Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands

by Kevin Roberts

Kevin Roberts passionately believes that love is the way forward for business. In his second book, The Future Beyond Brands, Roberts recounts the journey from Products to Trademarks to Brands - and the urgency of taking the next step up - to Lovemarks. Roberts offers a lively, critical assessment of brands and the problems that face them in an increasingly competitive world. His argument is straightforward. Numbed by the assult of commodification and customer indifference, brands have simply run out of juice. The solution? The creation of products and experiences that will create long-term emotional relationships with consumers. To get there, Roberts advocates infusing brands with three fundamental Lovemark Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy. Mystery enters by drawing on the past, present, and future; the value of myths and icons; and the powers of inspiration; and by tapping into dreams. Sensuality and the five senses can be used to locate touch-points with consumers. Intimacy is created through commitment, empathy, and passion. The power of these dynamic forces is captivatingly presented with lively anecdotes, living examples, and graphic illustrations drawn from the world of advertising and beyond. The idea that consumers, not companies, own Lovemarks is fundamental. This book shows that not only business mavens, but the special people that Roberts calls "Inspirational Consumers," can shape the future of commerce. With a foreword by Procter & Gamble's Chairman and President, A.G. Lafley, the book also includes insights from business leaders, ideas people, and artists, including Cambridge University's Sandra Dawson, former rugby All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Visionaire editor Cecilia Dean, author Malcolm Gladwell, Founding Editor of Fast Company magazine Alan Webber, Nike's Clare Hamill, and Toyota Motor Corporation's Yoshio Ishizaka. The book is an entertaining, elucidating, and ultimately inspiring vision of the rejuvenation of brands through the power of love and the responsibility of business to fulfill one of its key functions - to make the world a better place.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Design, Buisness, Professional Development, Art Design, Communication

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretentious, earnest, more a vanity project than anything. I get the message, and he may even be right but it feels very flimsy. The actual content would fill a pamphlet more than a book. Disappointing.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of all the biz-themed books I've been reading this year, I have to admit that "Lovemarks" has done the least for me.

I found the style of the book the hardest element in luring me in. Whereas I'm sure a lot of visual types (or individuals with ADHD) would be drawn to how the author, Kevin Roberts (CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi), treats his text in this tome of his, I was not a fan. I found all the text over graphics and images to be a major distraction in trying to take home the lessons about branding that Kevin was trying to teach me. (I also wasn't pulled in by his writing, but that's another discussion).

So what of the take-aways....well, I did come away from reading this one with the following:

• Roberts believes that — more than anything — the world needs love. And that businesses must play a key role in making that happen.

• That whereas brands are built around the promise of quality, a set of defined attributes and are professional in nature, Lovemarks are about the relationship with the consumer, with an emphasis on sensuality, being wrapping in mystery and taking the form of a passionately creative individual or product.

• The three major factors to a Lovemark: mystery, sensuality and intimacy.

• One element to the mystery of Lovemarks that I appreciated was the concept of storytelling. I'm big on this, given the way I try to go the extra mile for each of my wedding clients by sharing their love stories with them (and, in turn, blog readers), so this was a great take-away to read: "Stories feed Lovemarks. They are how we explain the world to ourselves and give value to the things we love." If storytelling can help give value to my service as a wedding photographer, I'm all for it!

• If I said Apple and Starbucks were Lovemarks, you'd get the concept, right?

• And a final passage that I did bookmark:
"There is one more thing that I believe Lovemarks need that aligns with Intimacy, empathy, and commitment. It is the intensity and rush that accompanies only the strongest emotions. Put together with Love it can transform the most insignificant product into a must-have. It has the power to give an intensity to a relationship that will carry it through good times and bad. Passion. With passion, the most difficult of objects can be achieved."

Amen to that.

[Ryan Hakes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lines filled with pretension and bravado are fun when coming from Arnold or Stallone. But it's unbearable coming from an ad exec desperately trying to prove to the reader how important the work of selling sugar water and denim is to the world. Nothing enlightening like the incredible Olgilvy on Advertising, this book exists because the author is rich and famous.

Paris Hilton could have written this.

[Dam · Rating 5 out of 5]

ta weno, los ejemplos del libro lo son TODO, si la info es fácil de entender es mejor con los ejemplos de marcas

[Tomás Atilano · Rating 5 out of 5]

El concepto de Lovemarks es magnífico.

Kevin Roberts acierta totalmente con esto y estoy seguro que es la única forma para que las marcas puedan ser recordadas.

Pero más allá del tema del negocio lo más importante es el AMOR. Buscar los beneficios para tus empleados, consumidores y para el mundo en general.

Innovar nos permitirá a todos resolver miles de problemas que los seres humanos tienen desde sus inicios.

“Cooperar ilumina nuestro cerebro de gozo”.

[Dmitry · Rating 1 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Название книги передаёт всю суть оной. Автор утверждает, что главной целью брендинга является создание такого бренда, к которому потребители будут относиться с любовью. Другими словами, создать очень сильный бренд и соответственно большую группу лояльный потребителей. В этом утверждении нет ничего нового. Фактически, это аксиома любого брендинга и об этом можно прочесть на первых страницах любого учебника по брендингу. Но вот что отличает эту книгу от других, так это совершенно отвратительный стиль. Вся книга выглядит как типичный coffee-table book. К примеру, одно слово написано крупным шрифтом на весь разворот книги или цитаты занимающие четверть страницы и множество картинок, которые в сумме составляют половину книги. Ну и разумеется текст, набранный разным шрифтом. Однако не это является главной проблемой этой книги. Содержание – вот главный недостаток. Точнее, его отсутствие.

Сначала автор коротко расскажет читателю о своих успехах в бизнесе, как он путешествовал по всему миру и так далее. Благо это занимает не так много места. Далее автор будет загадочно задавать вопросы, на тему, что же является главным в человеческой жизни, придя, в конце концов, к слову ЛЮБОВЬ (разумеется, не удержавшись, процитирует знаменитую строчку из песни «All you need is love»). Кажется, причём тут бизнес и бренды? Автор на полном серьёзе проводит параллель между брендом и таким чувством как любовь. Он на полном серьёзе хочет нас убедить в том, что любовь человека к своей жене или детям равносильно любви к бренду молока или мылу. Автор, вы это серьёзно? Если человеку нравится какой-то бренд, это вовсе не значит, что он непременно испытывает к нему такую сильную эмоцию как любовь. Вообще, многие люди могут посчитать, что это даже кощунственным ставить на одну доску любовь к человеку и любовь к бренду. Уже огромная часть маркетологов пришла к выводу, что если любимого бренда не будет в продаже, то, скорее всего, покупатель просто возьмёт второй по популярности бренд (второй по популярности для этого конкретного человека). Когда мы говорим о любви человека к человеку, нельзя сказать, что он, в случаи отсутствия доступа к любимому человеку, просто выберет другого. Поэтому сравнение любви к жене и любви к бренду - совершенно не уместное.

С деталями авторской концепции обстоит дело не намного лучше. Вот какие тривиальные рекомендации на счёт брендинга предлагает автор:
1.Качество, качество, качество
2.Не бойтесь новаторства
3.Дорожите доверием людей
4.Думайте об удобстве потребителя
5.Не прячьтесь
6.Берегите свою репутацию как зеницу ока
7.Станьте лидером и не сдавайте позиций
8.Говорите правду
9.Будьте честными
10.Не бойтесь обязательств
11.Не экономьте на сервисе
12.Позаботьтесь о дизайне
13. Не принижайте значения ценности
14.Заслужите доверие потребителей
15.Успешно пройдите проверку надёжности

И дальше огромным шрифтом на половину страницы:

Нет Уважения –
Нет Любви,
Нет Уважения –
Нет Любви,
Нет Уважения –
Нет Любви,
Точка.

Мало того что это всё очень пафосно, так все рекомендации настолько расплывчатые, что каждую можно понимать как хочешь. Это как если заявить, что чтобы быть богатым, нужно стать богатым, сделав ударение на слове «стать», после чего многозначительно посмотреть на собеседника. И вот такую муру пишет генеральный директор компании Saatchi & Saatchi. Неудивительно, что люди считают неоправданно завышенными зарплаты и бонусы таких вот директоров. Чтобы ни у кого не возникало недопонимания, что автор имеет в виду под понятием «Lovemarks», в самом начале книги автор пишет следующее, кому посвящается эта книга - «Посвящается Энид и Рите, двум моим Lovemarks». Понимаете, он на полном серьёзе ставит равенство между любовью к детям и любовью к брендам! Это слишком даже для самых циничных маркетологов.

Но возможно у кого-то возникнут вопросы о том, как же сделать, чтобы бренд стал Lovemarks? Приведённый выше список, похоже, автора не удовлетворил, и он пишет следующее, «В чём же секрет эмоционального воздействия Lovemarks?» К нашему удовольствию, ответ нашёлся очень быстро:

Загадочность
Чувственность
Интимность».

Очередная типичная словесная шелуха незначащая ничего ни в маркетинге, ни в брендинге без учёта контекста, ибо скажите мне, ну какая интимность может быть у бренда компьютерного железа, типа AMD или Intel?

Как будто двух списков для автора показалось мало, и он предлагает третий, так же написанный огромным шрифтом. В данном случаи речь идёт о принципах:

БУДЬТЕ ОДЕРЖИМЫМИ

ВОВЛЕКАЙТЕ КЛИЕНТОВ

ЦЕНИТЕ ПРЕДАННОСТЬ ПОТРЕБИТЕЛЕЙ

Ищите, рассказывайте и пересказывайте яркие истории

ОСОЗНАВАЙТЕ МЕРУ ОТВЕТСТВЕННОСТИ

Ну как идеи? Свежо? Оригинально? Или банально и пусто как предыдущие два списка? И вот так выглядит половина книги. Оставшаяся часть книги посвящена более подробному изложению принципов «Загадочность, Чувственность, Интимность». Какие-то идеи вполне здравые, а какие-то пусты и никчёмны. Для иллюстрации своих тезисов автор использует известные компании с известными брендами типа Coca-cola, Guinness, Microsoft, Harley-Davidson, The Body Shop, Starbucks, Nike, Tide, Virgin, Apple, Lego, Zippo. Как видим, автор просто выбрал самые крупные компании с самыми сильными брендами и просто подставил к их успеху свою теорию. Очень просто и также очень глупо. Имея определённый талант в писательстве, такое можно провернуть почти что с любой теорией, ведь речь идёт о давно случившемся факте, т.е. сегодня легко утверждать насколько успешной является маркетинговая политика компании Apple, когда успех УЖЕ пришёл к ней. Но вот незадача, в число компаний Lovemarks автор включил компанию Nokia, чьи дела сегодня идут явно не так хорошо, нежели у вышеприведённого списка компаний. Наверно любовь протухла или интимность, загадочность и чувственность брендов Nokia оказалась не настолько сильной. Или может быть Nokia не настолько сильно, как надо было, внедряли эти три свойства в свои продукты? Или может быть ответ более банальный: технологическая близорукость компании Nokia стало причиной её падения? Но это же настолько сильно входит в диссонанс с такими возвышенными утверждениями как Интимность…Загадочность…Чувственность…

А знаете, что дальше автор предлагает, т.е. какой четвёртый список у автора есть в запасе? Цитирую: Исследовательский блок «Saatchi & Saatchi» предполагает три подхода, которые – я в этом убеждён – способны изменить характер взаимоотношений между компаниями и потребителям:

1.Поднимитесь на гору.

2. Идите в джунгли.

3.Думайте, как рыба.

Да, каждый способ является менее поэтичным, как например третий тезис который подразумевает работу с потребителями и «учится думать, чувствовать, как они». Логично? Логично. Правильно? Правильно. Насколько же отвратительна вся эта поэзия, все эти пустые возвышенные слова. Именно поэтому хоть под слоем этого пустословия и скрываются здравые идеи, но чтобы до них добраться, нужно прочитать поток таких вот дешёвых фраз и утверждений. Лозунгов, в каком-то смысле. Нет, за теми же самыми идеями лучше обратится к какой-нибудь другой книге. В этой автор слишком напыщен и пафосен.

The title of the book conveys the essence of the book. The author states that the main goal of branding is to create a brand that consumers will love. In other words, to create a very strong brand and, consequently, a large group of loyal consumers. There is nothing new in this statement. It is an axiom of any branding, and you can read about it on the first pages of any branding textbook. But what sets this book apart is the absolutely hideous style. The whole book looks like a typical coffee-table book. For example, one word is written in a large font for the whole spread of the book, or quotes take up a quarter of the page, and a lot of pictures, which in total make up half of the book. And, of course, the text is in different fonts. However, this is not the main problem of this book. The content is the main drawback. Or rather, its absence.

First, the author will briefly tell the reader about his successes in business, how he traveled around the world, and so on. Then the author will enigmatically ask questions about what is the main thing in human life, finally coming to the word LOVE (of course, he will quote the famous line from the song "All you need is love"). It seems, what do businesses and brands have to do with it? The author seriously draws a parallel between a brand and such a feeling as love. He seriously wants to convince us that a man's love for his wife or children is the same as his love for a brand of milk or soap. Author, are you serious?! If a person likes a brand, it doesn't mean that he or she necessarily feels such a strong emotion as love for it. In fact, many people may think that it is even sacrilegious to put love for a person and love for a brand on the same board. Already a huge portion of marketers have come to the conclusion that if a favorite brand is not available, it is likely that the customer will simply take the second most popular brand (the second most popular for that particular person). When we talk about a person's love for a person, we cannot say that he, in cases of lack of access to his favorite person, will simply choose another person. Therefore, comparing love for a wife and love for a brand is completely inappropriate.

The details of the author's concept are not much better. Here are some trivial recommendations about branding offered by the author:
1. Quality, quality, quality
2. Do not be afraid of innovation
3. Value people's trust
4. Think about the convenience of the consumer
5. Don't hide
6. Take care of your reputation as the apple of your eye
7. Become a leader and don't give up your position
8. Tell the truth
9. Be honest
10. Don't be afraid of commitment
11. Don't skimp on service
12. Take care of design
13. Don't downplay the importance of value
14. Earn the trust of consumers
15. Successfully pass the reliability test

And it goes on in huge font for half the page:

No Respect
No Love,
No Respect
No Love,
No Respect
No Love,
Period.

Not only is it all very pathetic, but all the recommendations are so vague that each one can be understood in any way you want. It is like saying that in order to be rich, one must become rich, emphasizing the word "become" and then look meaningfully at the interlocutor. And this is the kind of nonsense that the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi writes. No wonder people consider the salaries and bonuses of such directors to be unjustifiably excessive. So that no one can misunderstand what the author means by the term "Lovemarks," in the very beginning of the book, the author writes the following to whom the book is dedicated - "Dedicated to Enid and Rita, my two Lovemarks." You see, he is quite seriously equating the love of children with the love of brands! It's too much for even the most cynical marketers.

But perhaps some people have questions about how to make a brand become Lovemarks. The above list does not seem to satisfy the author, and he writes the following, "What is the secret to the emotional impact of Lovemarks?" To our delight, the answer came very quickly:

Mystery
Sensuality
Intimacy."

Another typical verbal husk that does not mean anything in marketing or branding without taking into account the context, because tell me, what kind of intimacy can a brand of computer hardware like AMD or Intel have?

It is as if two lists were not enough for the author, so he offers a third one, also written in a huge font. In this case, it's about principles:

BE OBSESSIVE

ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS

VALUE CUSTOMER LOYALTY.

Seek out, tell, and retell great stories

RECOGNIZE ACCOUNTABILITY

How are the ideas? Fresh? Original? Or trite and empty like the previous two lists? And that's what half of the book looks like. The rest of the book is devoted to a more detailed presentation of the principles of Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy. Some of the ideas are sensible, and some are empty and worthless. To illustrate his thesis, the author uses famous companies with famous brands like Coca-Cola, Guinness, Microsoft, Harley-Davidson, The Body Shop, Starbucks, Nike, Tide, Virgin, Apple, Lego, and Zippo. As you can see, the author simply picked the biggest companies with the strongest brands and fitted his theory to their success. Very simple and also very stupid. With a certain talent in writing, such a thing can be done with almost any theory because we are talking about a long-standing fact, i.e., today, it is easy to claim how successful Apple's marketing policy is when success has already come to it. But here's the problem: among the Lovemarks companies, the author included Nokia, whose business today is not doing as well as the above list of companies. Perhaps love has faded or the intimacy, mystery, and sensuality of Nokia's brands is not as strong. Or maybe Nokia didn't incorporate these three qualities into their products as strongly as they should have? Or maybe the answer is more trivial: Nokia's technological myopia was the cause of its downfall? But this is so much in dissonance with such lofty statements as Intimacy...Mystery...Sensuality.....

And do you know what the author proposes next, i.e., what fourth list the author has in store? I quote: The Saatchi & Saatchi research block suggests three approaches that - I am convinced of this - can change the nature of the relationship between companies and consumers:

1. Climb the mountain.

2. Go into the jungle.

3. Think like a fish.

Yes, each way is less poetic, such as the third thesis, which involves working with consumers and "learning to think, feel like them." Makes sense? It makes sense. Right? Right. How disgusting is all this poetry, all these empty lofty words. That's why, even though there are sensible ideas hidden beneath the layer of this twaddle, you have to read a stream of such cheap phrases and assertions to get to them. Slogans, in a sense. No, for the same ideas, it is better to turn to some other book. In this one, the author is too pompous.

[Cecily Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea here is wonderful. This book is about the marketer's challenge of finding ideas that will last forever by uncovering timeless emotions like love. People will always love, and Kevin Roberts realizes that having a relationship with consumers is the only way you can really make money. Where you have a consumer in love, you have a "lovemark." Lovemarks are owned by the consumers, not the company. The company is more like a caretaker of the lovemark, and the company should always, always listen to the consumer. There's a great case study about the consumer's ownership of the lovemark: Coca-Cola. In 1985, Coke changed its formula after blind taste tests and a 4 million dollar investment. People were furious! They were panicking, and individual people were buying a thousand dollars worth of real Coke before it ran out. Coke listened and took the new formula off the market.

Those consumers, who were loyal beyond reason, are called Inspirational Consumers. They'll defend your brand to the death. Therefore, you have to defend them. Reward them. Businesses don't want to give up the controlling relationships they have with these consumers. It makes them uncomfortable. But the fact is, these consumers are already in control. They have the power of the internet.

So, how do you create lovemarks? Kevin Roberts says a lovemark needs three things: mystery, sensuality, and intimacy. After reading this book, I have a great deal of respect for Roberts and his idea. I think if marketers adopted the lovemarking strategy the world would be a better place with happier consumers.

Here are some great quotes from the book:

"Stop racing after every new fad and focus on making consistent, emotional connections with consumers. If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything."

"The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions."

"The things we have chosen to live with are not inert objects. We wrap our imaginations around them. We express ourselves through them. We make them into what we care about."

"The obvious question is, of course, why should a business care whether its products are Lovemarks or not? . . . Because that's how we create a world we want to live in . . . Without Love, I guarantee even the greatest businesses will topple. They won't even see it coming because no one will care enough to tell them."

"Most businesses working the same field have access to the same market information as their competitors. They all research the same stuff using the same processes and--not surprisingly--get the same numbers. But looking at the numbers is not where the game is going to be won. This is where curiosity counts. The very human quality of wanting-to-know--that's what I believe can transform research and put it back where it belongs: at the heart of the action and making emotional connections with consumers."

"We need research to help us discover what we don't know we don't know. To find bigger problems to solve. And then we need research to inspire us to go further and deeper. We need to face a bunch of issues we have avoided so far."

"We have to look at people's lives in their entirety, the things they hope for and dream about, the things they fear, the things they love, the things they hate and need and want. What bores them. We need to understand what has meaning and significance for them, not just what they buy and use."

[Kym Hamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovemarks was published in 2004 and while some of the principles Roberts espouses still hold true 16 years later, some of the case studies let the side down somewhat. I also found the coffee-table-book layout with its combinations of colour/photography/text quite difficult to actually read. A good and solid 3-stars.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Já havia lido partes deste livro nas aulas da minha ex-orientadora durante a graduação e a pós-graduação. Na época, ele era um livro revolucionário de técnicas de marketing e vendas, pois afirmava que as grandes marcas deveriam usar os sentidos e os sentimentos, ou seja, as emoções, para conquistar o seu público. Hoje, em tempos de redes sociais, de comunicação direta e de guerrilha, em que criamos personas para se relacionarem com o público de nossas marcas, esse approuch de Kevin Roberts e suas Lovemarks não serve mais apenas para grandes nomes, mas também para toda e qualquer iniciativa de comunicação - mesmo a entre pessoas (pois existem o marketing pessoal) - sem envolvimento não se conquista nada e nem ninguém. Ao mesmo tempo em que não se consegue convencer ninguém do seu valor sendo frio e distante, ou ainda, arrogante. Como diz uma grande frase do livro, e que não é estranha para nenhum de nós, "O amor é construído sobre respeito". E como diz Frank Byrne, "o respeito é o amor sem traje de gala". Ou seja, não adianta ser pomposo e vestir uma roupa de gala, porque no fim, todos estamos nus por debaixo dela, somos iguais, por isso, respeito é essencial. Portanto, se não existe respeito, não existirá amor. Coisas bem simples, mas que às vezes precisa um livro pra vir e nos mostrar isso. Porque se está escrito num livro, nós respeitamos e se nos identificamos com o que está escrito, nós amamos. Mas às vezes as pessoas e, mais importante, as pessoas envolvidas com marcas não pensam nisso e buscam apenas render de forma monetária. Só que sem amor e sem respeito, também não vai ter um forma de se conseguir a vantagem necessária para obter os lucros econômicos. Um ótimo livro que deveria ser recomendado para todo tipo de gente que depende do marketing pessoal para viver. E não o usa.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, who designed the pages? For a world-renowned agency, I expected a lot from its designers. Very appalled by the typography and color treatment of some of the pages. It’s as if they asked a few interns who are still in introductory graphic design courses to work on this book. Were they not planning on selling this internationally when it was first published?

Content-wise, there’s a few gems in there. I am a huge fan of Saatchi & Saatchi’s campaigns and have always dreamed to work for them, that’s why I picked up this book. I appreciate the detailed campaign strategies Kevin Roberts shared near the end on how they helped several brands. I also enjoyed several personal stories that he narrated.

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Inspirational. Respect.

[Christian Jerez Noboa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una manera muy diferente de ver el mundo de la publicidad y el marketing, a través de los ojos del lovemarks. Recomendado.

[Edy Salvador · Rating 5 out of 5]

La construcción de marca en un solo libro, donde el amor es la base del cuadrante para cambiar la perspectiva publicitaria.

[Solomon Shimels · Rating 5 out of 5]

every entrepreneur should read this. a deeper look into the future of brands with case studies.

[Jime · Rating 3 out of 5]

No sé cómo acabé pero lo hice, deséenme buena suerte en mi control 🫣

[Christian CZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lindo libro.

[Bohdan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Не полюбилось

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most inspiring books of my career!

[Paul Rojas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hasta hoy mi libro favorito

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was relevant when written and is just as relevant now. What a great discussion on concepts for engaging your audience and creating brands (excuse me, lovemarks) that last. Roberts is witty and everything in this book, from his writting style to design layout of each page, was well-thought out and captivating. Originally, I checked this book out from the library. Now, it is one that I will buy as a reference for my own collection.

It was definitely not a review of the same old concepts you learn in business/marketing school. Though the ideas may not all be new in life, they are relevant and new (to many) in the way we have been taught to market. His examples were thought-provoking--not just a listing of the "who's who" in top clients/accounts he's worked through. Sticky-note suggestions at the end of each chapter and case studies at the end of the book provided great closure to the concepts he was suggesting.

[Zlatina Mitova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes:

Great ideas, like humor, come from the corners of the mind, out on the edge. That's why humor can break up log-jams in both personal relationships and in business.

I lose patience with the wanna-be science of brands. The definitions, the charts, tables, and diagrams. There are too many people following the same rule book. When everybody tries to beat differentiation in the same way, nobody gets anywhere. You get row upon row of what I call "brandroids". Formulas can't deal with human emotion. Formulas have no imagination or empathy.

The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions. Donald Calne

Think about how you make the most money. You make it when loyal users, heavy users, use your product all the time. That's where the money is.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully designed book with very interesting concepts. The book was recommended by some fellow photographers who practice the idea, so it was easier for me to draw parallels between the almost-abstract concepts and their real-life practice. The book does seem to lack a bit of actual substance on first read, but I frequently find myself coming across an element of Lovemarks (Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy) and realizing how it relates to my life and work. It definitely is a book that is more applicable in an abstract rather than how-to sense. If you're looking for a manual, you might not be satisfied with this book. If you're looking for a launching pad and a guide, it's great. At any rate, I enjoyed it enough to order the second book, The Lovemarks Effect, from amazon.com (:

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Human attention has become our principal currency." -- Kevin Roberts

Fascinating insight from an industry genius on what companies and industries are lacking these days -- LOVE. Roberts argues that without emotional ties to consumers, companies are often here today, gone tomorrow. The ones who survive -- think Apple, Starbucks, Nike, Amazon, Coke -- have it figured out and are setting the bar high. Listen to your consumer because they ultimately own the company and its brand.

A great read from start to finish; however, this book would be an excellent resource to simply flip through as well. It is full of one-page ideas and impressive graphics.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was written by the Devil, ha ha. I'm reading it because I want to study a little bit more the world of brands, consumerism, products, buying (our world), in order to protest/attack it. The author argues that brands are obsolete because the world and customers have changed, and no longer buy a product and keep their loyalty until the end. He says now it's time for "lovemarks," which are products that connect to the consumer in deep emotional ways, which in my view is emotional manipulation. It makes me gag every other sentence....

[Martin Bihl · Rating 3 out of 5]

love him or hate him (and there's ample support for both sides in this book) kevin roberts has hit on the key question for anyone involved in selling anything to anyone: why will people fall in love with this? answer that and you're actually answering a bunch of other questions, all of them vital and all of them that will make your work better. i'm using this as required reading in the advertising class i teach at drexel, and have found it very useful as a tool to educate about the advertising world.

also, see the review i wrote here: http://theagencyreview.wordpress.com/...

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this book makes you think of clients and consumers in a new light, that of lovemarks instead of just brands. It has some great examples of companies that are lovemarks but more importantly it talks about how emotions and all of the senses come into play as people become "brand loyal" and become in love with the products they use. This is a good read for any business person or business owner.

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I was trying to get more ideas about marketing. Read is a strong word, though; it was part text and part art project. But there were some interesting ideas in there. The biggest one I took away was the quest to build "loyalty beyond reason." It's more appropriate to companies looking to sell a physical product, but I think there are some interesting ideas that can be useful to any company.

[Lawson Hembree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovemarks is like a picture book for adults. The visual layout compliments the great content, making for a unique reading experience (though some text is hard to read because of the text/background combos). Roberts outlines the evolution of the Lovemark concept in a way that the reader can apply to his/her consumer-facing brand (though B2B companies may have a harder time with application).

If you're interested in marketing, business, or ideas, you need to read this book.

[Leader Summaries · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desde Leader Summaries recomendamos la lectura del libro Lovemarks, de Kevin Roberts.
Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: marketing y ventas, gestionar marcas y posicionamiento.
En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro Lovemarks, El futuro más allá de las marcas: Lovemarks

[Linah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. It talks about how marketing research doesn't always show you what exactly is going on in the market and it's important to interact and engage with customers. I loved the idea of "lovemarks" and loyalty beyond reason. It brings to mind a number of brands and ideas all around us.

I recommend it to anyone interested in branding or marketing.