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The Physics of Brand

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The Physics of Brand

Understand the Forces Behind Brands That Matter

HOW Books,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

For new insights and strategies, apply physics to building your brand.


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Brand consultants and strategy experts Aaron Wallace, Renée Marino and Dan Wallace – who share some 60 years of experience – infuse their discussion of branding with basic principles from physics. They demonstrate a profound understanding of branding’s realities, and use physics as the governing metaphor for their branding models. The authors explain conventional branding in flashy, upbeat language and entertaining episodes adding up to an intense amount of information. Their anecdotes about marketing campaigns and consumer behavior offer worthwhile practical insights and lots of fun. Amid that fun, they do focus a lot on their own clients as exemplars of branding prowess. The playful cartoon illustrations of the applications of physics in the context of branding are fresh, cute and lively, but not always easy to parse. Helpful “Concluding Memories” end each chapter. getAbstract recommends the authors’ insights, charts and insider war stories to anyone who wants to think a little more deeply about branding, marketing or sales strategy.

Summary

Changing Brand Concepts

People encounter brands in two physical dimensions: “time and space.” Brands embody contemporary “social systems” and send emotional signals that trigger memory, enhanced by the impact of the time you spend with a brand and information from your five senses. Brands once meant only strong “national names” like Ivory Soap, Coca-Cola or Miller Lite. Brands now delineate people, products, and so much more into “categories.” Today brands include retailers like Amazon, celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and institutions like Harvard University. People build “personal brands” to support their freelance careers. This matters more and more because by 2020, 34% of US workers will be freelancers.

Space and Time Dimensions

The “Time Dimensions Model” of branding juxtaposes three factors that reflect a consumer’s relationship with a brand. The model looks at individual shoppers’ and social groups’ interactions with brands in terms of their “accumulated mass of experience” and the force of “the resultant brand energy.” This identifies the question that should become a marketer’s primary quest: “How can we get people...

About the Authors

Capsule founding partner Aaron Keller consults on consumers, marketing tactics and brand expansion. Cupitor Consulting founder Renée Marino specializes in the “financial aspects of brands and intangible assets.” Dan Wallace founded Idea Food, a brand strategy consultancy.


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