The one-sentence summary
Brands and branding must be grounded in a rigorous and philosophical view of the way the world works.
WHAT THE BOOK SAYS
- There are strong links between philosophy and branding (“All modern, complex and apparently sophisticated approaches to brands and branding must be grounded in a rigorous and philosophical view of the way the world works”)
- It works its way through the thinking of most of the major philosophers and expresses their views as though they were in charge of brands
- It starts with Heraclitus, moving through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Nietzche, Wittgenstein and Popper
- It all comes together in a list of top tips which summarises their thinking as though they were applying it to brand management
WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT
- This is certainly a highly original way of looking at brand management and should stimulate some new, more cerebral approaches
- It is also an excellent way to acquaint yourself with the gist of most philosophical thinking, without reading the original impenetrable essays
- The writing style is jargon-free, and short, so you can read it quickly
- It is fairly simple to apply the thinking, and back it up with intellectual stature. For example:
~ Nothing is stable in the world
~ Question everything
~ “Irreducible” (certain) brand cores should be viewed against the constant process of it becoming something else
~ Don’t be overly rational or logical
~ Don’t be fooled into thinking you know everything about markets, consumers or your own brand
~ Pose a thesis, then the antithesis, and arrive at a synthesis (the dialectic)
WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH
- Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of the theories are contradictory, so you cannot use them all together
- Of course, none of the thinking here was ever applied to brands, so you have to check your relevance from time to time and keep a sense of perspective