Book Review
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A New Brand World: Ten Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the Twenty-first Century Bedbury, Scott and Fenichell, Stephen, Viking Penguin, February 2002. Speaking about the inside story of the top brands with sharp commentary and analysis, this book imparts valuable lessons about how to build and manage strong brands. By “just doing it” to Nike and by teaching the Starbucks to think outside the cup, the authors redefine the customer-brand relationship informed by customer insights that were missed by everyone else and that more established companies are now just catching up to. They tell us about cracking the brand’s genetic code, showing some emotion in the brand, focusing on brand environmentalism, brand leadership, brand future and highlighting the linkage between branding and corporate goal. As a collection of great stories, this book is all about creating the greatest story of all - a “brand story” that is true and compelling and that persists. It preaches that great brands are about who we are - how we communicate our essence, our character and ourselves. Eveolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women Popcorn, Faith and Marigold, Lys, Hyperion Press, June 2001 Women shop differently from men. And this book believes that markets that have mastered that concept will thrive in the New Economy. Faith popcorn, regarded as “the Nostradamus of marketing” by Fortune magazine, now turns her incredible acumen to one of the most important segments in marketing; the female consumer. Today, women make 80% of all purchasing decisions. In this book, the author shows that one cannot succeed in business or successfully start one without understanding how to market to women. Whether you make corn flakes or concrete, pillows or pixels, she reveals why women must be your chief target. Every day we read about a new scientific study that confirms the physiological difference between the sexes: how women’s brains are different: how they see, hear, acquire and use language differently. What this book tells us is how these differences manifest themselves in the market place. Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to profitable decision making Nagle T. Thomas, Holden, Reed K., Prentice Hall PTR, January 2002 This one is a comprehensive and managerially focused guide to formulating pricing strategy. Practical in focus and lively in style, this volume explains ideas and concepts that are essential to integrate pricing successfully into marketing strategy and that should be a part of every marketer’s repertoire. As a practical guideline loaded with topical examples, this book shows how sound analysis could have prevented some well-known pricing failures and, in other cases, has pointed the way to profitable successes. The authors here offer a conceptual approach that helps readers learn how to “think” about pricing, and include step-by-step formulae and procedures that show readers “how” to analyze a pricing problem and formulate a pricing strategy. A sampling of topics includes advice on how to understand how costs affect your pricing and profits, integrates costs with market-based pricing, integrate the elements of profitability, capture full value through price segmentation, adapt strategy in changing lifecycle environment, develop models to aid in anticipating purchase behaviour and determine the constraints on profit maximization. Rule the Freakin’ Markets: How to profit in any market Bull or Bear, Parness, Michael, St. Martin’s Press, Inc, March 2002 The author, a former victim of Wall Street’s whims who lost his life savings in a bad investment and then came back to amass a $7 million fortune, offers sound advice on how to take advantage of market fluctuations and trends. One should not be interested in making long-term investments, he suggests. In his view, companies do not care about one – they only want one’s money – so why should one be loyal to their stock, thereby tying up your capital for years. Instead, why not be a perpetually active trader, constantly exploiting the market to obtain a faster return? This book dissects the broad psychology of the market and reveals effective methods of responding to fluctuations. Though he acknowledges that nobody can accurately predict which way a particular stock is going to go, he reveals the trends that provide some fodder for predictions if one can master the underlying psychology, one can profit in the market – even when it is in a bearish phase.