The Brand Book: An insider’s guide to brand building for businesses and organizations

The market is deluged with books on branding, but very few demonstrate, step by careful step, how to build a brand. How do you grow a kernel of an (business) idea into something with which thousands upon thousands of consumers will identify and form a relationship? No, actually, how do you even come up with a good idea in the first place?That is not easy to answer, and Daryl Fielding shows you how to do exactly that.She starts with a whirlwind tour of contemporary branding frameworks, and gets right to the point. They're all great; except, they miss a crucial element. Cultural relevance. And this is where the book truly stands apart and shines.She provides a beguilingly simple framework called Brand Levers, made of customer insight, cultural relevance, differentiation and right to win. They're brought together by the brand theme. Don't be daunted: they're quite easy to understand. I won't dwell on explaining them.She then transposes two brands, Dove and Vodafone, and shows the brand story would fit into the four areas. I recommend that you deconstruct your favourite brands along these lines and see how they work. Once you see it, you can never not see it. Something just satisfyingly clicks.Just for kicks, I did Harley Davidson and it suddenly made sense to me why they got into such hot water for being perceived as "going woke".There's much, much more to the book. She writes expertly on client research and provides several useful templated tables to work with towards the end of the book. She cuts through the corporate hogwash around "unique selling points" and gives hardboiled advice.But the section on brand levers (I think chapter 4) alone is worth the price of the book. I put the Brand Book right next to my copy of Eugene Schwartz's "Breakthrough Advertising" - the book the made me finally understand copywriting and pays for my livelihood. Buy it without second thoughts.I do have one huge gripe though! The book deserves to be put within hard covers. Especially the illustrations. They need to be printed on thick, glossy paper. The great quality of the content is only undermined slightly by the softback presentation. Maybe for the next edition!

One of the best books written on brand development, from a renowned industry expert. Darryl covers all the key stages of brand development, equipping you with not just the theory but also examples and practical tools to get the job done. The book is really engaged to read, with lots of colour photographs and examples and gives you valuable behind-the-scenes examples on brands she helped develop, like Dove.

Written by someone who has not only talked the talk but also walked the walk, makes this book that much more interesting and relevant. Outlining not just want needs to be done, but varying strategies on how to get there, establishes this as a proper brand and branding handbook. The name says it all!!

This book would be invaluable to many businesses big or small. I loved the tone , down to earth, amusing, grounded in real believable experience . An excellent practical useable framework for any business to work on branding. I read it quickly and completely, not always the case!

Written without pretension or jargon. Easy to absorb.

This is the best marketing book I've read in a long time. Pragmatic and inspirational in equal measure with clear step by step instructions that are as useful for CMOs of large corps as much as small businesses. Also a hilarious read that keeps you reading for more.