Brands and Bulls**t. Excel at the Former, Avoid the Latter.

by Bernhard Schroeder

A book on branding for Millennial marketers in a digital age.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

188 pages, Paperback

Published October 14, 2017

About the author

BERNHARD SCHROEDER is a director at the prestigious Lavin Entrepreneurship Center at San Diego State University. Previously a senior partner at CKS Partners, the world’s largest integrated marketing communications agency, he has served as a marketing and brand expert for successful start-ups such as Amazon and Yahoo as well as Fortune 100 firms such as Apple, Nike, Kellogg’s, GM, and American Express.

Reviews

[Tresh~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive and overhyped. I also hated how many typos were in this book. Immediately took off a star for that. If your firm makes so much money, at least hire an editor before you publish a book. 🤦‍♀️

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and helpful

Universities should be including branding with all their marketing and business courses. (They very well could be, but I know mine didn't.) This book was great at helping bridge the gap between what I went to school for (public relations) and fueled my passion for building customer experiences. Great read and worth the buy.

[Stephanie’s Libby Antics · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s useful, but you definitely get the sense by the end of the book that the MOST useful thing would either be to download his app or hire his firm to plan a branding strategy for your business.

Savvy little marketer, isn’t he? :p sorry... “brand strategist”

[Dmitry · Rating 3 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

Книга, которая появилась очень вовремя, т.к. многие работники компаний сводят весь маркетинг к работе с социальными сетями и интернетом. А это ошибка. Это как если бы выделить из маркетинга рекламу на радио, назвать это новым термином и сформировать новую профессию с крайне ограниченным функционалом и обязанностями. Так вот, автор книги наконец-то сказал, что подобные работники должны или я бы даже сказал, обязаны знать основы классического маркетинга и брендинга. Автор книги будет писать больше о брендинге, но так как брендинг является составной часть маркетинга (подобно рекламе и PR), можно сказать, что автор рассматривает основные момента классического маркетинга.
Во-первых, автор пишет о важности и необходимости наблюдения за потребителями с последующим их анализом. Этим разделом в маркетинге занимается направление, которое можно обозначить как «поведение потребителей». Автор пишет, что мы должны проанализировать, как потребители покупают, выбирают, изучают и т.д. товары/услуги. Мы так же должны, если это возможно, изучить их образ жизни, их стиль жизни. Мы должны проанализировать весь путь потребителя начиная с решения отправиться за покупками и заканчивая утилизацией использованного товара.
Второй момент, это сам бренд, его суть. Автор даёт небольшой экскурс в историю данного термина и то, что он обозначает сегодня. Я же скажу главное: бренд – это обещание. Автор говорит об эмоциональном компоненте и даже о любви, обожании, которое испытывают потребители к бренду. Это, вопрос не такой однозначный, т.к. трудно испытывать обожание, скажем, к стальным листам или туалетной бумаге, но вот про эмоциональный компонент, автор подметил верно. Я же добавлю, что обещание, это не только «любовь», но и доверие, это гарантия того, что товар, которые предлагает бренд, будет качественным. Другими словами, бренд, как гарантия качества (это, разумеется, одно из свойств и всё этим не ограничивается).
Далее автор рассмотрит вопросы позиционирования бренда, его отпозиционирования от других, способы, которыми можно выделить бренд из толпы других подобных и так далее. В общем, в первой части книги автор познакомит с основными вопросами маркетинга. Правда, и тут я с автором категорически не согласен, он противопоставляет маркетинг брендингу, а это, ошибка. Брендинг является частью маркетинга и не может быть ему противопоставлен. Это его часть.
Что касается второй части книги, то она мне показалась довольно скучной, т.к. автор решил очень сильно сжать основные работы таких авторов как Аакер, Траут и Райс, а также книгу «Стратегия голубого океана». По мне, так намного лучше и эффективней прочитать книги этих авторов, а не выжимку на несколько страниц. Далее автор также продолжит описание менее важных тем связанных с брендингом в частности и маркетингом – в целом. Так как ничего нового лично для меня в данной книги не было, то вторую часть книги мне было откровенно скучно читать. Также нужно учесть, что автор ничего от себя не добавил.
В итоге, книга неплохо подойдёт в качестве вводной в тему маркетинг/брендинг, однако полноценной заменой классическим авторам по маркетингу/брендингу, о которых он сам упоминает и чьи идеи он сжато представляет, она явно не является.

The book appeared very timely, because many employees of companies reduce all marketing to work with social networks and the Internet. And this is a mistake. It is as if to allocate advertising on the radio from marketing, to call it a new term and to form a new profession with extremely limited functionality and responsibilities. So, the author of the book finally said that such employees should or I would even say, must know the basics of classical marketing and branding. The author of the book will write more about branding, but since branding is an integral part of marketing (like advertising and PR), we can say that the author considers the main points of classical marketing.
Firstly, the author writes about the importance and necessity of observing consumers with their subsequent analysis. This section in marketing is engaged in the direction, which can be defined as "consumer behavior". The author writes that we should analyze how consumers buy, choose, research, etc. goods/services. We should also, if possible, study their lifestyle. We have to analyze the entire path of the consumer, from the decision to go shopping to the disposal of used goods.
The second point is the brand itself, its essence. The author gives a short excursion into the history of the term and what it means today. I will say the main thing: a brand is a promise. The author talks about the emotional component and even about the love and adoration that consumers feel for the brand. This is not such an unambiguous question, because it is difficult to feel the adoration of, say, steel sheets or toilet paper, but here is the emotional component, the author has noticed correctly. I will add that the promise is not only "love", but also trust, it is a guarantee that the goods offered by the brand will be of high quality. In other words, a brand as a guarantee of quality (it is, of course, one of the properties and all this is not limited to).
Next, the author will consider the issues of brand positioning, its repositioning from others, ways to distinguish the brand from the crowd of others, and so on. In general, in the first part of the book the author will introduce the main marketing issues. However and here I strongly disagree with the author, he contrasts marketing with branding, and this is an error. Branding is a part of marketing and cannot be opposed to it. This is part of it.
As for the second part of the book, it seemed rather boring to me, as the author decided to quote the main books of such authors as David A. Aaker, Al Ries, Jack Trout, as well as the book "Blue Ocean Strategy". To me, it is much better and more effective to read these books than a few pages. The author will also continue to describe less important topics related to branding in particular and marketing in general. Since there was nothing new in this book for me personally, I was bored reading the second part of the book. It should also be taken into account that the author did not add anything from himself.
As a result, the book is a good introduction to the topic of marketing/branding, but it is obviously not a substitute for the classic authors of marketing/branding, whom he mentions himself and whose ideas he concisely presents.

[Venera Arakelyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy listening and re-listening this book.

"Digital Marketing agencies have grown so quickly that they didn’t have time to undergo Branding Strategy training... Marketing without expertise is Bullsh**t.... Companies who create a customer feeling that is uniquely positive will thrive and continue to be industry leaders. Companies that continue to create great products but not build great brands will face competition over time, and ultimately struggle in the marketplace. The author stresses the importance of a long term marketing goal and creation of true branding values."

[Jordan Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t allocated much time throughout my career to consider brand, so this book was a good way for me to get a better perspective on the meaning of brand, and how to be a brand marketer. There are many examples based on much larger and renowned brands which serve in telling the story but as I’m working in nonprofit, it would have been helpful to hear about examples outside of the huge corporates. I found this helpful, but like many books like it, this could have been condensed down to minimize some of the many examples used to demonstrate the point.

[Phyllis Williams-Strawder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m Down For No Bullshit

I’m not a marketer. I’m a brand strategist so I didn’t think I would get much from the book. I’m glad I was wrong. The best part for me was chapter 9. The only reason I didn’t give it 5-stars is that towards the end I started to lose interest. I will keep this in my rotation though.

[Joe Nuttapong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good if you broadly take the framework provided for Brand Development for SMEs to Big Corporate. However, most of the examples are outdated from 2000's big companies in US. So many points/recommendations in this book are only valid to specific cases.

[TatumReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent read for an entry-level marketer. At some points, the messaging felt repetitive, and it didn't deep dive into the to-do lists they provided. The book is more of a jumping-off point to learn about marketing, but not one that will tell you everything you need to learn.

[Allen Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. A lot of basic knowledge and good stories about branding and how to build a brand. Really inspiring and broaden my knowledge and vision as a digital marketer.

[Ivan Parisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An illuminating guide to discerning the stark difference between marketing and branding. Strongly recommend!

[Jake Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great marketing insight.
Easy to follow with amazing ideas.
Although a few grammar errors, the book as a whole is very insightful.
A great read

[Yogeshwaran Vijay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is my Mentor

I am too young to rate this wonderful book but is a bliss to have a life time guide book on marketing

[Outdoors Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting,entertaining, academic book on branding. Little practical advice on how to actually go about creating a brand, except in the last chapter. Lots of real life examples being the info alive.

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

I personally found this book to be too much of the latter and not enough of the former subject in the title. Nary a mention on the role of the media.

[Harsh Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

useful insight on what Brand Value is and how to create your own brand.
slightly long read but easy to understand.