The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World

by Kelly Mooney

Today's marketers are now facing wholly new patterns of cultural influence, and the rise of personal brands or icitizens. Through a deconstruction of some of the marketing world's fundamental practices and precepts, a portrait gallery of icitizens, and a strategic framework for creating and measuring the four essential consumer experiences of the web-made world, The Open Brand compellingly argues that the way forward for brands is through being O.P.E.N. That means On-demand, Personal, Engaging, and Networked.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

204 pages, Paperback

First published March 4, 2008

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this slender but remarkably thought-provoking volume, I was reminded of Henry Chesbrough's breakthrough insights about what he calls "the open business model" and the open mindset it requires. "A business model performs two important functions: it creates value and it captures a portion of that value. It creates value by defining a series of activities from raw materials through to the final consumer that will yield a new product or service with value being added throughout the various activities. The business model captures value by establishing a unique resource, asset, or position within that series of activities, where the firm enjoys a competitive advantage." This is precisely what Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins have in mind when explain when charting the same trajectory of consumer empowerment discussed in Mooney's first book, The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Consumer. The Open Brand "examines what few could have predicted: The extent of consumers' overwhelming motivation for and adeptness at being heard, making a mark, controlling their experiences, sharing products, and sharing opinions....Marketers have to rethink their approach in the face of the mounting power and reach of consumers - both as individuals and communities...The next step is to stage and support experiences that pull customers into brand participation in a way that's relevant to their lives."

Mooney and Rollins identify and briefly discuss eleven companies ("alpha openers" and "enablers" such as Amazon, Blogspot, Flickr, Google, and Wikipedia) "that have innovated or leveraged internet and telecommunications technologies to benefit consumers in new and significant ways." They briefly discuss a number of personal brands, "icitizens," to indicate "just how widely brands must cast their nets to catch up with these trendsetters, truth tellers and tastemakers." Of special interest is what they have to say about what they identify as "The Open Brand Metric System." (They provide a chart on Page 163 that consolidates all of the key points. This will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of those points later.) The details of this system are best revealed within Mooney and Rollins' narrative, in context. However, I can say now is that the information goes a long way toward answering the question "How formulate business objectives, foundation metrics, and emerging metrics for each of the

[Sean Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since a book with the word "brand" in the title has rocked my world. But this book has done just that.

Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins present a structure, methods, case studies and measurement advice on how brands have to and can evolve in a world gone digital and open. If you are in an agency that is looking to understand digital or if you are client side struggling with how to engage a population that is enabled by technology in ways never before seen in our society, then this book is for you.

Digital is no longer a channel. The internet connects all of us in ways we never foresaw. How brands build relationships in this coming time will determine who survives and who falls.

But why buy this book?

1) It's written by a team of marketers who have engaged digitally with some of the top brands on the planet (Resource Interactive).

2) Unlike most books written by agencies, this book pulls no punches and actually lays their tools on the table.

3) The book presents a structure and then dives into tactics and how we have to shift what we measure. But the best part are the unbelievable number of case studies. They live what they preach and put forward their own clients and projects as fodder.

I love this book in case you couldn't tell. ;)

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

OPEN Brand by Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins starts with the thesis that the internet is changing how brands work. The problem with this thesis is that it assumes that brands work. So many recent business books get hung up on the all powerful brand and never really stop to think about what a brand is in the grand scheme of things. In other words, marketers become punch drunk on their own marketing even if the general public doesn't.

OPEN Brand attempts to be a handbook for traditional marketing to learn how to use the concepts of open source, the internet, social networking and web 2.0 to revolutionize the branding experience while lowering expenses and increasing ROI. Unfortunately the book's description of all these things sounds as genuine as a Baby Boomer using l33tspeak.

For traditional marketers, OPEN Brand may very well be a good starting point if they've never played with the internet beyond their own company's website but it is not the all-in-one handbook that it hopes to be. The twenty-somethings that OPEN branding will apparently work on just aren't that interested in brands.

The version I was given to read makes use of a green, black and white color scheme. Yes, green is making a comeback on the internet with so much interest in the environment with the current energy crisis and of course global warming. This book though has nothing to do with the environment and yet it's sporting a hideous green color throughout the book. Important buzz words are printed in green making them hard and annoying to read. I'm hoping that later editions of this book will do away with the presentation and focus more on the message.

Green on an internet marketing book outside of the new environmental niche marketing is so 1999; think pre dot-com bubble. For the concept of OPEN (on-demand, personal, engaging and networked) branding to work, the internet model has to come out of the dark ages of the 1990s and take a serious look at how the internet is being used now, not how marketers think it's being used.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a class on online marketing. I marked this as self-help because it really is meant for people who are looking at marketing their businesses properly online, so it contains advice.

The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World is about how the world of marketing has changed because of how consumers look at businesses and brands, and how to change your business to grow and connect with consumers better.

An informative and alright book for 190 pages of content that is mostly some fancy design and typography. It has good points about how businesses need to be (1) On-demand, (2) Personal, (3) Engaging, and (4) Networked in order to get by in the new world of brand relevancy. The examples are really good at highlighting what Mooney is talking about. The only criticism I have is that much of the content is something that (North American) Millenials know already from their interactions online and with businesses, and from their more liberal-minded demography. Basically, this book is helpful in that it will help remind a Millenial about certain aspects of business and marketing that will help the Millenial's business become relevant, but it's all information that was probably already internalized. The book is more helpful for older businesspeople who still need help navigating, and are daunted by, the internet and/or social media.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great examples for creating an open brand, though I always wish there were more examples from smaller companies/organizations.

I'm fascinated by how companies can make online content connect with in-person content. For example, Victoria's Secret promoted their Pink brand by hosting a PJ party where the participants could upload live images from their mobile devices and see them automatically displayed on the stage's LED screen.

Oh, and the word "prosumer" is quite intriguing!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Kelly's book. I thought it was quite straight forward and should be on all marketers plane ride reading list. I have used a number of her insights with my own marketing challenges and have found success. The Open Brand Framework has really worked well for me even in non-consumer product fields.

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many good points - overall I thought the writing didn't flow very well though...almost like too much information was being crammed into each sentence making it hard to read.

On-Demand
Personal
Engaging
Networked

[Michael Graber]

A solid, if too linear gathering of trends on how marketing must adapt to survive to thrive in a Web 2.0 and beyond. The substance was great; however, the style and tone of the content seems written by a technical writing who is drafting a power point.

[Megan]

Still Looking at the front page

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had the authors of this slim book followed their own advice, it would have been published as a free downloadable pdf from their web site. A good read for anyone stuck in web 1.0.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biz book, easy/fast read. Recommended for anyone interested in the new dynamic of social networking on business.

[Narasu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The examples feel a little dated in 2011 but the approach to the book is relevant. A good way to look at your brand and evaluate whether you are using digital tools in the best way you can.

[Adam Schweigert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ideas are solid, but could use an update (written in 2007, so obviously a lot of the examples are now pretty dated)

[Michelle Davis]

A quick read on the latest concept in branding.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice framework, but ultra-outdated book.

[Naina Sethi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shows the OPEN concept for digital marketing. Interesting read.