketing and that we tend to overthink when making business decisions. I’m not a fan of market research, because even though I realize it’s invaluable in doing incremental improvements in products and services, it sometimes totally paralyzes companies (especially big ones) and their ability to innovate. Relying too much on market research makes for committee decision marketing and playing it safe. I’d hate to work in a company that’s afraid to roll the dice every once in a while. In other works, I hate companies that don’t blink. Thank you, I’ll be here all night.

5. Seth Godin – Purple Cow. Another fairly obvious choice, but this is the kind of book you NEED to read to remind you of what marketing should be about. Don’t settle for second best, push forward. Aim for the top, even if it’s in a niche market. This is one of the fastest books to read, ever, since it’s so well written and quite short. It also works for a great Marketing 101 for somebody with little business background.

I’ve also read some other books as well. Martin Lindstrom’s “Brand Sense” was a bit disappointing, even though I managed to get some ideas out of it, his idea of “smashing the brand” for example is very good and something to consider at all times. He’s a bit too unscientific for my taste, especially since he’s talking about affecting every touch point of a brand. Sometimes intuition and “common sense” can lead to mistakes. For example, Lindstrom advocates using scents in retail to trigger behavior. However, some studies have shown that constant exposure to smells (think emloyees) can be allergenic and nauseating. Also, scents should be passing in nature, not ever-present. But like I said, I managed to get some things out of it so it wasn’t a wasted read.

I’m reading Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” now too. It’s an absolute must read for anybody who’s in the new media business, though I guess the gist of the book is easy to learn with out actually reading it. I’m a bit further along than I am with “Made to Stick” but I’m starting to get a feel that the book is very repetitive. The idea of the Long Tail isn’t too hard to grasp so I guess Anderson needs to fill pages, it feels like I’m reading the same stuff over and over again. I loved the bits about the tools of production being democratized, everybody is a creator now. I’ll have to read it through and see if the book goes any deeper.

Any books I should be reading?

And yes, I’m too lazy to post Amazon links.