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Brandscendence

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Book Review -- Three Essential Elements of Enduring Brands

Brandscendence

Brandscendence – Three Essential Elements of Enduring Brands – Kevin A. Clark; Dearborn Trade, a Kaplan Professional Company, 30 South Wacker Drive Ste 2500, Chicago, Ill 60606, 312-836-4400; www.dearborntrade.com; ISBN 0793183030; Sept, 2004; 272 pages, $23


Reviewed by: G.A. “Andy” Marken III, Marken Communications Inc,
408-390-0002, andy@markencom.com


The importance of branding has its cycles just like everything in business. Kevin Clark, one of the long-time proponents of branding and currently the program director for IBM’s PC devices, has seemingly gone where no man (or woman) has gone before. He has brought together every school of thought on the subject, mixed the ingredients and served up the new recipe for us to enjoy and digest.

He started by making up a totally new word on the subject – Brandscence – which probably means brand essence or the essence of a brand. But in his explanation of what drove him to write the book, Brandscence is about brands that endure.

The importance and value of a brand is examined every year by BusinessWeek when the editors rank the top 100 brands and highlight the rise or fall of a specific company brand in overall ratings. As with a number of other books on the subject, Clark’s efforts looks at how brands can follow trends and retain their relevance in the increasingly crowded marketplace.

The new guidelines that Brandscence brings to the table is that Clark builds his concept around three elements (hence the subtitle):
 Relevance – the organization’s or product’s enduring relevance to the customer
 Context – the context in which the brand must adapt to cultural shifts or changing economic needs of the customers over time
 Mutual benefit – customer relationships that result from stakeholders’ perceived mutual benefit, which create goodwill to nurture future interactions

While we think there is a lot of good information and insight in Clark’s writings, we have a problem with someone being a brand steward at a brand name – IBM – who starts the whole subject by adding a new (and difficult to say/remember) word to business language. In his effort to forge new ground he often obfuscates the reader with theories and metaphors that are confusing and intriguing.
Don’t get us wrong, Clark has done an excellent job of reviewing the past of branding and works hard at making the subject clear, concise and relevant for individuals, companies, institutions and governments. But at times his efforts to simplify the subject so that they apply to anything and everything we feel he makes the subject difficult to understand and apply universally.

There were times in reading his book that he had become immersed in and enamored with a concept that IBM helped develop in the data management industry called meta-data – data about data. Perhaps in our instant access, instant gratification global environment this is worthwhile because much has been written on branding. His book gives the reader an interesting look at all of the varying branding pets and shows how there are key themes that run through many of the approaches that have stood the test of time. These approaches provide a roadmap for businesses and individuals to plan their company, product and personal branding program for the future.

Clark does make a number of points that should be of assistance to us all. First is that brand is not something that can be defined once and put on the shelf. He points out that time, circumstance and individual interpretation cause a brand to be in a constant state of flux. As a result it must be constantly monitored, measured, modified and protected.

Clark incorporates a number of excellent examples in his book. He also includes a number of personal and professional experience insights which helps the reader understand how he arrived at his recommendations and guidelines. It is obvious from reading his book that Clark understands the field. He not only has studied it and put it in practice but he is also very willing to share what he has learned and his ideas with others.

While we found Brandscence interesting, we don’t believe that the book represents the Alpha – Omega of branding. However, if you are only going to read one book on this important subject then Clark’s meta-branding book is probably the best to read. It’s also a good book for your boss to read so he or she will know why you focus so much attention on your organization’s brand image.

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