Object lesson in branding ...
Branding is all about being seen and being remembered. No matter how good you think your brand is, if people don’t notice it and they don’t remember it, it will be lost in the mists of mediocrity. And in a marketplace full of brands clamouring for a buyer’s attention, if your brand is nothing more than a shrinking violet, the business will go to … well, whoever else of your competition has been smart enough to get and keep your customers’ attention.
As the marketplace fills up with generations who are increasingly brand-sensitive, the pressure is on to create, develop or build an unassailable, instantly recognisable brand that will attract the right people and keep them loyal.
Is there somewhere one can learn to do this? I’m glad you asked!
In his book, Face your brand!, Alex Greyling provides a masterclass on how to get your brand noticed and remembered. He does it in two ways – by what he says and by how he says it.
His content is compelling and makes for compulsory reading, liberally laced with powerful examples you will recognise and remember with ease. To achieve this, Alex has traversed time, reaching back through the centuries to demonstrate how long branding has been around, and travelling to the four corners of the globe to explain how universal it is. He discusses branding examples as diverse as Hitler’s Germany, Scotland’s whisky (and the Americans’ whiskey), South Africa’s loved/hated Springboks and a wide assortment of brands from countries too numerous to mention.
Avoiding the temptation to do a superficial but sexy treatment of the subject that is titillating to the eye but lacking in substance, Alex’s history lesson on branding gives one a perspective and a context in which to place one’s own branding initiatives.
Increasing the power of the content is his “in your face” style of writing which demands your attention right from the opening paragraphs in the introduction. The forthright style, which Alex uses to communicate his message, is an object lesson in being noticed and remembered. And the pace doesn’t let up right through the book.
Face your brand! is a must-read for anyone who needs to understand what builds a great brand in order to apply the principles to their own brand to ensure that it becomes powerful enough to dominate in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Alan Hosking
Publisher and award winning editor of HR Future, author of What nobody tells a new father and trend spotter
August 2009
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Thoughts on Face your brand!
- Indispensable … something useful to keep close at hand in your office.
- Readable … entertaining, engaging, informative, educational and enjoyable.
- Provocative … honest, direct, free-spirited and sycophancy-free.
- Inspirational … Alex gets you thinking, making you more determined than before to create your own compelling unique and enduring brand.
- Well researched … Alex is knowledgeable, experienced, insightful, direct and helpful.
- Witty, direct, authoritative, practical and uncompromising ¾ a mandatory read for all students and practitioners of design, branding, marketing and business leadership
“Critically, Alex gets into the nitty-gritty of being a branded enterprise ¾ regardless of your size and function ¾ in the hurly-burly marketplace and some brands seem to have failed, or have just become inextricable irritants (as is the case of Microsoft). For all the good, if not excellent, visual branding in the world, a brand is far more than a facile and aesthetically pleasing decoration, mark or signature, or a fast and convenient form of trying to present a unique and easily recognisable visual identity in an over-branded marketplace. Whatever a company’s values, mission and purpose, and whatever its services and products, its brand has intrinsics. These must be lived passionately, sincerely, openly and consistently. Otherwise, your brand value could be eroded to the point that it may become worthless ¾ or, worse, a liability that places your business in the red.
Among other topical, entertaining and enlightening issues, Alex addresses, with frank, uncompromising and free-spirited insight, some of those contentious issues that businesses too often like to deny, ignore or sweep hurriedly under the proverbial carpet: safeguarding monopolies, degrading the natural environmental (behind poorly presented attempts at green-washing), stealing or abusing others’ intellectual property, and misleading consumers, all of which are vices. Such vices can easily become inseparable from how your brand is perceived in the market and whether the more discerning consumer feels motivated or disinclined to buy your company’s products or services. This book should become mandatory reading for all students and practitioners of advertising, marketing, branding, design and business leadership,”
Michael Waddacor
Professional writer, editorial consultant and verbal branding champion for more than 30 years
(Email address available on request)
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