Building the Brand Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth

by Scott M. Davis, Michael Dunn,  , et al.

In Building the Brand-Driven Business, authors Scott M. Davis and Michael Dunn-- two of the nation's foremost experts on brands-- map out a strategy that can help an entire organization manage and live (not just think about) its brand. They show how to develop brand-building programs that are the most cost efficient, effective, and credible. And just as vital, they reveal how to create a brand-driven culture within an organization so that building...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787962554
• ISBN13: 9780787962555
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Moves branding to the next level

Before I read this book, I never thought of a retail clerk or a customer service representative as a company's brand ambassador. But what the authors explain is that brand building should be supported by more than just the people in the marketing department. Certainly, brand has become the strategy du jour among marketing people these days, as evidenced by the number of books on the market. However, this book treats brand in a different context, defining it through the concept of "operationalizing" it, bringing it to life through a company's processes, systems and employees. It makes a great deal of sense that a company's senior executives must embrace the brand and its promise by linking it to the company's corporate strategy, so it becomes part of the culture. Several case studies in the book are helpful for understanding why so many well-known brand names have been successful by using similar techniques to bring their brand to life across the organization.

CEOs shoud read this book

Building The Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth (Jossey-Bass, 2002) is an excellent tool for organizations looking to drive bottom-line business growth. I found the chapter on connecting business strategy to brand strategy to be particularly insightful and helpful. In it the authors talk about developing and applying a brand lens -bringing a brand-based perspective to critical business issues - and how successful brand building efforts must be supported from the highest levels in the organization. That perspective is useful for building a case to get senior managers on board with the brand. This book is a great "how to guide," and the ideas put forth really provide companies the know-how to "take total control of their brand's destiny."

"Operationalizing" aside

Don't let the somewhat intimidating word "operationalize" keep you from investigating the pages of Building The Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth (Jossey-Bass, 2002). What authors Scott Davis and Michael Dunn show is that brand-building can and should be supported through more than just MarCom initiatives. The retail clerk who actually smiles at and is helpful to customers does far more to support the brand than the priciest ad campaigns - as Wal-Mart has long-since discovered and McDonald's apparently has yet to grasp. The authors posit that building those supporting behaviors and mind-sets (not to mention systems and processes) and then using the brand promise as an integral measure for business decisions is what "operationalizing" is all about. It's interesting positioning that's perhaps ahead of its time - but certainly one that non-marketing, senior decision makers should relate to. There's a lot of confusion among non-marketers as to what "brand" is and isn't. The authors make a case for elevating it to an entirely different level in the organization.

Graduate Level Branding

Davis and Dunn lay it all out in their new book, Building the Brand-Driven Business. If Davis' Brand Asset Management is branding 101, this is the graduate level text for those serious about building their organizational brand(s). Davis and Dunn use their Brand Touchpoint Wheel not only to ground their work with the customer, but also brand influencers which leads to a more robust and lasting branding effort. I found this a well thought out and insightful book which importantly furthers current brand thinking.