Brand Flip, The: Why customers now run companies and how to profit from it

by Marty Neumeier

Best-selling brand expert Marty Neumeier shows you how to make the leap from a company-driven past to the consumer-driven future. You’ll learn how to flip your brand from offering products to offering meaning, from value protection to value creation, from cost-based pricing to relationship pricing, from market segments to brand tribes, and from customer satisfaction to customer empowerment. In the 13 years since Neumeier wrote The Brand Gap , the influence of social media has proven his core “A brand isn’t what you say it is – it’s what they say it is.” People are no longer consumers or market segments or tiny blips in big data. They don’t buy brands. They join brands. They want a vote in what gets produced and how it gets delivered. They’re willing to roll up their sleeves and help out – not only by promoting the brand to their friends, but by contributing content, volunteering ideas, and even selling products or services. At the center of the book is the Brand Commitment Matrix, a simple tool for organizing the six primary components of a brand. Your brand community is your tribe. How will you lead it?

Genres: Business, Design, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship, Buisness

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2015

About the author

Marty Neumeier is an author, designer, and brand adviser whose mission is to bring the principles and processes of design to business. His series of “whiteboard” books includes ZAG, named one of the “top hundred business books of all time,” and THE DESIGNFUL COMPANY, a bestselling guide to nonstop innovation. An online presentation of his first book, THE BRAND GAP, has been viewed more than 22 million times since 2003. A sequel, THE BRAND FLIP, lays out a new process for building brands in the age of social media and customer dominance. His most recent book, SCRAMBLE, is a “business thriller” about how to build a brand quickly with a new process called agile strategy. In 1996, Neumeier founded Critique magazine, the first journal about design thinking. He has worked closely with innovative companies such as Apple, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, HP, Adobe, Google, and Microsoft to help advance their brands and cultures. Today he serves as Director of Transformation for Liquid Agency in Silicon Valley, and travels extensively as a workshop leader and speaker on the topics of design, brand, and innovation. He and his wife divide their time between California and southwest France.

Reviews

[Ahmad Badghaish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it. I’d recommend it to everyone who works on branding or strategies.

[Rodrigo Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

After being nearly 30 years in marketing and reading hundreds of books on the topic, I can tell you that this is one of the best books I’ve read in marketing. If you’re starting your business it’s a must read prior to going deep into digital marketing.

[Ietrio · Rating 5 out of 5]

A valuable continuation to the concept of Tribes brought by Seth Godin without the thick Statism of Godin.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brand Flip is the second book of Marty Neumeier’s that I read (the first one was Brand Gap). It’s a really great read, and has inspired me to think more deeply about customer experience and brand touch-points (both those of my clients and my own).

Neumeier makes a lot of bold statements and the brevity of his writing doesn’t leave much room for nuances, which both is and isn’t a good thing:

On the one hand it makes you think harder to fill in the blanks and engage in more of an internal discussion with the author. On the other hand, there was one really weak chapter (in my estimation at least) towards the end of the book which brought down my overall impression of the author’s ideas — it was simply too “out there”. Brevity is a double-edged sword.

[Mariam Talakhadze · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best book on modern branding i have read so far

truly changes your thinking or focuses your efforts. this book made me realize what i want to be doing with my professional life.

[Nick Busfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as powerful as the the brand gap and zag but still great with strong concepts.

[Tim Lapetino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This latest book from Marty Neumeier brought me back almost 10 years ago, when I first read The Brand Gap. This effort is challenging in some of the same ways as Brad Gap was, and it nicely summarizes and builds on the main foundations of that book, and Zag.

While I don't agree with everything MN says about audience-centricity, I think it forces us as designers and strategists to confront some oft-held beliefs and also bucks against some of what has become common wisdom in our circles. I'd enumerate some of those issues and push backs, but this really isn't the place for it. That kind of discussion requires a cold drink and thoughtful peers. :)

I flew through this easy read, but need to dig in again and really chew on it, dissect, and consider the places where his views challenge my own, and how to take all of the insights into my practice. That, in itself, makes a good book.

Highly recommended.

[Hassan Tahir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful (and easy) read about how companies should focus on building customer relations by letting customers dictate the overall "branding" - all about how putting the customer first and integrating that into innovative product/service development is the future. All marketing enthusiasts should read this. I quite enjoyed the frameworks and flowcharts it provided and again, how easy it was to read.

[Ariana Detrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve read The Brand Gap then The Brand Flip is a great follow-up. I definitely suggest reading The Brand Gap first to have the foundation laid then The Brand Flip offers more updates information about how your target audience will see your brand and interact with it.

[Lynnette Dinh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tác giả đưa ra các phương thức, nguyên tắc, tư duy để hướng cho doanh nghiệp cách làm Thương hiệu trong thời đại ý kiến/cảm nhận (review) của khách hàng là trên hết (và thậm chí là còn có sức quyết định sự phát triển, sống còn của 1 thương hiệu).
Nội dung được truyền tải khá dễ hiểu, dễ tiếp cận, không bắt buộc người đọc phải có background kiến thức về Marketing mới "tải" được những tư duy này. Mặt khác, cuốn sách cũng khá đúc kết các việc quan trọng cần làm đối với việc làm Branding/Thương hiệu của 1 doanh nghiệp nhỏ, có thể học nhanh và áp dụng tư duy ngay vào trong công việc.


3* vì thật sự những kiến thức trong sách không quá mới mẻ với mình.
Sách xuất bản năm 2017, và một phần vì công việc của mình cũng thường xuyên đọc, cập nhật và học liên quan những kiến thức về branding/marketing nên việc "hấp thụ" cuốn sách này cũng khá dễ dàng.

[N S P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very up–to–date, non–boring crash course on everything Branding isn't onto everything it is, packed with applicable frameworks, tools & resources (1 project example in which every lesson builds upon) to get entrepreneurs through every project. I found out about Marty Neumeier and his book via TheFutur by simply YouTube searching 'what is branding'. Also what they say is right, you can get through this read in a min. 2 hour commute.

[Sai Teja Suram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short read. The book makes a convincing argument for "customers first" approach of building a sustainable company.

Most of what is written in the book is something we already know. The author did a good job organizing and articulating the content. This is something I might end up referring back to multiple times.

[Alessandro Perilli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great hypothesis, poor proof

The ideas expressed at the beginning of the book are very interesting and relatable. The rest of the book, tho, doesn't support them in any way and the fictitious company used to provide a practical example is more an exercise in traditional branding than a proof of the hypothesis.

[Alyssa Foll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another home run from Neumeier! I love that this book is so compact (I read it in 90 minutes or so) and yet it keeps me thinking for days. His ideas could be applied to nearly any industry or service and thinking about his work in conjunction with my industry (healthcare) really pushes my thinking forward.

[Corina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief summary of brands nowadays and of trends in marketing and UX design that have already emerged. Simply put, "Today's customers want more than features, more than benefits, and more than experiences. They want MEANING."

[Melanie Ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that is short and concise enough to be read in about 2 hours or less but with lessons important enough that will carry you through your career/business. Treat it like a Bible, keep it by your side, write notes in it, refer to it often, its content deserves that.

[Maria Mihaltan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this after "The Brand Gap". It's interesting, it has some new ideas about the new companies and how to switch the established perspective on brand to a fresh, new one. It's a great read for the startup area.

[O.B.I. Ka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja v knize bohuzel nenasla temer nic noveho, co by me profesne nejak obohatilo. Za to ***.
Ale pred 6 lety, kdy kniha vysla, bych si z jejiho obsahu sedla na zadek. Za to *****.
Rozhodne za me kniha, kterou by si mel povinne precit kazdy marketer a majitelé firem...

[Aleksandra Dziadoń · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stosunkowo słabe tłumaczenie, które poprawnie zrobione może dałoby treści większą siłę. Przedstawione idee ogólnie dobre i całkiem przekonywujące - mogłyby tylko nie być zaprezentowane w tak cukierkowy sposób.

[Grace Akkad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great marketing book if you want to learn more about segmentation and how you can find a gap in the market.
This is on the side of new marketing where it targets what people need and not what they want.

[Stef Hamerlinck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Game-changing book on branding

[SJ Barakony · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 star read.

Excellent visionary content

[Austėja Nedzveckaitė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voice of today

[Danielius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very practical case study about branding. Makes you want (think you can) to build a brand out of anything

[Chingyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ideas and concepts. Would have given it 5 stars if it had more proof and real world examples instead of basing its claims on a fictitious company.

[Domi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*
Spousta velmi zajímavých myšlenek, nápadů a pohledů; vlastně jedna z mkt biblí. Je fajn, že je tak stručná.
Jen překlad se tentokrát úplně nepovedl.

[Tim Belonax · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid “airplane read” on branding that holds up well for being written in 2016. Neumeier’s books on branding are accessible foundations for brand building.

[Polina Glushkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book about branding that I have ever read!

[Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great thinking overall of branding. Love all of the Marty neumeier books. Quick reads with great little one liner takeaways.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow. A brilliant read, simple and straight to the point. It’s an easy read with a depth of knowledge. Favourite quote: “the company with the best customer wins”