Brand Babble: Sense and Nonsense About Branding [Hardcover]

Don E. Schultz (Author), Heidi Schultz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0538727144 | ISBN-13: 978-0538727143 | Publication Date: March 1, 2003 | Edition: 1

Brand Babble: Sense and Nonsense about Branding is about both the "good news" and the "bad news" of branding. And, it's vitally important to the success of your business. As long-time branding authors, educators, and investigators, the Schultz's explode an array of myths that have been passing and passed on as "branding wisdom." They show that a brand will not rescue a flawed business concept, is not owned by one group or individual, nor does it depend on "media-by-the-ton" spending. The authors show how every successful brand is the sum of relationships between buyer and seller and explain how marketers best communicate with their customers through an integrated approach that reflects the nature of that relationship. Those approaches sets the stage for value-based branding that delivers the best value proposition to customers and increases the bottom-line, financial value of the brand to the organization and its owners and shareholders. That, today, is the "currency" of value-based branding. Getting to it is merely a matter of cutting through all the Brand Babble, all the nonsense about brands and branding that is posing as new marketing insight. This book will be the essential ingredient in more insightful, easier, and, most important, more profitable branding work for both your company and your customers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Don and Heidi have done it again. Here, they deploy all of their worldly wisdom and communication skills in making branding accessible. Practitioners and students will be grateful for their robust approach to a subject that needs to be understood by everyone in business.

Finally, a book that points out all of the gibberish being spouted about branding. The Schultzes are candid and insightful, but also entertaining, in clearing the air on this topic. Anyone involved in brand-building should read their book now--before investing another nickel on anything else about branding.

Another great book by Don & Heidi Schultz, which cuts through the 'brand babble' and gets straight to the point. Interesting, insightful and full of useful analogies. A goldmine of helpful information and a must for all marketers bookshelves.

Brand Babble is another Don Schultz straight-talking, no-nonsense piece that brilliantly cuts through advertising hype to reveal the common sense of branding. It's full of great examples and solid business propositions. It will ruffle a few feathers as it logically demonstrates that brands must have a meaningful value proposition. If you want to understand brand building, you have to read this book.

Don and Heidi have done a masterful job of cutting through all the clutter and noise to give us a thoughtful, pragmatic and user-friendly look at the branding world as it exists today and--more importantly--how it should look tomorrow.

About the Author

Don E. Schultz is Professor Emeritus of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, Visiting Professor, Cranfield School of Management, Bedfordshire, UK, Adjunct Professor as Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, and President of Agora Inc., based in Evanston, IL. He has consulted, lectured and held seminars on integrated marketing communications, marketing and branding in Europe, South America, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Australia and North America. His articles have appeared in Advertising Age, Journal of Advertising Research, Marketing Communications, Journal of Business Strategy, and Marketing News. He is author/co-author of 11 books, including Strategic Brand Campaigns, Sales Promotion Management, Measuring Brand Communication ROI, Communicating Globally, and Integrated Marketing Communications, which was the first book in this emerging field.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: South-Western Educational Pub; 1 edition (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0538727144
• ISBN-13: 978-0538727143
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,688,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Babble Continues, May 1, 2005

By 

Michael G. DiFrisco "BrandXcellence" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brand Babble: Sense and Nonsense About Branding (Hardcover)

Authors Schultz and Schultz start with a solid premise: making sense of the cacophony in the marketplace regarding branding. And while they do a reasonable job of outlining some of branding's ills and shining a light on branding's charlatans and self-proclaimed gurus, I found Brand Babble strangely unsatisfying. With a few exceptions, the authors left me hanging by explaining all that is wrong with current brand-think but failing to provide alternative answers or solutions to all the babbling. That said, I was able to extract a dozen or so nuggets of fresh thinking from the work, so it certainly wasn't a total loss.
Mike D--brandworkshops.com

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective opinion, August 4, 2004

By 

Bradford Frank "physician, author, and entrep... (Jamestown, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brand Babble: Sense and Nonsense About Branding (Hardcover)

(I graduated from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, but I never met the authors, who are also from Northwestern, so this is an unbiased review.) Brand Babble is one of the very best books I have read on branding (or marketing for that matter). This book was very interesting and really got me excited about the branding/marketing concepts discussed. The book is an easy read but has many important insights into advertising and branding. These are real pearls of wisdom. Anyone who is involved with branding or marketing should read this book to quickly learn how to separate the wheat from the shaft. The authors demystify one marketing/branding myth after another. If you buy this book, you won't be sorry you did. If you don't read it, you won't know how many advertising dollars you have wasted, or possibly why your branding campaign went astray.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Branding Sense and Nonsense, May 11, 2004

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brand Babble: Sense and Nonsense About Branding (Hardcover)

Brands represent relationships.

Cutting through "brand babble" the authors offer solid theories and scholarly work to back their message. Brands should make money.

Brands are built, maintained and succeed because of an integrated and aligned approach on the part of both the buyer and the seller. Understand the marketing essentials and your brands will be successful. Marketing essentials, they say, include consumer behavior, communication, marketing, sociology, information technology, graphics, design, accounting and finance

The authors, two Northwestern University branding experts, define brand babble as the confusion currently filling the marketplace. This clutter often masquerades as expert branding information. Included in this are "hocus-pocus models, diagrams, geometric shapes and clever analogies."

I like this book because it offers sound, analytic advice about the value of brand marketing, communication and positioning. The authors' advice on brand tracking and budgeting will help every organization garner more value and profits from their brands.