“Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind”

The quote above by Walter Landor best summarizes what  “The Consumer Mind” is about: building strong brands that become part of our daily rituals by implementing the latest advances in neuromarketing.

The book published by Kogan Page  uses a blend of theory and real world examples to illustrate how the latest developments in neuroscience could benefit the work of marketing practitioners worldwide.

Pepe Martinez is the Managing Director of Millward Brown Iberia, a global research agency specialized in advertising, marketing communication and brand equity research.

He holds a degree in Psychology from the Complutense University, Madrid (UCM) and has been working in marketing research for nearly 30 years.

As a marketer who advocates for meaningful brand positioning and differentiation, I’am always interested to learn more about how the human mind works. The emotional connection the brand establishes with its users is crucial in the decision making process and key to generating customer loyalty.

This 200 page book is based on over 2 million interviews in 30 countries. The extensive research confirms that brands are built on credibility and effective communication.

According to the author:

“Brand have to be coherent and genuine to be credible. There has to be a relationship between what they think (their values), the emotions they convey and create (what they feel), what they say (their communications) and the actions they carry out (what they do).

A brand’s credibility is essential to attracting customers and earning their loyalty.”

When it comes to slogan development, research show that:

“When creating an advertising slogan or choosing a good claim for the brand, two important aspects must be taken into account: it should be a short, impressive and sonorous (catchy) phrase-this way it will be easy to remember and reproduce (Nike: “Just Do It”); and it should be relevant to consumers, ie it connects with their needs, emotions, desires and expectations (Nokia:”Connecting people)”"

Chapter 14 “Brands, Communications and the Mind” was of particular interest to me, as it presents the recipe for strong brands:

Connecting with consumer’s minds

Looking after the product to the greatest extent possible

Communicating well

Protecting the brand

The key to successful brand building is uncovering your target audience expressed and implied needs and wants, and understanding how the decision making process as it relates to your category.

A communication message that combines rational and emotional benefits is works best to communicate the brand benefit.

Who is this book for? Brand managers and marketers involved in brand building initiatives. Communication professionals who want to improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. And those passionate about how human mind works.

Brand Together by Nicholas Ind, Clare Fuller and Charles Trevail

There is a new word that has become part of the Brand Management vocabulary: engagement. Gone are the days of one-way communication, when the consumer was bombarded with advertising messages. Brands that are successful today make the consumer part of the conversation, rather than its intended target.

Companies are working to create a two-way connection with their customers, employees and shareholders.

“Brand Together”, published in 2012 by Kogan Page USA, is a step-by-step manual that shows marketers how to initiate and nurture this connection. The keyword used throughout its pages is “co-creation” between all the parties involved in the brand relationship with the noble purpose of generating inovation and growth.

The book is divided into two parts: “Thinking it” and “Doing it”.

“Thinking it” is about designing the perfect plan to identify and engage the future brand ambassadors.  The ingredients needed for true co-creation are participation, openness, empowering and organizational involvement.

According to the authors “co-creation suggests the interaction of individuals within a framework to evolve, re-define or invent something that is new“.

Once a plan has been crafted, the second part of the book, “Doing it”, illustrates the practical plan to implement a culture of collaboration with the purpose of energizing a brand. It all starts with establishing a connection with people, understand their profound feelings, principles and values and getting the most out of this relationship.

The book makes great use of practical example of brands that have used co-creation to become stronger and more relevant: Starbucks, [yellow tail], Mozilla, Kraft and Danone.

The “Brand together” book itself is a result of co-creation.

In writing the book the authors have gathered content from several sources: published material from a variety of fields such as branding, philosophy, psychology, art and literature, and the input of 20 managers from all over the world. The process was concluded with establishing a co-creation group consisting of 236 individuals who have provided content, ideas and suggestions.

The co-creation strategy is still a new and debatable topic. If you plan to use the input from your customers, employees and shareholders in your brand building process, this book makes for a very good read.

Discover this and other great marketing books by visiting the Books page.