The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier is a book in which Neumeier elaborates on the concept of brand gap. He believes when there is a rift between creativity and strategy you end up with what he calls a brand gap. Neumeier believes this can cloud a brands message and that there are 5 disciplines that are essential in branding.
Neumeier said that your brand is not what you say it is, but what they say it is. They being the customers. We’ve become time poor and information rich in today’s time. This means that we are now using brand more than ever to evaluate a company and its products. This all means that we need what Neumeier calls a charismatic brand to succeed. This is a brand for which there are no substitutes.
Neumeier spends the majority of the book elaborating on the 5 principles of branding. They are to differentiate, collaborate, innovate, validate, and cultivate. Using these principles will give you a sustainable competitive advantage and give you the charismatic brand you need. Differentiation is to separate your brand from others in some way. Neumeier said that you could use three questions to start this process. Who are you, what do you do, and why does it matter are the questions he told us to use. If you are able to answer these questions well then you should be able to differentiate. Collaboration was the next step. By this Neumeier said that you should try to get your left (creative) and right (analytical) brain people to work together. He said this would close the brand gap that a company might experience. He went on to tell about different methods for managing this collaboration. They were the one-stop shop strategy, the brand agency strategy, and the integrated marketing team. Next, Neumeier went over innovation. Neumeier said that incremental change is not what sets a company on fire. What you really need is radical change which can be difficult because it goes against our human nature to try and establish a habit. Validation was the fourth step that Neumeier went over. This refers to validation from consumers about your company. This calls for a change from the way we currently communicate with customers. Right now we deliver a message and after the customer receives it the communication process is over. We need to go to a circular format that allows for reciprocal communication amongst customers and company. Finally, you must cultivate your brand. By this Neumeier meant that your brand is a living thing that changes over time. This means you have to make a certain alignment with your brand so that people can make quick evaluations.
Aside from the content of the book I liked the format a lot and the style was good too. The format made the book an easy read. There were graphics breaking up the blocks of text which helped keep things interesting. The book was a short read with a lot of ideas in it. I found this to be a good and bad thing. He conveyed a lot of information, but it kind of felt like a list sometimes because of this. There was also a lack of evidence to back up the ideas he was giving us. There were minimal examples and no cases to back him up. I felt this really hurt the credibility of what he was trying to tell us.
So, The Brand Gap was a short read that provides some good information about the idea of branding. I really think the book should have had more examples and cases to give it more credibility. The book was an easy read though and you could make it through it in a few hours. I would recommend this book as worth reading, however I have read some other books recently that I would recommend first.
Thanks for reading! I've also attached a longer version of the review if anyone is interested in it!
Neumeier said that your brand is not what you say it is, but what they say it is. They being the customers. We’ve become time poor and information rich in today’s time. This means that we are now using brand more than ever to evaluate a company and its products. This all means that we need what Neumeier calls a charismatic brand to succeed. This is a brand for which there are no substitutes.
Neumeier spends the majority of the book elaborating on the 5 principles of branding. They are to differentiate, collaborate, innovate, validate, and cultivate. Using these principles will give you a sustainable competitive advantage and give you the charismatic brand you need. Differentiation is to separate your brand from others in some way. Neumeier said that you could use three questions to start this process. Who are you, what do you do, and why does it matter are the questions he told us to use. If you are able to answer these questions well then you should be able to differentiate. Collaboration was the next step. By this Neumeier said that you should try to get your left (creative) and right (analytical) brain people to work together. He said this would close the brand gap that a company might experience. He went on to tell about different methods for managing this collaboration. They were the one-stop shop strategy, the brand agency strategy, and the integrated marketing team. Next, Neumeier went over innovation. Neumeier said that incremental change is not what sets a company on fire. What you really need is radical change which can be difficult because it goes against our human nature to try and establish a habit. Validation was the fourth step that Neumeier went over. This refers to validation from consumers about your company. This calls for a change from the way we currently communicate with customers. Right now we deliver a message and after the customer receives it the communication process is over. We need to go to a circular format that allows for reciprocal communication amongst customers and company. Finally, you must cultivate your brand. By this Neumeier meant that your brand is a living thing that changes over time. This means you have to make a certain alignment with your brand so that people can make quick evaluations.
Aside from the content of the book I liked the format a lot and the style was good too. The format made the book an easy read. There were graphics breaking up the blocks of text which helped keep things interesting. The book was a short read with a lot of ideas in it. I found this to be a good and bad thing. He conveyed a lot of information, but it kind of felt like a list sometimes because of this. There was also a lack of evidence to back up the ideas he was giving us. There were minimal examples and no cases to back him up. I felt this really hurt the credibility of what he was trying to tell us.
So, The Brand Gap was a short read that provides some good information about the idea of branding. I really think the book should have had more examples and cases to give it more credibility. The book was an easy read though and you could make it through it in a few hours. I would recommend this book as worth reading, however I have read some other books recently that I would recommend first.
Thanks for reading! I've also attached a longer version of the review if anyone is interested in it!
The Brand Gap Review |