The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands that Lead

by Adamson, Allen P.; Forbes, Steve

• ISBN13: 9780230342248
• ISBN10: 0230342248
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-08
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

In the digital age, the old rules of marketing and branding are in desperate need of overhaul. Word of mouth has evolved to word of type as customers promote or deride products and services to a massive Internet audience at a moments notice. Any misstep away from the brand message becomes a catastrophe as companies are no longer afforded the luxury of tweaking their message as a commercial, ad, or story develops, resulting in damage control that not only costs the brand money, but also costs customer support, hurting a brand's image and integrity. In The Edge, Allen Adamson examines how the leading brands of today maintain their dominance in the market utilizing the strategies put forth in his previous books BrandSimpleand BrandDigital. Adamson succinctly accounts specific challenges facing the biggest brands of today, from major companies like Apple and General Mills to celebrity brands like Lady Gaga and Jay Z. He reveals the guiding principles employed to ensure the message stays focused, remains clear, and continues to drive a brand to the top of the market.

Author Biography

Allen P. Adamson is managing director of the New York office of Landor Associates, one of the world's leading strategic brand consulting and design firms. He is also author of BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World and BrandSimple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed. Adamson has partnered with a wide array of clients, including Diageo, Sephora, GE, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and Verizon. He is a sought-after industry commentator, appearing on CNBC, FOX Business Network, and The Today Show, and quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, and USA Today

Table of Contents

"A leading marketing expert summarizes the ABCs of building brands. Adamson (BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World, 2008, etc.) smoothly preempts anticipated laugh lines by confessing at the outset that, “like many people in the marketing business,” he enjoys watching Mad Men. The author makes use of the series as a productive foil to develop his own case that there is as much difference between building brands and advertising them as there is between the business of advertising and its televised image. Adamson makes no bones about his own interest. He has worked for some of the companies he discusses, like Proctor and Gamble, Verizon and PepsiCo. The author shows that advertising a product or company is the end result of a different kind of process, branding, which involves many different aspects. He discusses the importance of recognizing what's missing in the market place—e.g., Proctor and Gamble's 2008 jump into dry cleaning with Tide Dry Cleaners—and the involvement of consumers in the development of the brand—e.g., General Mills’ popular Box Top University, where consumers mail in coupons and the company donates to education. As a veteran in the business, Adamson's discussion with Faith Popcorn (CEO of marketing company BrainReserve) on the way young women “are influencing society, the economy and our culture” is particularly illuminating, as are the author’s views on social networking for self-activating consumers and branding. Aimed at readers in search of specialist expertise, but ordinary consumers will also find the book informative and entertaining." --Kirkus