This commonsense guide lets you develop your brand with the same techniques and technologies as the big players—but without all the cost. You’ll learn to master the same three-step plan the big advertisers use and discover the secret to brand continuity from product to product. This valuable resource will help you connect your products with your customers, no matter how small your brand.
Think Two Products Ahead
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Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Branding is something you probably only think of in terms of household names and huge conglomerates. But branding isn't just for the big boys; smart branding is smart business for almost any company, no matter its size. In Think Two Products Ahead, ad agency insider Ben Mack reveals all the branding secrets the pros keep to themselves so you can put branding to work in your business, large or small.
First, Mack destroys the myth that branding is your logo or your color palette. Then, he demonstrates how great branding works, so you won't waste your money on marketing that gets you nowhere. You'll learn a practical, commonsense approach to marketing that empowers you to develop your own brand with the same techniques and technologies the big players use—but without breaking the bank. In fact, the less you spend on marketing the more important these tools are to your success.
You'll discover tools to give you a competitive advantage as you strengthen the relationship between your customer and your products or services. Every encounter with your customer will deepen this bond, leading to even greater future sales. Great branding isn't just about the product you're selling now, but about maintaining the sales momentum into the product you'll be selling tomorrow. Think Two Products Ahead shows you how to align your business plan with your marketing plan, so you can keep customers indefinitely.
Using real examples from some of the most legendary (or disastrous) branding campaigns in history, Mack gives you an insider's perspective—and inside advice—on which tactics will float your brand and which will sink it. He sorts the bad advice from the good, letting you avoid those missteps that get good companies in bad trouble.
Branding isn't magic. Not since Jay Levinson's original Guerrilla Marketing book has an insider really spilled the beans and taught you how to use the professional grade tools that are so simple they work automatically. Think Two Products Ahead reveals inside secrets that make branding work for marketing budgets of any size—so you can grow your business faster and stronger than you imagined. When it comes to your brand, this insider's guide proves that if you aren't thinking two products ahead, you're hardly thinking at all.
From the Back Cover
"Mack will teach you how to turn every first sale into residual streams of income with products and services that literally compel a second, third, and fourth purchase. If you have a millionaire mind, you've just chosen to buy this book."
—T. Harv Eker, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
—T. Harv Eker, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
"Creating loyalty beyond reason and moving from irreplaceable to irresistible is job #1 for all marketers today. Mack's book will help you get there."
—Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide
"I call Mack whenever I have a question about branding and he makes everything clear and even easy and obvious. Think Two Products Ahead is like talking with Mack because every chapter gives you newfound clarity and you see how easy and profitable branding really should be."
—David Doyle, Vice President, Program Development, Discovery Channel's Animal Planet
"For a guy like me who used to absolutely, positively hate branding, this book is a revelation. Finally, a clear-cut confessional from someone who has actually worked in the deep carpets with the guys and guyettes in the designer suits. But Mack generously goes beyond the Wizard of Oz exposé (that takes down the scam Madison Avenue and its provincial cousins have been running on businesses for years) and tells you what's good about branding, and how you can cash in on it for your business. I mean exactly, step by step. If you are in business and you have anything to do with marketing, you need this book."
—David Garfinkel, author of Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By D. Osso
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you've never tried to sell anything then this book is a must read. In a nut shell, the message is to think beyond and deeper than your product or your ego. The point that is continuously made is that your product is more than it may seem. What it is, what it does, its benefits, how its packaged, how you sell it, the words you use to sell it, its color etc etc, all play a part in how successful your marketing effort will be. In short think deep and multi layered.
28 of 36 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally a book about branding that an average business owner can use from the mouth of a branding and ad agency insider
January 21, 2007
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Think two products ahead is a powerful book, it will completely change your view of what branding is, how it works and whether or not you should do it.
You probably fall into one of five categories:
1. Branding is a waste of money
2. My company is too small to worry about branding
3. Branding is difficult and requires specialized attention from ad agencies
4. You are a direct marketer who lives by the idea that branding should NEVER be done in conjuction with direct marketing.
5. You have a feeling that you should be directing your brand but are not quite sure how.
And, if you've had any of those thoughts you need to read this book. Mack reveals the truth about big ad agencies and their "proprietary" branding strategies (and he should know, he worked on some of the biggest brands in the world, Cingular, Yomega Yo-Yos, and dozens more).
The book makes a very powerful point, your brand is not your logo or your colors or your tag lines, Ben calls those brand accessories. Your brand is actually something very palpable in the mind of your customers, it is the associations and attachments that they have with the experience you provide them, it is real in the way that they interpret it . . . and they'll interpret it however they want if you don't take control. Branding isn't about trying to get millions of people to remember your name or recognize your logo by the effective matching of pantone colors in an ad, it is getting people to have an experience that they'll remember, that they'll talk about through a conversation and words you'll control. Brands are influential and persuasive to the extent that you can control the experience of the person interacting with you and your company. Tell them what to say about you and how to say it and they will. Leave them to their own devices and they'll simply say whatever comes to mind or forget about you all together.
Think Two Products Ahead walks you through the process of creating your own legend platform, the basis from which you story is told and grows. The legend platform is crucial to the success of your brand, it is the base of the pyramid from which the rest of the structure of your messaging will be built and seen.
What I love about this book is the methodical approach, the way Ben sets up, draws you through and then systematically reveals what your legend, your brand really is. And he shows you how to make your brand know regardless of the size of your company or marketing budget.
This is a must read marketing book and I'm confident destined to become an entrepreneurial classic.
You probably fall into one of five categories:
1. Branding is a waste of money
2. My company is too small to worry about branding
3. Branding is difficult and requires specialized attention from ad agencies
4. You are a direct marketer who lives by the idea that branding should NEVER be done in conjuction with direct marketing.
5. You have a feeling that you should be directing your brand but are not quite sure how.
And, if you've had any of those thoughts you need to read this book. Mack reveals the truth about big ad agencies and their "proprietary" branding strategies (and he should know, he worked on some of the biggest brands in the world, Cingular, Yomega Yo-Yos, and dozens more).
The book makes a very powerful point, your brand is not your logo or your colors or your tag lines, Ben calls those brand accessories. Your brand is actually something very palpable in the mind of your customers, it is the associations and attachments that they have with the experience you provide them, it is real in the way that they interpret it . . . and they'll interpret it however they want if you don't take control. Branding isn't about trying to get millions of people to remember your name or recognize your logo by the effective matching of pantone colors in an ad, it is getting people to have an experience that they'll remember, that they'll talk about through a conversation and words you'll control. Brands are influential and persuasive to the extent that you can control the experience of the person interacting with you and your company. Tell them what to say about you and how to say it and they will. Leave them to their own devices and they'll simply say whatever comes to mind or forget about you all together.
Think Two Products Ahead walks you through the process of creating your own legend platform, the basis from which you story is told and grows. The legend platform is crucial to the success of your brand, it is the base of the pyramid from which the rest of the structure of your messaging will be built and seen.
What I love about this book is the methodical approach, the way Ben sets up, draws you through and then systematically reveals what your legend, your brand really is. And he shows you how to make your brand know regardless of the size of your company or marketing budget.
This is a must read marketing book and I'm confident destined to become an entrepreneurial classic.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Chris
Format:Hardcover
The book is interesting enough. Nothing new. The main reason for the low rating is the terrible website that is mentioned throughout the book as offering additional resources.
To look at the web site, you have to give your email address, then they send you a link to a video that you could have gotten on You Tube without needing to give personal information.
Next, you have to give your Amazon receipt information - did that too, and it takes me to yet another page requiring my email and name. I signed up - and this time it takes me to a page saying there has been multiple sign ups from my computer - go figure - and that I might be an automated robot, so please fill in the code number from the image. Did that, and it takes me to a payment page - my "FREE" gift is now on special - only $47... What a bargain. Obviously this "marketing genius" misread his dictionary about the meaning of "free".
This book and website are a waste of time. There are much better books covering the same topic. Don't waste your money on this one.
To look at the web site, you have to give your email address, then they send you a link to a video that you could have gotten on You Tube without needing to give personal information.
Next, you have to give your Amazon receipt information - did that too, and it takes me to yet another page requiring my email and name. I signed up - and this time it takes me to a page saying there has been multiple sign ups from my computer - go figure - and that I might be an automated robot, so please fill in the code number from the image. Did that, and it takes me to a payment page - my "FREE" gift is now on special - only $47... What a bargain. Obviously this "marketing genius" misread his dictionary about the meaning of "free".
This book and website are a waste of time. There are much better books covering the same topic. Don't waste your money on this one.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Think Two Products Ahead
I have only skimmed the book at this point and have not read it thoroughly yet. However, what I did skim is really exciting because Ben set it up like a workbook and you need to... Read more
Published on June 1, 2009 by Simone Hardy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Intro to marketing
There's a fair amount of interesting, fundamental marketing information in here.
Unfortunately, the entire book reads like ad copy. Read more
Unfortunately, the entire book reads like ad copy. Read more
Published on May 21, 2009 by Voracious Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Legend Platform alone is worth the small price of the book...
Ben Mack writes in a style that is conversational and it does a good job of conveying his branding message to the reader. Read more
Published on March 25, 2009 by Rob Northrup
5.0 out of 5 stars
How to write a marketing plan... simplified
Bens book will help you write your plan just as it should be done. It is almost the cookie cuter recipe for your success, just fill in the blanks and do the work. Read more
Published on March 13, 2009 by Scott S, Bell
2.0 out of 5 stars
Marketing book
This is a book about marketing, someone online suggested I buy it. I did, but never read it.
Published on January 11, 2009 by Edward Fan
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love this book
I truly love this book. It gives a great overview of marketing and advertising that you can use to effectively craft your own marketing materials and efforts. Read more
Published on October 21, 2008 by Steven Chambers
5.0 out of 5 stars
Think Two Products Ahead
Think Two Products Ahead came to me at just the right time, as I was beginning plans on a product launch. Dr. Read more
Published on August 8, 2008 by Lynette Patterson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brand Essence chutzpah from Ben Mack
There are some good things in here. I like Ben Mack's ideas on his Legend Platform, the idea of "Customer as Hero," and his definition of waht he calls "Brand Essence. Read more
Published on July 2, 2008 by Andy Orrock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't...
With Think Two Products Ahead, Ben Mack offers a professional's point of view for positioning your product or service in the minds and hearts of your consumers. Read more
Published on March 24, 2008 by Michael Roth
5.0 out of 5 stars
So helpful
I know more about marketing having read this book then I could have learned in any number of courses. By the way anyone in the people business can benefit from this insight. Read more
Published on February 24, 2008 by C. Moody
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