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The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else
by By Rob Frankel Reviewed by Martha J. Retallick, TCS Member - July 25, 2000 at 13:02:13:
The author says, “branding” is one of the most misunderstood concepts in business. There’s a lot more to it than designing a catchy logo. And differentiating your business from its competitors is a difficult task, but your branding efforts had better not stop there.Frankel, who’s widely recognized as an expert in the field, says that “Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your competition; it’s about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem.”
Now that’s a tall order. So tall that he calls it his Prime Directive of Big Time Branding. This book tells you how to build your own Big Time Brand, but as you may have guessed, it isn’t easy. And once you’ve built your Big Time Brand, you can’t sit back and relax. You’ve got to keep working on it—it’s just like an endless construction project.
Who has a Big Time Brand? Well, in the computer world, it isn’t Microsoft. Not at all. For Big Time Branding, we must look south of Redmond, Washington, all the way down to Cupertino, California, home of Apple Computer. About those Mac lovers, Frankel says, “Every few years, as market experts predict its demise, Apple commands the loyalty of its hardcore followers. But don’t take my word for it. Just try converting a Mac guy to Windows and see how far you get. At this very moment, millions of Mac users are furiously linking their machines into their LANs and WANs, determined to keep their workstation pure and free of PCs. Does it make rational sense? Not really. Is it branding in action? You betcha.”
Take that, Bill Gates.
On the World Wide Web, who has a Big Time Brand? Well, according to Rob Frankel, a lot of major corporations don’t. And he spends a great deal of time lampooning the “our company”-centric web sites of some of the best-known organizations in the world. But Fedex, the overnight delivery service, does get it. The Fedex.com site is full of customer-centric, useful things like online package tracking. And you have to look really hard to find the link to other FDX companies.
Publisher: Rob Frankel Order from: http://www.RobFrankel.com/ Price: $36.95 ISBN: 0-9679912-1-8
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