Brand Leadership – Solid Theories And Approach, But Not An Easy Read

My friend KF the Branding Consultant (not KF the Muscleman) passed me a book titled “Brand Leadership” to read. I have always enjoyed expanding my horizon whenever I can. Two reasons for that: (1) I’ll never know what I read or do may come in handy in my future (in another word, get prepared for the unknown unknown) and (2) I strongly believe in the “innovation intersection” where the best place to innovate is to put various different types of disciplines together (it helps me to get out the box).

Books on consulting ideas, theories, approach, and frameworks are not known as easy reads. I have yet to read a consulting book that is engaging. As a confession, I have not survived reading many of the consulting books that I have bought over the years. If not for this blog, I probably would not be finish “Brand Leadership” either. The previous non-fiction book I read was “Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation“. It is a total page turner full of exciting case studies, a great material for trainers and motivational speakers but not necessarily for the consultants. “Brand Leadership” has some great frameworks and I can imagine how a branding consultant is able to readily take them into the battlefield. I enjoyed reading the first 5 chapters, which is consistent with some of the other readers’ reviews I have seen. The author tends to get a bit long winded and the case studies become stale after numerous repetitions. And I love the leading questions that are listed in the last chapter as well when it comes to global brand planning (in the areas of brand strategy, brand-building programs, strategic analysis, and goals and measurement). Those are valuable to the branding consultants who may be new to this aspect of the business.

Essentially, the authors try to advocate the idea that branding strategy is not a one-off project. The organisation (i.e. leadership) has to embrace this constant change and be able to champion this brand planning effort. To constantly evaluate the customers, competitors, and own brand image, to constantly look into the brand strategy versus the brand portfolio, to constantly employ effective action plans to carry out the strategy, and to constantly evaluate the branding effectiveness. This requires a change in mindset especially when the brand has a global presence.

I can draw similarity between branding and the last piece of work I have done – balanced scorecard. The end result of balanced scorecard is a strategy map, a set of indicators, and the processes to sustain this system. Creating a balanced scorecard requires ground level contribution as well as ground level buy-in. Ultimately, it is a set of vision and mission and strategy that an organization can identify with. And if an organisation has a hierarchy of units, each unit may have its own scorecard that has to be harmonized and aligned to the parent unit. To me, it is like internal branding. Branding requires a good look at identity in the areas of brand as product, as organization, as person, and as symbol. There should be a value proposition (very much like vision and mission) and if there is a portfolio of brands (like the units within the organization), we need to look into the relationship and to create synergy. What follows would be action plans to realize the brand strategy, measurements, as well as a system in place to sustain. In fact, pretty much like many of the other management consulting tools out there.

If you want to learn more about branding, the first few chapters should get you started. If you are a branding consultant, there are couple of pages you will need to photocopy and have them pinned to the wall. One of the authors, David Aaker, is highly regarded in the domain of branding. I can certainly see why judging from some of the frameworks he proposed.

Branding is powerful. Large organizations are willing to pay big money to branding because it has a direct effect on the top line. Look around you, branding is everywhere.