Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand

Brilliantly written with lessons for all kinds of organisations. As with his book on leadership, the title is for catchiness. This is also a book about corporate honour and ethics, and about resource management

The main point D'Alesssandro is trying to make is that the brand is the most important asset possessed by any business and all efforts should be channeled towards protecting it. Sounds reasonable but he fails to explain what is the ultimate purpose having a good brand name. The reader may get the wrong impression that brands exist for the sake of their own existence.Strong brand name is worth anything only as long as it maximizes the wealth of its owners. The owners are the shareholders. Sometimes they would be better off financially if the brand was not too strong. What is the point of owning Mercedes-Benz if the firm loses money when you can own Honda and have positive gains. I am making the assumption that Mercedes-Benz is the better brand of the two but this is only for the sake of the argument. The price tag of the item and its manufacturing quality does not necessary determine the strength of the brand.The author makes some good points though. His discussion on how management should allocate money to advertisement and other brand building techniques is wonderful. Despite its weaknesses, this book was worth reading.

David D'Alessandro has transformed John Hancock from a clubby, play-it-safe mutual company, to a leading, publically-traded financial services group where accountability, integrity and growth are embraced. Marketing has played a critical role in the company's transformation. Unlike other life insurance companies, Hancock is led by a CEO who understands branding and embraces big ideas.D'Alessandro's list of pioneering moves and accomplishments within the world of sports marketing and sponsorship is long and legendary. The first sponsor - and saviour - of the Boston Marathon, the first to completely rename a college football bowl game for the sponsor, the first in the insurance category to become a worldwide Olympic partner, and the first sponsor to stand up to the IOC in the midst of its bribery scandal over bribes and say: "This will not stand. Change your ways or suffer the consequences."Anyone who wants to know brand building, communications, public relations, advertising and sports marketing from the inside out, should read Brand Warfare. Written by an acclaimed CEO and branding maverick, the book introduces D'Alessandro's "brand first" philosophy and explains why brand must always take top priority over every other business consideration.And, unlike books written by academicians and consultants, Brand Warfare's ideas are real world and street tested. D'Alessandro engineered Hancock's double-digit growth rate at a time when many of its competitors went under.Whether you're an experienced CEO or just starting your career, anyone in any industry will benefit from D'Alessandro's 10 principles and his "brand first" approach. Brand Warfare should become required reading for business professionals.

While this is a short book and easy to read, it does not lack substance. Being in advertising and marketing, I know the value of a brand. But as D'Alessandro points out in his book, branding is the business of everyone in an organization.This book would be of value to a CEO of a large organization and all of its employees or the owner of a one-person shop and all advertising people. Branding, after all, is something everyone is responsible for. It is not the exclusive domain of the ad agency.The book shows how a large, well-known brand can lose market share overnight to an Internet start up. There is much in this book that will be of great value to you if you want to be a well-respected brand --- whether you are a big business or a one-person brand.Susanna K. HutchesonOwner & Executive Copy DirectorPowerwriting.com LLC

The thing that sticks with me from reading the book is that branding isn't just the job of the marketing department or ad department or the ad agency. It comes from the top and touches EVERYTHING that comes from the company to the customer. That may seem simple, but it reminded me of a story a fellow business traveler told me on a flight from Japan to NYC. This fellow traveler sold paper filters. He kept on getting beat out of a sale at the Panasonic plant in China. The reason? Not because of the quality of his product. He assured me he had the best quality, the best value. The reason is that the shipping boxes were beat-up, the tape askew. The competitors shipping box was immaculate with the tape placed to perfection. Panasonic surmised that if the packing box was sloppy, maybe the product was sloppy. When he told his boss back in the U.S. about this they laughed and said nothing could be done about it. "Union," he said. So, if the branding focus is quality, why not package industrial boxes with the same care as consumer boxes? That branding starts at the top and ends at the bottom. Submitted by Jon Spoelstra, author of Marketing Outrageously.