relevant product or service is destinedto fail. As pointed out in the book, itis clearly important to understand one’scustomers and a brand’s relevance tothem. With this understanding, onecan begin to communicate with cus-tomers. Brands largely exist as percep-tions. One has to understand that abrand is really made up of a set ofexperiences and actions that customershave with it. As pointed out later inthe text, employees are a key aspect ofcreating these experiences throughtheir actions.

The author notes several histori-cal success stories, where understandingthe one thing a company is really goodat and sticking to it is paramount. AsBedbury says, ‘You have to understandyour brand’s DNA’. This understand-ing has to be combined with brandrelevancy and resonance. For the his-tory buffs, this chapter also contains abrief story of the development of the‘Just Do It’ campaign for Nike. Thisstory is a good illustration of under-standing and applying a brand’s DNA.

The next chapter discusses expand-ing the ‘brandwidth’. To illustrate thispoint, Bedbury tells the story ofexpanding the Starbucks brand toinclude United Airlines. Given Star-

There are certainly many books outthere about the rules or ‘how to’of branding. This book is differentfrom so many of the other books. Itis useful from two perspectives. Onthe more basic level, Bedbury listseight principles for building and main-taining brand leadership. He cites ex-amples from both Nike and Starbucks,two successful brands he has helped todevelop. The stories told by Bedburydo an excellent job of illustrating hispoint while making the book a veryinteresting read.

The reviewer’s company recentlylaunched a new business model and anew brand which he had the honour ofleading. He found this book after thecompany had launched the brand.Fortunately, the company got most ofit right, according to the book.Nevertheless, the book provides auseful thought-provoking tool as thebrand is taken forward.

A key thread throughout the bookis building and maintaining brandrelevance and resonance rather thanfocusing on brand awareness. One hasto start with the basis that the productor service has relevance to the endcustomer. This is a truth for everyone.A brand that does not represent a

424 � HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1479-1803 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 11, NO. 5, 424–426 MAY 2004

Book review

‘A New Brand World: 8 Principles forAchieving Brand Leadership in the21st Century’by Scott Bedbury with Stephen Fenichell (contributor)

Penguin Group; New York; 2002; ISBN 0 670 03076 7; 240pp; hardback; $24.95

guidance, the long view, uncom-promising values, products or servicesthat are relevant and compelling,profitability and time. Perhaps the mostimportant thought in this book is thatbrands are an outgrowth of the peoplewho drive the company. Whether onerealises it or not, brands become anexpression of one’s visions, hopes andactions. Unfortunately, an understatedportion of this book concerns theimpact of employees and leaders on abrand. The book does a nice job ofdescribing the value an advertisingagency can have for a brand, but couldhave done more to address the impactof employees on a brand.

Chapter seven discusses the chal-lenges and opportunities faced bybrands as they become bigger. Asbrands become more successful, theybecome potential targets for special-interest groups. At the same time, bigbrands have the opportunity to givesomething back. The author givesexamples where Nike and Starbuckshave given something back in areasrelevant to their customers.

Chapter eight summarises theauthor’s belief that brands boil downto three simple things: relevance,simplicity and humanity. A brand hasto be relevant before anyone willconsider buying it. The brandproposition has to be simple. People donot have the time or interest tounderstand more complicated offerings.Finally, brands that are successful can beactively described as a person withpersonality traits and characteristics. Atits highest level a brand takes on apersonality all of its own.

Overall, this book was a very inter-esting and a thought-provoking read.As someone responsible for creatingand growing a new industrial, business-

bucks’ now ubiquitous presence onstreet corners and in shopping malls,grocery stores and airports, where itnow also sells ice cream, this storyillustrates the possibilities of expandinga brand. Equally thought-provokingare examples of brands that haveoverextended their brandwidth andsucceeded in only diminishing thevalue of the brand. The key point isthat just because one can do somethingdoes not mean that one should.

The chapter on brand emotion wasespecially insightful. A key componentof a brand’s success is the establishmentof a relationship with customers. Thethree parts of this relationship are:creating a sense of belonging, long-ing and promoting relevance. Thereviewer works for a chemical com-pany. One would not normally thinkthat people would develop a sense ofbelonging or longing for a chemicalbrand, but his company has seen ithappen due to its brand’s relevance toits customers. It is doubtful that it willever achieve the same sense of belong-ing as Harley Davidson, whose cus-tomers tattoo the Harley Davidsonbrand on their bodies, but everyonecan dream.

Chapter five discusses brand en-vironmentalism. It took a little moretime and thinking to understand thepoint of this chapter. The author’spoint is ‘everything matters’. For thereviewer, the key point ties back to thefact that brands are the sum of theexperiences and actions that a customerhas with them. The author illustratesthis point by sharing a story aboutStarbucks’ decision of whether to useone-ply or two-ply toilet paper.

Chapter six discusses brand leader-ship. The analogy used is that brandsare like children. They need steady

� HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1479-1803 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 11, NO. 5, 424–426 MAY 2004 425

BOOK REVIEW

referenced this book as not only a wayto think about brands but as a way tothink about oneself in the businessworld. Everyone has a personal brand.This book presents an interesting wayto think about building one’s ownpersonal brand too.

Mike LanhamGlobal Executive Director

XIAMETER�

to-business brand, the reviewer stillfound the consumer Nike and Star-bucks stories inspirational for what maybe achieved. While less academic thanother books on branding, the author’suse of real-life experiences and storiesmakes the book both an easy read anda source of practical examples.

While attending a conference, thereviewer listened to a speaker talk-ing about leadership challenges. He

426 � HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1479-1803 BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 11, NO. 5, 424–426 MAY 2004

BOOK REVIEW