One of the coolest things about being a blogger is receiving review copies of new books. Profit Brand
is one of them and I finally went through the pile sitting on my desk and got to read it. Now, I was very, very suspicious. A huge number of books on branding seem to follow the five-step advice of writing branding books and getting away with it , which means they are a waste of time. I expected another sage advice on how the times are changing and how we need new branding paradigms. Or a dystopia scenario. Perhaps a couple of new buzzwords. Instead, I was in for a pleasant surprise.To be fair, Nick Wreden does coin what he hopes will become the next buzzword, and it is ProfitBranding. Unlike other buzzwords though, this one actually makes sense and can be summed up in this quote: "The branding goal in the customer economy is not sales or market rowth, but profitability growth. Without profitability growth, brands cannot be sustained. [...] Profits drive accountability."
If you swear by brand equity, prepare to be scandalized. "Brand equity is irrelevant to customers. In the history of the world, only two things have never happened. No one has washed a rental car. And no one has bought anything based on brand equity." So, there.
It's a very calm book otherwise. It talks about accountability, customer retention, recency, frequency and monetary value. The book crunches a lot of numbers. It shows exactly how much each customer you put on hold costs your company.
If you happen to work at an agency, read this book. Even if you are on the creative side of things. If nothing else, it will help you make your PowerPoints much more convincing to the clients' finance guys. Definitely worth its $20.
