The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Edward Lebar (Author)
Key Phrases: brand stature, energized brands, brand bubble, Energy Core, Energized Differentiation, Whole Foods (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How to use brands to gain and sustain competitive advantage
Read a Q&A with author John Gerzema [PDF].

Companies today face a dilemma in marketing. The tried-and-true formulas to create sales and market share behind brands are becoming irrelevant and losing traction with consumers. In this book, Gerzema and LeBar offer credible evidence--drawn from a detailed analysis of a decade's worth of brand and financial data using Y&R's Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), the largest database of brands in the world--that business is riding on yet another bubble that is ready to burst--a brand bubble. While most managers still see metrics like trust and awareness as the backbone of how brands are built, Gerzema asserts they're dead wrong--these metrics do not add to increased asset value. In fact, by following them, they actually hasten the declining value of their brands.

Using a five-stage model, The Brand Bubble reveals how today's successful brands--and tomorrow's--have an insatiable appetite for creativity and change. These brands offer consumers a palpable sense of movement and direction thanks to a powerful "energized differentiation." Gerzema reveals how brands with energized differentiation achieve better financial performance than traditional brands have. Plus, Gerzema helps readers develop energized differentiation in their own brands, creating consumer-centric and sustainable organizations.

From School Library Journal

These authors both hold senior positions at Young & Rubicam (Y&R), part of the largest ad agency holding company in the world, WPP Group. Their book sounds an alarm based on a gap in value between how consumers and investors perceive brands. The authors have a proprietary research tool that they use to measure value, and they've found that investors reward companies with greater brand awareness, even if consumers don't see much utility. The book presents recommendations on how to close the gap between consumer and company perceptions. Many other books present theories about branding. Al and Laura Ries's The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding offers a hands-on approach to branding, focusing on what works and not necessarily why, while Janelle Barlow and Paul Stewart's Branded Customer Service attacks the problem of branding from the view of the customer experience. David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler's Brand Leadership's more quantitative approach and academic perspective can be compared most closely to this new book. The Brand Bubble is appropriate for a business school or corporate library and will be useful to marketers as well as investors.—Stephen E. Turner, Turner Devaughn Network, Abington, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (October 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047018387X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470183878
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,753 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Agree with Viriya, July 9, 2009

By	Matthew R. Coakley (Monterey, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was pretty disappointed by this book. After all the hype, who would have thought that there was a review bubble! So, the first chapter or so is pretty decent. The case for a 'brand bubble' is presented effectively. After that, the book seemed to lose traction. The authors gave interesting examples, but the principles behind these examples seemed ambiguous as best. Most of the text consisted of platitudes and fluff. Also, it read like an extended advertisement for Young & Rubicam. Finally, the whole idea of 'energy' was unconvincing. If you're interested in brand management, you might want to check this book out of your local library. Otherwise, I'd skip it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Energize your brand - Increase your valuation!, May 26, 2009

By	Laurent Pacalin (Palo Alto, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Energy drives brands and successful brands drive valuation. This is what John Gerzema and Ed Lebar demonstrate in `The Brand Bubble". This book is a great addition to a subject that has been written about a lot. As the chief marketing officer of FICO, the company that enabled equal-opportunity lending through analytics, I particularly welcome the quantitative approach that they use to make their point, as well as, their thorough analysis of how the forces of social media affect brands. This is a great read for executive teams in search of a brand boost!

Laurent Pacalin
Chief Marketing Officer at FICO

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh and timely perspective., October 21, 2008

By	Gareth Kay "Gareth Kay" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Brand Bubble is an important book to understand how brands really need to behave to create value today. The 'old' rules are no longer working. Through smart quantitative analysis this book explains how brands can create value today through the creation of momentum and energy. Unlike many books on brand management, this offers fresh learning and true food for thought.