Branding Only Works on Cattle : The New Way to Get Known (and Drive Your Competitors Crazy)

Refutes popular opinions about the value of branding today, arguing that the expensive process of branding no longer influences modern and sophisticated consumers, in a guide that demonstrates what the author believes to be a more effective combination of marketing communications, distribution strategies, and customer service.

Most people don't know it yet, but branding is dead.

Sure, we need to know about the stuff we want to buy, but the billions of dollars spent on logos, sponsorships, and jingles have little, if anything, to do with actual consumer behavior. For example:


-Dinosaur-headed execs in Microsoft ads didn't help sell software.
-Citibank's artsy "live richly" billboards didn't prompt a single new account.
-United Airlines' animated TV commercials didn't fill more seats on airplanes.

As branding guru Jonathan Baskin reveals, modern consumers are harder to find, more difficult to convince, and near-impossible to retain. They make decisions based on experience - so what matters isn't how creative, cool, or memorable the advertising is, but how companies can directly target consumer behavior.

Pretty pictures and funny taglines should be an after-thought: brands must targetwhat consumers actually do. How companies affect behavior - whether via marketing communications, distribution strategies, or customer service - is how branding is being reborn. This book will be the essential guide to understanding and thriving on this new branding dynamic.