THE AGILE BRAND

This book is for anyone who aspires to establish a distinct presence with long-term product consumers. “The Agile Brand: Brand Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers” gives a deeper understanding of the consumer, sales, and marketing sector. Divided into three parts, the author starts the book by highlighting the basics of brands. Simple questions like what branding is, why we do branding and what makes a brand successful are lucidly answered to the understanding of rookies.

Using popular companies like Coca-Cola and Kleenex, the author explains how great it is for parties in the marketing industry to build a brand that will have the consumer see more than just the product. Greg Kihlstrom reminds brands that it is vital to inform users the lingo and words that are associated with your brand. As a brand, make it a tradition to demonstrate your ideas to the satisfaction of your target audience.

One of the many things I learned from this book includes the need to have your audience understand how your brand is pronounced. People tend to obliviously mispronounce some names. The author made a table with some brands like IKEA, Adidas Hermes, and Porsche. He noted how a majority mispronounce the names and listed the correct pronunciation. He emphasized that having consumers mispronounce your brand may have them misunderstand the attributes of your company.

Your brand is more than your logo, Greg Kihlstrom says. He goes on to advice those who are new to branding. The author mentions the use of social media and digital advertisement tools and how important it is for the brand to build a solid bond with the target audience.

The book has nuggets of wisdom. If you want to build a brand that will leave an impact and paint a permanent picture in the consumer’s mind, then you need this book. “The Agile Brand” is a great learning material for marketing students, as notes written by the author will come in handy at some point in their career.

Reading through has one feel like they are in a class. The book is truly educative. Brand-pushers will definitely find the text in this publication useful and will apply the lessons learned in their daily businesses.

I love how the writer is concise with his points. On making a brand successful, the writer lists three easy methods to determine the success of a brand. Substance, focus, and relevance are the basic methods of evaluating how good or bad a brand is.

One thing that stood out from this book is the author’s need to mention real companies when expounding. Unlike some books in this genre, the writer was not vague when explaining active branding. Companies like Dominos, Starbucks, and Lowes Foods are given as examples when he is talking about changing the messaging while still maintaining success rates. Greg Kihlstrom clearly explains why the said brands changed their slogans at some point, and how it worked for them. Here the author enables the reader to understand that there is no loss in changing slogans, as long as your packaging as a brand is up to standard. 

A lot of companies have rebranded over the years and have still maintained a loyal clientele. It’s nothing new in the marketing world. Be sure to grab a copy of this book, as there is so much you will learn about. The book is especially recommended to newbies in the branding and marketing industry, as it will help you grasp the basic concepts of advertisement in the modern world