Customer Reviews

The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World

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WARNING! This book is for you if you're a smart, savvy business/marketing person. If not, you might be confused by the significance of its contribution.

In business, many of us feel like we're falling behind. We've tried to keep up with the latest device or digital channel only to wonder if it's helping our business. We've chased after all that's cool only to discover that our customers have moved on to something else. This is where Rick Matheison, author of The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World really shines. He says it's not about trying to keep up with the latest and greatest tool or social media outlet. You are not out of the loop simply because you don't understand everything digital yet, but you do need to have a philosophical framework for approaching any digital marketing intiative, whether it's using the channels we know and deal with today--mobine, Facebook, Twitter and so on--or channels five years from now that we haven't yet imagined.

Finally!! A book that shares with us the framework for figuring out what to do next!

J. McCall, host of Your Brand with Joanne McCall radio show

Customers want it; they want it now and they want it on their terms. Rick lays out 10 Rules for Marketing in this new environment. Rick explains each rule and includes real-life successes. I liked the Question and Answer section at the end of each chapter, where an expert in that particular rule is interviewed.

My favorite rules:

**Rule #2 - Don't repurpose, reimagine. I was fascinated by HBO's drama that projected an apartment cut-away on the sides of buildings. Scenes were also posted on YouTube, Flickr and mobile. HBO successfully used all media channels, but with a creative twist.

**Rule #3 - Don't just join the conversation, spark it. It's all about engaging and entertaining customers. You need to give customers a reason for coming back.

**Rule #7 - Products are the new services. The Nike+ running shoe interacts with an iPod nano to monitor your workout. How neat is that?

There is nothing completely new or earth shattering in this book, but the rules are presented in such a straight-forward way that it's easy to remember and understand what they're all about.

I recommend this book to all marketers wanting to:

1. Understand the new 24/7 digital age.
2. Learn tactics to succeed in this new environment.

The On-Demand Brand is a must read for anyone that considers marketing part of his or her professional function.

The book provides "10 rules for digital marketing success in an anytime, everywhere world." Rick calls them rules, but they are more like 10 methods for digital marketing. He doesn't tell you how to do it, instead he gives you understanding on why multiple channels of engagement are important for marketing in what he (rightfully) calls the "now media" culture - a smart way to approach this since technology makes things invented yesterday obsolete. If these were truly "how-to" rules, the book would be out of date before it hit the shelves. It's not really a business book, but a series of observations on the various degrees of digital engagement, and how brands can better understand and harness the power of branding in a "pull vs. push" culture.

It's not enough to just know that the other channels - online and mobile engagement to name a couple - exist, but to know how these channels work and affect one another in the ecosystem of consumer engagement. Each rule is valuable in gaining greater understanding of impact. Right off the bat, he starts with "Insight Comes Before Inspiration," where he very clearly shows that, like all marketing efforts, you must know the customer, and that you can't really move forward until you do (something I have been preaching forever). He continues by showing that every channel of engagement deserves its own contextual approach, meaning you can't re-purpose content for another channel (AMEN).

The book is loaded with current and relevant case studies. I have heard of almost every one of them, and I saw most of them in a new way when reading how they were developed and deployed. The beautiful part is that if you are unaware of any of these, there's a very good chance you can find them online.

A fabulous feature of the book are the interviews Rick conducts with some industry heavyweights, including Laura Klauberg, Senior Vice President of global media at Unilever ("So it's really about being in tune with the culture, and then finding the points where there might be a great intersection of a brand and what's important to customers.") to Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky ("...the consumer - whether you embrace it or not - is involved in the creation of your brand.") to Tom Nicholson, the CEO and founder of LBi IconNicholson and the `Father of Social Retailing' ("The place where individual product brands can play [a role] is in creating experiences tied to the mobile device-services that consumers will want to access when they are in a physical store environment.").

This book is practical and comprehensible insight, and belongs on every marketer's list to read. Reading this before too long will even prepare marketers better for the coming holiday season, when consumers will hit the stores and websites even harder with greater demand on those brands that want to engage them at those levels. My copy of the book is completely dog-eared, post-it marked, and highlighted with several places where I can leverage his insight in teaching clients about digital media in a digital culture.


Go read this. Now. Before everyone else does and beats you to the customer.

"They laughed when my avatar sat down at the piano but when I started to play!"

In 1926, John Caples used a headline almost like the one above and filled the page with a story about how a man's newly acquired piano skills mesmerized an audience.

Today, in a world of ad-resistant and elusive consumers, you'll need more than a brilliant headline to engage customers and create memorable experiences. In his new book, The On-Demand Brand, Rick Mathieson reveals 10 secrets (or rules) to capture and hold your audience's attention.

I'd like to look at three of the secrets. Before we do let's explore the layout of the book. The book has 10 chapters - One for each secret. After each chapter Rick holds a Question and Answer with a marketing expert who provides context for the concepts described in the chapter.

I seldom see a Q&A section in business books. I mean, if you're an author, you're writing a book to shine a light on yourself, your insights... Only a confident author would share the limelight with other experts in his field.

And Rick's confidence benefits his readers. You hear stories from Laura Klauberg (Senior VP of global media at Uniliver) about being shunned by teenagers on Facebook. From Alex Bogusky, the man described as the rockstar of advertising, we learn what gives his work such a viral quality. In addition, Rick points to Alex's book Baked In, a book that explains how to bake positive experiences into your products.

Referring to his 10 rules for marketing success, Rick writes:

"Be warned: Whatever your objective, these rules will be rendered useless if your brand doesn't produce compelling products that people want to buy..."

Let's look at three of Rick's rules:

* There's no Business without Show Business
* Products Are the New Services
* Always Keep Surprises In-Store

There's no Business without Show Business

It's always been true for advertising that entertainment is part of business. Kevin Townsend, who has created entertainment initiatives for major brands, said this about branded entertainment.

"There's an art form that is emerging now, which is being able to understand a brand's audience so well that you can actually create entertainment that makes them want to come back to you."

The ABC TV series Lost used alternate realities to entertain viewers and make them come back to the show. ABC did this by using faux public service announcements for a fake organization (Hanso Foundation) that was behind the show's mysterious plot. They also created 70 video blogs featuring Rachel Blake, a protagonist investigating Hanso. When Rachel harassed the show's producers at a sci-fi convention, the audience used camera phones to capture the drama, and posted the video to the Internet within 45 minutes.

We see that ABC followed Rick's fundamental premise that the product must first be remarkable, then entertainment dimensions can promote the brand.

Products are the New Services

Products are the starting point for building relationships with customers. Many companies are also creating services that enhance the experience of owning physical products.

Butterball, for example, has an 800 number that people call during Thanksgiving to help overcome obstacles to creating that perfect dinner. Butterball also has a website that disseminates recipe information. So the product becomes a service, helping customers cook up delicious meals.

iTunes is a compelling example of a service enhancing a product. Can you image the iPod without iTunes. It would be a completely different experience. With iTunes, customers have a personal content service that's easy to manage.

Keep Surprises In-Store

Retailers noticed that consumers are using cell phones and social media while shopping. A teenager may take a picture of a dress and email it to her friends for feedback.

Having spotted this trend, retailers are integrating technology into the store experience. Nanette Lepore has created what it calls the "Lepore Looking Glass." A shopper can hold up a silk top to a mirror, and with the help of a video feed the mirror plays animated scenarios, featuring the brand's Lepore Girl mascot. In another pilot, a posse of teen shoppers can use the mirrors to access each others' video feed from their dressing room and give instant feedback.

My favorite example of retail surprise? At Polo Ralph Lauren's Manhattan store, shoppers attracted to window displays can tap on the glass and access a touch screen display for more info or to buy the product. Now imagine a customer's delight when she discovers window shopping really is... window shopping.

These examples (and many more) in Rick's book help you think of ways to create positive emotions (surprise, delight, curiosity). And that's key because your brand is defined by more than your product, your brand is defined by the experiences you create for your customers.

In this exciting, experiential and ever-expanding world of digital marketing, "The On-Demand Brand" is the master playbook. As an independent brand marketer, Mr. Mathieson instills an amazing sense of creative confidence which results in great campaign pitches and new business.

Jake Kahle, Creative Director, Gator Gaming Group.

On Demand Brand is well written, witty and chock full of interviews, examples and insights into online marketing.

Traditional forms of advertising are no longer as effective as they once were. As customers have embraced online, social media and mobile devices, they are increasingly becoming a moving target. If your brand isn't taking advantage of these new touch-points, you are really missing out on opportunities to create meaningful relationships with your customers. Online, social media and mobile marketing can be ways of changing the old ways of talking AT customers to talking TO customers.

What I liked most about the book were the interviews of people in the trenches, so to speak. They gave insight into their thinking process and ways they attacked problems to create a dialogue between their customers and themselves (think Handsome Old Spice Guy).

Overall a great book and a quick read to get you up to date on some of the newer thoughts on marketing/advertising strategy.

I was attracted to Rick Mathieson's The On-Demand Brand by the subtitle about marketing success. As a soon-to-be author, I felt that I should learn more about marketing in the digital world. This book discusses digital marketing principles; it is NOT about technology. The author's major premise is based on the Burger King Syndrome ("Have it your way"), the original mass customization. Whether your customers are on Facebook, MySpace, iPhones, Droids, TiVo, Twitter, YouTube, or they're texting, IM-ing, RSS-feeding, or whatever-is-next-ing, they want it their way. I appreciated the pages of definitions where he defines terms like crowd sourcing, hyper-targeting, and short codes.
The 10 chapters are entitled Rule #1 through Rule #10. These rules or principles are not discrete silos, but represent a spectrum of approaches that can contribute to your integrated marketing communications initiatives. I especially enjoyed Rules #3 and #4. Rule #3: Don't Just Join the Conversation - Spark It. Rule #4: There's No Business Without Show Business. A takeoff of the 1946 Irving Berlin song, Mathieson discusses many topics, such as product placement replacing TV advertising, and to not "just sell a product, sell the problem it solves, the feeling it gives, the status it conveys, or the values it embodies."(p. 97) You know the author has a vast body of experience in this field by the stories that fill every page. The book is replete with real-world examples--those that worked, those that didn't work, and why. But he has a caveat: These rules are useless unless you have a compelling product that people want to buy, at a price they are willing to pay, and if you provide excellent service to your customers. This is not a how-to book, but rather a description and analysis of what a lot of other companies have done. This medium-sized book is affordable and very enjoyable to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in marketing in the coming decade.

I was assigned this book for my graduate level Digital Marketing class along with two other books and I'm happy to say this was the first we were asked to read. I read the entire book in two days, not in some last minute rush to do my homework but because it was so easy to read and I just couldn't put it down! The way the book is laid out allows you to take everything in without being overwhelmed. I personally have a marketing background but there are plenty of students in my class without it and they loved it as well. Mathieson's 10 easy to understand rules are put in context with example after example that make them relevant to any reader. The interviews at the end of each chapter give you a look into the industry from 10 different viewpoints and are fun and informative whether you know Crispin, Porter + Bogusky from Snack, Crackle + Pop or not.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about what successful digital marketing looks like.

An insightful look at what is and is not working in the digital marketing age. Most importantly, it gives you the reasons why. As such, it is an engaging textbook on digital brand principles.

"Mathieson concisely pulls together what every business savvy marketer needs to know in one heck of a well-written book. With his true journalistic professionalism, Mathieson distills what's important to pay attention to right now and *why* ... He talks to the best of the best of today's thought-leaders to break down for the reader what's really working as brands evolve into media agnostic consumer experiences. "