BrandDigital by Allen Adamson of Landor Associates – Book Review

I was lucky enough to get a copy of BrandDigital by Allen Adamson, Managing Director of Landor Associates and author of BrandSimple.  I was excited to receive BrandDigital for several reasons, not the least of which is that I’m working on my own book about branding, marketing and the social web, so I knew this would be a great resource to learn what other experts have to say about branding in the digital world.

I’ve written many times before on Brandcurve about the need for businesses to change their traditional and marketing strategies and thinking to embrace digital media and the power of Web 2.0.  In BrandDigital, Allen Adamson provides “Simple ways top brands succeed in the digital world,” based on 100 interviews he conducted with brand professionals.

My first impression on opening BrandDigital was that this book is written exactly how I like books to be written.  The chapters are clearly defined and the concepts and topics discussed in the book are presented in a simple manner devoid of corporate rhetoric and extraneous information that does little more than clutter an otherwise good read. 

Throughout his book, Allen injects case studies from well-known brands from a variety of industries such as Burger King, Nike, PepsiCo and more.  He also consistently communicates the importance of embracing social media and the digital world in order to succeed in the long term.  If you read Brandcurve frequently, then you know this is a theory I constantly try to communicate.

To give you an idea of the great points Allen delivers in BrandDigital, take a look at his four essential rules to help you keep your brand promise to the, “skeptical digital world”:

1. “Think like a consumer.”  I agree with Allen on this one 100%.  The social web is all about pull marketing.  You need to understand the consumer to enhance pull marketing with relevant push marketing tactics.
2. “Make everyone in your company accountable for their part in delivering your brand promise.”  Again, I completely agree with this.  It’s a topic I’ve been writing about on Corporate Eye a lot lately.  Your employees must be brand ambassadors, and with that in mind, branding must start from within.
3. “Institute a management alert system.”  I think this should be mandatory in today’s world of the social web.  You need to know what’s being said about you and massage the online conversation accordingly to ensure your brand image is maintained and you’re constantly meeting and exceeding customer expectations.
4. “Delight your customers.”  Again, as I mentioned in #3 above, you need to meet and exceed your customers’ expectations turning them into loyal customers and online influencers thereby driving word-of-mouth marketing and a powerful online buzz.

So I suppose you can tell from this post that I am of like-minds with Allen Adamson in terms of branding in the digital world.  Check out BrandDigital.  You won’t be disappointed.

For more information, visit the BrandDigital website or Allen’s blog, Brand Digital Brand Simple.

Image: Amazon.com