Customer Reviews

Firebrands: Building Brand Loyalty in the Internet Age

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being involved in IT consulting exposes me to various approaches when a 'bricks and mortar' wants to go ON-LINE. This book crystalizes my thinking on the methodology of branding. After reading most of the book, I understand the importance of integrating off-line & on-line branding activities for every professional services firm. Either you are on the customer mind or you are another "what's their name?" firm.... Focus on creating a WOW experience for the customer is a must read... I love this book! Read it or regret it later.

As the Chief Technical Officer of a Texas based e-services and print communication firm, I live in this interactive brandspace on a daily basis. The problem with this brave new world of pixels is simply that much is said and much is written but little intelligent communication occurs. I find the innovative and far reaching approach taken by Michael Moon to be the de facto foundation for the next "big thing".

The approach that one must take to these new media spaces and channels is not readily discernible from the clearly defined trails blazed in the more traditional areas of branding. This new territory is as different as the Earth is from the Moon [no pun intended]. The book travels beyond the areas marked as "unknown - there be dragons here" and opens a clear and understandable path into formerly mysterious areas.

What we need out here in the field is less hype and more substance. Firebrands is a rational, ground breaking treatise on the evolution of Branding. This is a pivotal work that serves as a wonderful deskside companion, as indispensible to me as my spell checker or my browser.

Michaels' best practices mental evolution from the time of the Jeff Martin led Digital Brand Building Seminars of the mid-90's to this opus show an extraordinary depth and breadth of thought and research . The Firebrands book is the Gray's Anatomy of Brand "science".

As my company moves forward with ground breaking, market defining services in the area of brand guaranty we will continue to consult the Firebrands roadmap. We anxiously await any follow-up materials that might come from this mind trust.

Be warned - this is not a shallow pop-business, executive book of the hour read. This is a genetic level approach to a new mindset. It must be read slowly, deliberately, and with a totally open mind. The graphics are not simply illustrative they are literally a book unto themselves. Read this brandspace atlas one chapter at a time, review the graphics, and with time and reflection you will understand.

Michael Moon puts together scores of ultimately meaningless charts (this guy adores power point), tarts up basic brand jargon with John Gray's insufferable Mars and Venus spiel, and ends up with a book that is useful to those who can say things like "mediaspace value chain" and "brand trust network" with a straight face (yeah, my clients are gonna eat that up, evil chuckle). If you're still not convinced, check out how Moon walks the walk with his "firebranded" site, http://firebrands.com/. Stick to the classics by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Branding is still branding, no matter what the medium.

This person cant write if his life depended on it, i read it and now used it for a door stop. I wouldnt recommend this to anyone. I might use it if hes lucky for my son to sit on at the dinner table.

If you read Firebrands as it was intended, you will read it as a mentor's guide: a dialogue and checklist for bringing your product into your customer's mind and experience. You will come to understand your firebrand as your rally point for your organization, operations, marketing, and product design. Firebrands is not a statement about the condition of the industry, any industry. Neither is it a collection of wisdom from the ages. It has to do with what is happening NOW and what is working in this fast mutating world of communications and commerce.

In fact, if you don't have a mission underway, or one in mind, my bet is that you won't "get it." However, if you're in the heat of the quest, I would suggest keeping Firebrands close at hand.

There are so many books on the market that discuss the concept of 'brand' from so many different points of view, that it's difficult to sort out the good from the bad. This is one of the good ones.

Moon and Millison define the basic concepts around brand. They explain in clear buzzword-light language what influences the growth and positioning of a brand. Finally, they provide ample and well-explained pointers to further reading to help understand some of their basic ideas more clearly.

As a consultant working for a systems integrator, one of the things that impressed me the most was the focus on execution. Many books about branding seem to imply that the technical details are irrelevant to brand success, but _Firebrands_ makes the point that a relationship with a customer only has brand value when supported by appropriate policies, training, and technical infrastructure. This is a message that can't be, IMO, repeated often enough.

Well worth the time to read.

Firebr@nds is not a bedside book, it's a cookbook, a tool for being AT CAUSE when it comes to building successful, powerful communications for the internet.

As a Technology Interface Architect , the building of brand into the interaction of the product is vital to it's success.

This book makes it all very clear, while eliciting sympathy for all of us who have built brands. A genuine appreciation for its complexity is gained as you read a systemization of brandbuilding in Firebr@ands.

Moon has given us a thorough and deep taxonomy for building the brand from many different pragmatic angles. The dramatic distinctions in language make it easy to use the language as a tool in any company when it comes to educating organizations in building brand.

This is a book that I will return to over and over again as I help my clients grow their products into the future. It was a very brave, and necessary book to write. BRAVO!!!!

No one understands branding in the digital space better than Michael Moon. If you work in this space, this book should be your bible...

I have read Firebrands and found it extremely useful. As a systems integrator in St. Louis, I have used this book to help my clients understand the importance of a technical infrastructure in building a vibrant brand.... Mind you, this is not a 60 second brand manager book.

A new leader has emerged to guide Corporate America through the confusion and hype of branding in the New Economy. His name is Michael Moon. Write it down.