Customer Reviews

Branding Iron: Branding Lessons from the Meltdown of the US Auto Industry

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Messr. Hughes and Jeanes have had long and distinguished careers in automotive marketing. Their insights are keen and comments valid. Given the declining status of the so-called "Big 3" those charged with the resurection of the domestic auto industry should make this a must read. Anyone else with even the slightest interest in marketing will find this book delightful. It is well written and fun.

Reading this book was highly recommended by some associates. I was hoping for more other than recommending the domestic auto companies reduce the number of brands and dealers they carry. Or they should have more corporate courage. Having read it now I find it a bit too much like some of Tom Peters works which were prone to picking out outstanding companies that have since fallen or ignoring the global changes that caught the truck and SUV heavy domestic auto makers with their proverbial pants down.

I got more out of Barbarians to Bureaucrats Corporate Life Cycle Strategies.

Despite the title, this is really a book about management, especially executive leadership. One of the authors is an experienced auto industry executive who is following the example of people like Lee Iacocca who felt that their management insights needed to be shared with the world in a book. Charlie Hughes chose to hide his management insights behind the façade of a more interesting topic, product branding, apparently to promote his consulting business. To justify this pretense he proposes that corporate culture is a key part of branding and that corporate culture is created and guided by top management.

The content and structure of the book violate its own main message; that a brand needs to be clear and focused. This book could have been an interesting story of what one person learned in an interesting career with a number of major companies in the auto industry. Jim Wangers did that in his book Glory Days. It could have been an analysis of well known branding successes and failures in the auto industry over the last 50 years. That's what I thought I was buying. It could have been a straight forward book on management, focusing on corporate culture. Instead it is a muddled mishmash of all three.

The book does include a few stories of life in the executive suites of Land Rover, Porsche, and Mazda. It concludes with some good advice for Ford and GM on how to manage their brands, though it has been overtaken by recent events in the industry. Overall it was not worth the time or money.

Saying that Charlie Hughes and William Jeanes book is about branding in the car business is like saying the new Tesla Roadster is a car. While the statements are true, the book "Branding Iron" is really about leading a business successfully. Even though most of the examples come from the automotive industry, the lessons learned apply to all areas of business. I especially enjoyed the focus on building a conspiracy around your company and product. Far too often, companies underestimate the intelligence of their customers and their customers' willingness and eagerness to help if you just let them in on the game. And once your company has achieved its lofty goals, you should re-read this to avoid being killed by their own success.

I am a certified car nut, not a business man or marketing person. Most, but not all of the marketing/branding lessons didn't concern me too much (although it was still fairly interesting reading) The insight into how the auto industry was extremely interesting to me and I always enjoyed reading Mr. Jeanes in Car and Driver. Chapter 11 on "Fixing Ford" should be required reading for the top level execs of GM and Ford alone.

If you are in the business of marketing or branding, this book offers some very good insight, maybe not a must read book. If you are a hardcore auto enthusiast, you'll find some of the content interesting. You may not want to buy it though

A must read for business leaders looking to gain a full perspective of branding as a management strategy. The authors do a fantastic job leveraging expertise in the car industry to share insights and tons of examples of branding gone wrong and what it takes to do it right. What's great about this book is that the auto industry truly is a great benchmark and educational view for other industries to follow. My company is not in the auto industry, however, insights, suggestions and key learning's provided by Hughes and Jeanes are very much applicable to my company and most company's I know of. In particular the "strategic" Brand Triangle provides a logical view of how a company's brand image is driven by not only the product quality and retail experience but also how the organizational culture becomes the "glue that holds everything together". This book points out and provides examples to prove that "Culture, in the center of the triangle, drives the brand".

Leaders in virtually all industries will benefit from this read!

Having served as owner of a small business for the last ten years, I remain on the lookout for marketing advice that works. Although Branding Iron was targeted for the auto industry, Charles Hughes and William Jeanes offer guidelines that are applicable well beyond car manufacturing and sales.



The authors help readers by defining industry jargon, and by unpretentious writing. Example: "We've gone safe, soft, and somnolent."



The main message for marketers everywhere: Consumers expect quality products as the rule, not the rare exception. Also, they want you to clearly identify your brand identity before you try to excite others about it: "We have combined too much choice with too many messages. We live in a world of magpie marketing. We hear lots of noise, but nobody's saying much."



Branding Iron offers what the authors promise: Lessons every executive can learn.The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication-change Your Life!

Branding Iron is a well written, at times humorous, and always insightful view of the auto industry, particularly in the U. S. Charlie Hughes has the successful background to truly debunk the auto industry today. Auto industry leaders should read and heed his geat advice. Perhaps they could save themselves from sliding further than they already have.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the auto industry or big business. There are plenty of lessons for all.

This review was written by Stephen A. Burgess, 'The Business Prophet', who can be found at [...]

Outstanding book for executing Marketing INSIDE the automotive industry. A must read for sales & marketing professionals in the auto industry. It has the right balance between concepts and on-field experience.

This was a much anticipated read, as the topic is timely and the authors are known to have the auto industry experience necessary to produce an insightful book on car branding. While worth reading, at least for auto industry geeks like myself, Branding Iron suffers from three weaknesses. First, there are several editing gaffes (not unique in my recent reading experience). Second, the advice on getting from a poor branding situation to a strong one is thin at best. To be sure, the authors make clear recommendations on reducing brand count, especially in the case of Ford, but how to get from point A to point B is easier said than done. Perhaps that is why they shied away from offering definitive advice for GM, which has the most complex global brand situation of any auto company. Lastly, the authors state that they don't want to get into the economics aspect of branding, but by not doing so their theories have to be taken entirely on faith. Nice try, guys, but you came up a little short.