 The Prolific Wisdom community of Harvard alumni reviewed Kartikeya Kompella's new book, The Brand Challenge which is a compilation of thought-leaders' wisdom on branding. Here's our rating, review and FIRE Summary of his book. Rating Highly recommended reading, 5 out of 5 stars Review Kartikeya, the Editor, did a great job of pulling together wisdom from some of the world's experts on branding. The Brand Challenge has broad appeal and is a compilation of essays covering various aspects of branding from some unusual perspectives. Its not just for brand managers but is for anybody interested in business strategy. The book is well written with many practical examples and gives a good overview of branding. Topics include branding focus, identity, innovation, luxury branding, retail, B2B, managing media, non-profits, fashion, the branding of cities, technology, and football clubs! The luxury chapter was particularly enlightening. The first half of the book was particularly strong. The chapter on hotels branding was well-researched and referenced but a little dull. We recommend this book to anyone looking to understand branding both at a high level as well as very specifically in industries ranging from luxury goods and financial services to not-for-profits and technology. Here's the top things we learned from the book... FIRE SUMMARY (Facts, Ideas, Resources, Expression) FACTS The Battle For Your Mind - The biggest misconception in branding strategies is people tend to believe branding is about market share, but it is really about mind and emotion share. Respect & Love - Brands are still about respect and love. Brands are people, their values, a psyche. Top 2 Brands Dominate - A market is normally dominated by two main brands. 20% of brands attract 80% of profits. Branding Takes Time - Branding takes time! Its about building the signals to generate associations. Its how the story gets told. You Can't Hide Any More - Consumers share more, more instantaneously. They'e more empowered than ever and brands MUST be faster to listen to them and adapt. There's incredible transparency now. You cannot hide. Go Local First - In most of the cases, brands are developed locally before being taken globally. It gives them some heritage, and helps them prove themselves out. Create Clubs - The Economist makes readers feel like they are part of an elite club yet anyone can join. NY Times also continues to do well as a powerful media brand people are willing to pay for. They are strong leading brands. Use A Visual Hammer - The leaning tower of Pisa sees a hundred times moire visitors than the Panthenon in Rome because the message is simple. Its a leaning tower. Its simple to tell someone about the tower. "Focus on a single visual and then use it to hammer your word into your consumers' minds." Marketeers Are More Technical - Gartner predicted that by 2017 CMOs will spend more on IT than CIOs. IDEAS If They Go Right, You Go Left - If you are not the market leader, be the opposite (Redbull vs Monster, iOS vs Android). Become Known For Something, Or You Won't Be Known For Anything - Brand focus: Before, brand managers were using USP (unique selling points) to position the brand by analysing competitors and identifying holes. Now, it is known to be better to focus a brand, be narrow, and then expand it. The brand has to address what the customers have in their mind. Examples of brand focus are Volvo with safety and BMW with driving experience. - Narrow your focus. i.e. Saburu narrowed to 4 wheel drive only vehicles and reversed their downward slide in the USA. Trademarks Are Identity Beacons - Great trademarks are the tips of great identity icebergs. They were distinctive when conceived, continue to make sense and expert guardians have carefully managed their use over time. Think About All The Senses - Think about all the senses when considering brand. i.e. smell is more recognizable over the long term than visuals. Brands Make Life Better - Brands are a reflection of customers uniquely shared value. Brands capture an irresistible idea, and make life better. i.e. Nike swoosh is about confidence. Stand For Something - Brands have the power to change the world, not just to sell products and make profits. Some Will Love It, Some Will Hate It. That's OK - Innovating the brand purpose - What will your brand enable people to do? Be prepared to alienate some people. Some people will love your brand, and others will hate it. Luxury Is Incomparable - The goal of luxury is to create incomparability. Fashion is distinct, and not luxury. - Luxury brands avoid simple feature-benefits against pricing. Its more about the art and indulgence, and culture. Its based on implied superiority and does not even acknowledge competition. - Luxury is built on incomparability and timelessness. Fashion Is Fleeting - Fashion is fleeting, and not necessarily expensive, Quality is less of an imperative. Once the fashion is over, its deep discounted. PR Rules! - Al Ries. "Companies should launch new brands with PR, not advertising." RESOURCES Red Bull - See the amazing Red Bull Media House (http://www.redbullmediahouse.com/) which runs the Red Bulletin (http://www.redbulletin.com). Its a great example of a brand using media to drive their position, and its actually its own profit center now! Brands Working For Good - See the new B Corporation for a new kind of corp that focuses on principles over profit. Crazy Bank - Find inspiration in Umpqua bank from Oregon. e.g. they allow people to sit down and have a coffee and then the teller comes to them. - They also have book clubs and 'business therapy sessions.' They host local bands on Friday nights! Their experimental bank has a bowling alley. They aim to be interesting when most banks are boring. HSN Is Good For Establishing Brand Stories - Home Shopping Network and QVC TV networks are good places to display goods and start 'telling stories' to bring meaning to them, especially for fashion goods. Consider Facets of Brand Equity - Aaker's dimensions of brand equity. Awareness, Image, Perceived Quality and Loyalty Book: Branding Examples - Allen Adamson - The Edge: 50 tips from brands that lead. EXPRESSION How Does It Help People to Do Better? - Describe how your brand enables people to do better. Rationally - What does it enable customers to do? Comparatively - Why does it enable them to do it better? Emotionally - How do people feel about the brand as a result? Connect these three to your purpose for your brand and articulate it in a memorable way! Don't Interrupt! Tell Stories - Interruption advertising is dead. Now you have to have brand resonance by telling stories that are relevant and timely to engage people during and beyond their purchase point and drive advocacy! Be Careful With Brand Extensions - Before extending your brand, carefully consider the brand and innovation journey, the sequence of which can ensure success or failure. Evaluate - What do you do better than anyone else and deliver value and impact. Define your unique leadership position and set out your promise. Do an internal valuation. What do you do you do best now and what can you do best in the future? Do an external valuation. How are you different from competitors? What space could you own? Then consider your core constituent understanding. What do key audiences and stakeholders value? Review Contributors Mark Brooks (PLD 2014) - CEO, Courtland Brooks Boris Tsimerinov (PLD 2013) - VP, CCC Investment Banking Andre Lamontagne (PLD 2014) - Research Manager, Servomex Hena Rana (PLD 2014) - Operations Manager, Beca
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The Prolific Wisdom community of Harvard alumni reviewed Mike Smith's new book, Targeted, about the rapid rise of online advertising. Here's our rating, review and FIRE Summary of his book. Also see Prolific Wisdom video interview with Mike Smith.
RATING Recommended reading. (4 out of 5 stars) REVIEW Targeted provides a clear overview of the digital advertising landscape. This space is booming, but due to its scale and multitude of participants it's often confusing for someone outside of this industry. The book is engaging and well written. It gives a very good overview of the evolution of digital advertising, the rise of Real Time Bidding, retargeting and display advertising as well as outlines key trends likely to impact digital advertising in the near future. Targeted makes readers realize just how much personal information we provide without knowing how, why and who will be using it. We agree to terms and conditions without reading the contract. This book is a little slow to start, but once it gets going, it relates a mix of stories from the author's experience and the pace picks up to make Targeted an enjoyable read. For a newbie to online marketing, the book isn't too heavy or too laden with the industry jargon. We enjoyed the author's style throughout and his use of valuable statistics in several of the chapters. FIRE SUMMARY (Facts, Ideas, Resources, Expression) FACTS 25% of ad dollars go to digital advertising ($40B a year) One of every four ad dollars spent is for digital advertising. TV is still the top ad category. In 2013, USA online advertising amounted to $42.8B and intermediary 'middle-men' account for over 60% of online ad dollars spent. Google dominates The search advertising industry generated $19.9B in sales in 2013. Google generated 70% of this revenue. Interestingly, Google conducted 67% of all searches done in the USA in Dec, ’13. Meanwhile, display ads sold $17.8 billion, which was 42% of total online ad spending. Real Time Bidding (RTB) works well In studies, RTB has been shown to get better Click Thru Rates (CTR), and double the ROI of Run of Network advertising. Digital ads $185B by 2017 Price Waterhouse Coopers predicts digital advertising will reach $185 billion worldwide in 2017. (eMarketer predicts $72 billion in the USA for 2017). Mobile to dominate eMarketer forecasts that by 2017 60% of US digital ad spending will be for mobile device ads. Mobile (apps) will dominate. There's one billion active smartphones worldwide now and this should reach two billion in the next three years. IDEAS Agencies behind the curve Online advertising became very complicated and fragmented which confused advertisers and grew beyond the resources of ad agencies, so new intermediaries have sprung up. Shifting media landscape Most obvious area for growth is in mobile and tablet advertising due to the growth of the usage of these platforms from a small base. Digital TV provides an intuitive opportunity, but the current infrastructure makes it harder to execute and leaves that a question mark. RTB, Adapt or die Results of ad buys can change quickly, so its best to learn and adapt quickly, so Real Time Bidding really helps optimize in the moment. Display + retargeting is better than search Retargeting can endow display advertising with the same intent quality as search advertising, yet display ads sell for less and are far more immersive and better for brand building than flat paid search ads. People spend 5% of their online time at search engines, and 95% elsewhere...in front of display ads. The future = display ads, video, mobile, RTB eMarketer predicts display advertising will grow 23.8% in 2014 vs 13.4% for search advertising. Digital video and mobile are growing faster but have smaller bases. By 2018 RTB display advertising should reach 30% ($12.5B) of online display ad spending vs 22% ($4.9B) for 2014. Display advertising will surpass search advertising in 2015. By 2018 display advertising should be $41B vs $32B for search. Over half of all online ad spends will be for display. RESOURCES Small niche networks Blogads, Deck Network, and Federated Media are smaller niche ad networks Big ad exchanges Ad exchanges use an auction system. Yahoo’s Right Media, Google’s DoubleClick and Microsoft’s AdECN are three of the biggest. Google and OpenX have large online display ad exchanges. DSPs and SSPs Demand Side Platforms (DSP’s) work with media buyers and agencies and to buy ad inventory and improve targeting. MediaMath, DataXu and Turn Inc. Supply Side Platforms a.k.a. yield optimization platforms help sellers get more for their ads by improving their technology for targeting. See Google’s Admeld, PubMatic, and The Rubicon Project. Behavioral data Data Aggregators/Providers are controversial because they share information and behavioral data about people. See BlueKai, eXelate, Nielsen, Intelius, and Spokeo. Ad research Moat is an analytics company for online display ads. They're developing new ways of measuring how ads change attitudes and actions, to help advertisers move beyond mere CTR measurement. EXPRESSION (What to do next) Beware of bots When buying advertising on CPM, ask how bot, crawler, and spider traffic is removed from your traffic count! RTB imperative Get your head around the top RTB ad exchanges. Seek out opportunities to use display RTB retargeted ads. Beware of RON Be careful with Run Of Network advertising. Your ads may be placed in inappropriate places for your brand. Privacy guard Be more careful about the information you give out. Be more mindful of the ads presented to you. Click on the wrong one, and they will follow you for a while. Be conscious that ads are targeted to your past behaviors. Move quickly, focus on behaviors and keep your eye on predictive analytics When buying ads focus on observable behaviors rather than pre-conceived notions and stereotypes. Look at engagement first. Don't use static campaigns. Look at results and adjust your audience quickly. It will be interesting to see how predictive analytics develop to boost ad results. Review Contributors Mark Brooks (PLD 2014) - CEO, Courtland Brooks Boris Tsimerinov (PLD 2013) - VP, CCC Investment Banking Georges Selvais (MBA 1975) - MD / Co-founder, Catalyst Quality Andre Lamontagne (PLD 2014) - Research Manager, Servomex Katherine Montero (Mgmt 2009) - Director, Global Deeds Foundation Vikram Banerjee (PLD 2014) - Head of Consultancy, Footdown Hena Rana (PLD 2014) - Operations Manager, Beca |
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