Synopses & Reviews
Praise for What Great Brands Do"With her finger on the pulse of today's competitive business landscape, Denise Lee Yohn knows more than most how to create, sustain, and leverage a great brand. Her writing style coaches readers in a warm and conversational way as she offers up-to-the-minute advice, inspiring examples of organizations that have done it right, and cautionary tales of some who haven't. If you care about building your brand to grow your business, you can't afford not to read What Great Brands Do by Denise Lee Yohn."
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor, The One Minute Manager and TrustWorks!
"Every leader—from CEOs and CMOs to start-up entrepreneurs—will find Denise's seven brand-building principles inspirational and immediately useful. I wish Denise had written What Great Brands Do five years earlier—I would have made it required reading for all P&G brand builders!"
—Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer, P&G, and author, Grow
"The Internet has resulted in an explosion of options for consumers, and never before have brands and branding been more vital to the future of a commercial enterprise. Denise Lee Yohn has bottled the elixir of brands and the magic behind brands in this book."
—Om Malik, founder, GigaOM
"Denise Lee Yohn beautifully highlights some of the most beloved brands and how they've separated themselves from the rest by creating an emotional connection between the organization and its stakeholders. When employees, vendors, customers, and the community feel like a part of the brand, that's when the magic happens."
—Kip Tindell, chairman and CEO, the Container Store
"The seven brand-building principles of What Great Brands Do represent a provocative view of branding. You will look at brand building with new eyes."
—David Aaker, vice-chairman, Prophet, and author, Brand Relevance
"Chock full of astute insights, compelling case studies, and practical tools, What Great Brands Do demystifies the brand-building process and shows business leaders how to revitalize and strengthen their brands."
—John Gerzema, executive chairman, BAV Consulting, and coauthor, New York Times bestseller The Athena Doctrine and The Brand Bubble
Review
Yohn, a branding consultant and speaker, with an all-star client list that includes Sony, Frito-Lay, and Burger King, knows exactly what it takes to raise a brand to the top and keep it there. Here she shares techniques that can elevate a brand to icon status. She explores how a great company can avoid obsolescence by using its brand as a management tool to fuel, align, and guide its people and initiatives. The eponymous seven brand-building principles are each given a chapter: start with a brand-building corporate culture; ignore trends; don't chase customers; commit and stay committed; and avoid selling products. Yohn's exercises, tools, and action steps will help elevate the conversation and undoubtedly enhance any company’s focus on branding. In addition to case studies that feature Google, Trader Joe's, IBM, and Shake Shack, Yohn provides her most valuable recommendations in her "Brand as Business" chapter, which ties together the seven principles and shows how to integrate them to produce growth and brand strength. Yohn's book is helpful reading for executives and managers at all levels, and it will guide the next generation of great brands. (Jan.) (Publishers Weekly, December 2013)
Synopsis
What Great Brands Do shows how companies as diverse as IBM, REI, Starbucks, Lululemon, and more have all used their exceptional brand platforms as management tools to fuel, align, and guide every task they undertake—and have achieved higher-than-average profit margins as a result. What do these great brands have in common?
What Great Brands Do shows how these firms rely on a brand-as-business management approach to grow and succeed in tough economic climates, regardless of the size of their marketing budgets. What Great Brands Do distills their approach into seven guiding principles and accompanying best practices to provide a thoughtful and practical methodology for putting a company’s brand in the driver’s seat of the organization. The seven principles are:
- Great brands start inside
- Great brands avoid selling products
- Great brands ignore trends
- Great brands don’t chase customers
- Great brands sweat the small stuff
- Great brands commit and stay committed
- Great brands never need to “give back”
Research suggests that only a small portion of companies practice brand-building the way great brands do—a recent survey of marketing executives revealed that 64 percent feel that their brands do not influence decisions made at their companies. Nearly two-thirds of companies are pouring millions of dollars into marketing and advertising without aligning their business strategies with the brand values and attributes they’re communicating. As a result, the full business value of those brands is going unrealized.
What Great Brands Do intends to change the ways readers think about and work with brand-building, and the book is essential reading for any business leader who wants to ensure that current brand activities help lay the foundation for continued growth.
Synopsis
How great organizations put their company's brand front and centerResearch suggests that only a small portion of companies practice brand-building the way great brands do. What Great Brands Do reveals how exceptional firms rely on a brand-as-business management approach in order to grow and succeed in tough economic climates, regardless of the size of their marketing budgets. This must-have guide distills their approach into seven guiding principles and best practices to provide a thoughtful and practical methodology for putting a company's brand in the driver's seat of the organization.
What Great Brands Do shows how a diverse group of great companies have all used their exceptional brand platforms as management tools to fuel, align, and get guide every task they undertake—and have achieved higher-than-average profit margins as a results. This vital guide outlines the seven great brands' principles: Great brands start inside; Great brands avoid selling products; Great brands ignore trends; Great brands don't chase customers; Great brands sweat the small stuff; Great brands commit and stay committed; and Great brands never need to "give back."
- Offers seven principles and practices that any company can adopt to build a successful brand
- Includes real-world examples from such high-profile companies as IBM, REI, Starbucks, and Lululemon
- Written by Denise Lee Yohn, an acclaimed brand-as-business consultant, whose client include Frito-Lay, VF Corporation (including Nautica brand), New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc., Brookstone, Asics, Jamba Juice, Jack in the Box, and more
What Great Brands Do will change the way you think about and work with brand-building, it is essential reading for any business leader who wants to ensure that current brand activities help lay the foundation for continued growth.
Synopsis
Discover proven strategies for building powerful, world-class brandsIt's tempting to believe that brands like Apple, Nike, and Zappos achieved their iconic statuses because of serendipity, an unattainable magic formula, or even the genius of a single visionary leader. However, these companies all adopted specific approaches and principles that transformed their ordinary brands into industry leaders. In other words, great brands can be built—and Denise Lee Yohn knows exactly how to do it. Delivering a fresh perspective, Yohn's What Great Brands Do teaches an innovative brand-as-business strategy that enhances brand identity while boosting profit margins, improving company culture, and creating stronger stakeholder relationships. Drawing from twenty-five years of consulting work with such top brands as Frito-Lay, Sony, Nautica, and Burger King, Yohn explains key principles of her brand-as-business strategy.
- Reveals the seven key principles that the world's best brands consistently implement
- Presents case studies that explore the brand building successes and failures of companies of all sizes including IBM, Lululemon, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and other remarkable brands
- Provides tools and strategies that organizations can start using right away
Filled with targeted guidance for CEOs, COOs, entrepreneurs, and other organization leaders, What Great Brands Do is an essential blueprint for launching any brand to meteoric heights.
Synopsis
Spotting an exceptional brand is easy, but building an exceptional brand is one of the most overwhelming and elusive challenges organizations face. Many business leaders mistakenly believe that brand-building superstars like Apple, Lululemon, Zappos, and Nike achieved their successes as a result of good timing, years of experimentation, or just plain luck. Denise Lee Yohn knows the truth: these companies employed specific techniques that elevated brand building from a niche marketing function to the core driver of their business, turning them into industry icons.
In What Great Brands Do, Yohn sheds light on these proven techniques and identifies the seven key principles that the world's top brands consistently live out. Yohn reveals how:
- Great brands start inside
- Great brands avoid selling products
- Great brands ignore trends
- Great brands don't chase customers
- Great brands sweat the small stuff
- Great brands commit and stay committed
- Great brands never have to "give back"
Demystifying the brand-building process, What Great Brands Do lays out clear steps for implementing each of these principles. These philosophies contribute to Yohn's innovative brand-as-business approach, which puts the brand at the heart of every company decision and fuels faster growth, increased profit margins, stronger corporate cultures, and superior stakeholder relationships. Examining how this approach operates in the real world, What Great Brands Do features case studies that analyze the brand-building successes and failures of companies including Google, Trader Joe's, IBM, Patagonia, Shake Shack, and many others.
A vital resource for CEOs, COOs, entrepreneurs, and other leaders, What Great Brands Do paves a clear and accessible road to building a world-class brand.
About the Author
Denise Lee Yohn is an in-demand consultant and speaker with more than twenty-five years of experience helping organizations take their brands to new heights. She developed her innovative brand-building philosophy while working with such companies as Burger King, Frito-Lay, Land Rover, and Sony. An influential writer and speaker, Yohn has contributed to outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Harvard Business Review, and her powerful speeches regularly inspire business leaders around the country.
To learn more, please visit www.deniseleeyohn.com
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 Great Brands Start Inside 19
2 Great Brands Avoid Selling Products 47
3 Great Brands Ignore Trends 71
4 Great Brands Don’t Chase Customers 99
5 Great Brands Sweat the Small Stuff 125
6 Great Brands Commit and Stay Committed 155
7 Great Brands Never Have to “Give Back” 183
8 The Eighth Principle: Brand as Business 209
Notes 221
Acknowledgments 239
About the Author 241
Index 243