Customer Reviews

Brands That Rock: What Business Leaders Can Learn from the World of Rock and Roll

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Another reviewer had several harsh things to say about this book, which probably stems from the book's front cover positioning this as a text for "business leaders". While business leaders might indeed gain some useful insights from the authors, this book isn't explicitly for them. It's for every marketer with an FM radio.

The authors make liberal use of pop culture references throughout the book, providing touchpoints that readers will instantly relate to. For example, I've read a number of books that analyze the strategies that built Wal Mart into the giant it is today, but none have been as interesting as this book's treatment of the topic. Here's a bit from Chapter 4 of the book:

"Like KISS, which had decided that starting out as a whale in a pond was better than starting out as a minnow in an ocean, Wal-Mart chose to build its brand and fan base in rural America, segment by segment, foregoing mass markets where it had relatively few differential advantages. By staying away from cities and suburbs, Wal-Mart avoided head-to-head competition with giants Sears and Montgomery Ward.... winning fans town by town for several decades, gradually amassing scale."

The authors have packed the book with this sort of imagery, making the marketing concepts covered a snap to grasp. To put it simply, this book rocks!

This book is for old folks who don't really know what's going on and will believe almost anything in a desperate last grasp for marketing relevance. If you are a young, vibrant marketer, leave this book on the shelf - you will be better off harnessing your own originality.

A colleague of mine recommended this book to me and I found it to be an enjoyable and exciting read. The authors should be applauded for using new material (i.e. Rock Bands) to explain fundamental marketing and branding strategies. The book flows extremely well and I found myself finishing the entire book in two sittings. This book will appeal to a variety of audiences from the rock n roll loving CEO to college marketing majors.

The book reads as if its contents were taken from the professor's course notes for Branding 101, complete with rock n roll analogies repeatedly and gratuitously forced into each lecture to bump up the end-of-semester student ratings.

As you browse through the text before buying, consider two curiousities and one serious issue I have with this book:

(a) The back jacket offers a spectrum of endorsements beginning with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs--surely a universal touchstone for marketing insight. Would it be too much to ask for proof that Philip Kotler read the entire manuscript before offering his "praise"?

(b) Pages 2, 16 and 61 show disagreement as to whether Elton John achieved consecutive Top 10 or Top 40 hits in each of the past 30 years.

(c) Ultimately, the book's relevance to your world depends on the degree to which your brand enjoys the inherent connection that music makes with the human condition (read: needs and wants). Think about it: Marketing is the practice of fulfilling needs and wants in an exchange of value. Listeners need or want music to touch them--to make an emotional connection. Therefore, an artist who can sustain the ability to meet these basic needs and wants, which over time naturally means "staying relevant," will have a long career. You will find Sergio Zyman's recent effort to be a far better introduction to meeting needs/wants and staying relevant.

The antics of KISS, Madonna and most of the other primary examples cited in this text are coincidental side shows that speak more to the art of reinventing the brand once its become irrelvant. A far more meaningful effort would have examined the artists who have sustained deep relevance WITHOUT having to reinvent themselves through shock culture (e.g., Springsteen, Clapton, CSN, Stevie Wonder and U2--just to name a few).

In closing, and with apologies to Kid Rock:

"I been sittin here just wastin time.
Drinking, smoking, thinking, trying to free my mind."