John Gerzema and Edward Leba identify what makes brands irresistible: they're irrational yet essential, move with purpose, constantly reinvent, speak emotionally rather than functionally, and compel devotion naturally. The iPod and Nike exemplify brands that shape culture beyond their category.
Hey, how you doing? I'm just sitting here reading The Brand Bubble by Germes and LeBarre, and it's just a very interesting book speaking about the whole process of branding and what's involved in branding. So I just went through and I just made a couple of notes on different things that I found. There's about 5 or 6 points on branding that I think are very insightful. These guys do a tremendous job of pulling this stuff together and giving it a very concise thought. The book is called The Brand Bubble. A couple of things. Number one, they say is that essential brands are highly irrational yet entirely irrefutable. In other words, you can't do without them. You don't know why. You just need them. I suppose the iPod is a classic like that. Everybody just wants an iPod. It doesn't matter that it costs you $200 or $300 and it doesn't matter if it's basically a hard drive driven by software. That you can get the same deal for in terms of, you know, technical aspect of it for, you know, a third of the price. You've got to have an iPod. So there's this irrational sense about it and it's provocative and it's daring and yet it reassures and there's all those aspects of it. The second thing in terms of branding that they talk about is that irresistible brands move with purpose and conviction. They have a sense within themselves that they are there with a purpose, they have a plan, and they know where they are going. The third thing is irresistible brands continually reinvent themselves. They have this insatiable appetite for change. They are always wanting to reinvent themselves. They are always wanting to represent themselves in a new way and in a new light. The fourth area of branding that they talk about is that irresistible brands engage customers on their own terms. In other words, they speak their own language. They're not trying to communicate in a technical term. They're not trying to communicate, for example, in the genre of the particular market, in engineering terms or in even athletic terms. It's like Nike is a brand. It doesn't talk sports to you. It talks the brand to you. It talks the feeling, the emotion. It doesn't get into the technical aspects of what it is. Irresistible brands don't force devotions, they compel it. In other words, people just want it. They want to be a part of it. They're excited by it. It grabs hold of something within them. And finally, they talk about that irresistible brands move culture. They move the whole aspect of culture, not just the category of what they're involved in. But their reach and their touch is so much wider than that. Often a brand's actions have a disproportional impact on society. In other words, they gather social weight and momentum that is outside of and beyond the reach of purely a commercial exercise. So the book is The Brand Bubble and it's very interesting, very much worth a read. Thanks, John.
