FusionBranding:
How To Forge Your Brand For The Future
By: Nick Wreden, Brand Futurist
390 pp.
ISBN: 0-9717442-0-3
Branding of products and services in the marketplace of the future requires rethinking how brands are created and marketed writes Nick Wreden (photo below left) in the landmark FusionBranding: How To Forge Your Brand For The Future. Instead of simply looking to the marketing department to develop the brand, the book considers a holistic approach engaging the entire organization all the way to the end purchaser.
While other books on brands and branding might cover familiar ground, brand futurist Nick Wreden believes those long established ideas are often just myths. The author begins by exploding those myths and sets out his own ten ideals for building brands and companies for the future. It's no longer enough to offer a product or service and expect its acceptance in the marketplace. The modern customer expects, and even demands, to be part of the planning process. Nick says companies failing to grasp this partnership will fall by the wayside.
Nick Wreden (pictured left)
The book addresses skillfully the dilemma facing modern brand builders. The importance of brands and brand recognition is growing. At the same time, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to establish a brand. Trust must be built in the brand's promise, requiring relationship building at all steps in the process. Everyone in the company, and all who trasnsport, distribute, and sell the product or service is part of that relationship building network. Missteps along the way can destroy the trust that the branding promise will be fulfilled.
While consumer branding is important, the major focus of the book is toward busines to business marketing. Many other books target consumer brands, while Nick Wreden places his emphasis on the very important business market. To achieve branding success in the highly competitive business sales arena, the authur recommends a full scale strategic approach. While many other writers discuss tactics and limited techniques, Nick Wreden offers a full scale plan that encompasses every aspect of the company.
Developing and nurturing trust based relationships forms a major portion of the book's method of achieving branding goals. The modern customer demands it, and the successful business delivers on that trust. Even more importantly, those newly formed relationships are built on the customer's terms. The future thinking company must reccognize that the potential buyers are in charge of the purchasing process. Should customers feel their needs are ignored, and their requirements are not being filled, the brand image suffers and the company fails. After all, the brand failed to deliver on its promise.
As with any good teaching book, the author provides questions at the end of each chapter to ensure that full understanding of the concepts is achieved. Along with the ideas and questions, a strong list of resources, as well as informative graphs and charts provide further information and insights. As a result, the techniques become more accessible and easier to understand and apply to any business.
FusionBranding: How To Forge Your Brand For The Future by Nick Wreden is a must have book for any business library. The ideas and recommendations for branding success are too important to not be read, and then read again. Applying the ideas to a business is essential for the success of the forward looking business.
Buy, read, and apply the wisdom FusionBranding: How To Forge Your Brand For The Future to your business, and watch your brand grow through relationship marketing and fusion branding.
