Brand Digital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World

Citation

Frechette, B.G. (2010), "Brand Digital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 293-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761011038374

Brand Digital, Foreword by David Kirkpatrick. Why this book?

Allen Adamson tackles what a lot of marketers are facing these days. What does the digital realm mean to marketers, how best does one harness it and has this new focus on the digital age changed how people on both side of the fence interpret the term “brand”.

As Adamson says in just the first few pages. “Who should read this book and why?” “People like me should read this book, the folks who have spent the better part of their careers working with brands‐ creating them, managing them for brand organizations or agencies or teaching classes about them. We understand brands, what makes them thrive and what makes them fail. What we don”t understand to the extent that we should is how to take advantage of digital technology and the behaviors it engenders to make brands stronger and more valuable to organizations and consumers.”

This nicely sums up where Adamson will take us through the next 20 chapters. He breaks his book into two main sections. The Truths of Branding Magnified, and Building Brands in the Digital World. Throughout the book are excerpts from the first hand interviews the author has gathered from leaders in the business and marketing worlds. They include heads of major advertising and branding agencies such as Goodby, Schmatic and WPP. He also gathers findings and results from major marketers such as Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble and ABC/Disney, and relays their challenges and successes through the lens of successful branding in the digital age.

What is important to take away is the fact that Adamson reinforces the fact that the principles of good branding have not changed. They still work. But as the tools change, in this case the digital media space, so do the ways consumers interact with those brands. What also changes is the amount of information that is available to the marketer.

The first section of this book demonstrates to the reader the core disciplines marketers need to focus on in the new digital age. The core of successful branding still works, but focus is needed on all the available tools to make a brand successful in the digital age. This means listening to the consumers.

As Mr Adamson describes – “digital technology allows marketers to listen in on the millions of conversations taking place online every minute of every day”. “Marketers can observe in real‐time what people are searching for, their buying process, the way they compare and contrast products or services or prices, where they go for advice, the offers they deem relevant and those they don't, the specific feature of a product that interests them and which sites they return to for additional information and purchases.” Getting quality insight is still a priority for a brand organization, but the tools and methods to acquire these insights have been “amplified” in the digital space. The author drives these points home through firsthand interviews with key stakeholders, but also through recent and relevant case studies. Adamson focuses on the theme of “branding amplified” in the categories such as “simple ideas”, “Clear brand voice”, and “delivering on the brand promise”. What makes this portion of the book so important is the fact that solid principles of branding are alive and well in the digital space, but are amplified for everyone.

The second half of the book is dedicated to successes (and some failures) of building brands in the digital world. Adamson uses more first hand interviews with the experts who are leading the way in the digital space. The author reinforces what was discussed in the first section of the book, but this time provides a summary of tools and tactics that have proven successful in each of the topics discussed. For example, in the section titled “Keeping Your Brand's Promise”, Adamson provides a roadmap for success as drawn up by other successful branding organizations:

Think like a consumer. Always look at your brand promise from you consumer's perspective; Make everyone in your company accountable for their part in delivering the brand promise; Institute a management alert process; Be on the lookout for early warning signs of product or service issues and establish mechanisms for immediate responses; Delight your customers – deliver on your promise in such a way that they become brand evangelists.

Adamson follows each of the chapters in this section with a summary similar to the one above. It serves as an interesting recap to the chapters information, and drives the points home. A quick scan of these will provide the reader with some good ammo to make them look rather smart in their next status meeting.

Brand Digital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in The Digital World is a book for marketing and branding professionals. I found the content relevant and timely. The book tackles some basic principals and provides a glossary of terms for those who need to gain a broad sense of what makes up the digital space. For those more seasoned in the digital space, there are enough relevant case studies and solid thinking to make anyone look smarter in their next status meeting.