The Origins of Brands By Al & Laura Ries, May 2004, HarperBusiness, New York Another book causing a stir in marketing circles following their earlier efforts - “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR” and “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding”.  This one looks at the world’s most 10 valuable brands (as determined by Interbrand) - Coca Cola, Microsoft, IBM, General Electric, Intel, Nokia, Disney, McDonald’s, Marlboro and Mercedes-Benz.  Some of their contentions are: In building brands, perception can sometimes be more important than sales The path to success for companies lies in diverging from existing categories, creating new categories and becoming the leader in these categories A lot of current research to find out what customers want to do is wasted because consumers don’t know what they will do until they are actually given the opportunity to make a decision That companies often grow too big and that a company stays healthy by ensuring that divisions that have grown apart from the core business are ‘pruned’ and spun off. They say that the McDonald’s brand is in trouble partially because the store typically offers more than 50 items compared to the original eleven. They say that although Motorola introduced the cell phone it has since diversified into a plethora of other activities while Nokia, which has taken a leadership position in cell phones has dumped some of its products to concentrate on cell phones. They argue that the high rate of company failures in introducing new products is because too many of the new products were created to serve a market rather than create a market. They contend that genuinely new brands should be launched by PR. This will result in the media publicising them and they contend all the big brands came out of ideas that achieved major publicity because the media wanted to write about what’s new. They believe that using advertising to launch new brands is very expensive and the minute the media see advertising they’re not going to give any product coverage. The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation: Creating, Protecting, and Repairing Your Most Valuable Asset By Ronald Alsop, 2004, Wall Street Journal Books, New York, USA.  Written by Ronald Alsop, editor of the Wall Street Journal, this book provides a view of the “cynical new century”, where many companies seem to be reinforcing the public’s hatred of society. Within this forum, corporate reputation is of the utmost importance. As Alsop states, a company’s brand is its most valuable asset. He offers 18 laws by which a company can protect this asset. These involve learning to cater to many audiences, creating emotional appeal whilst recognising your shortcomings, and if all else fails, changing your name. The book is divided into three sections; the first two on how to establish and maintain a good reputation and the third on repairing a damaged reputation. Alsop commends companies such as FedEx and DuPont for their corporate reputation efforts, whilst criticising Calvin Klein (amongst others) for its racy ads. The basis for corporate reputation is established, and maintenance and revival tips are provided throughout the book. The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation contains multiple case studies, dissecting the corporate reputation efforts of companies. These are based on interviews with corporate executives, market researchers, communication experts and academics. However, corporate reputation is not simply about businesses, as Alsop states “poisoned reputations aren’t restricted to corporate America these days. Just consider the recent damage to the reputations of the Roman Catholic Church, Major League Baseball, and even the Boy Scouts of America”.

PR Influences Australian Public Relations Newsletter. Article: PR Book Review: The Origins of Brands. Information Content: Book Reviews & Information