(book review) Brand Sense

Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets behind the Stuff we buy by Martin Lindstorm
Free Press, NY-USA, 2005 (Paperback edition, 2010)

I have always been fascinated by Martin Lindsotrm's ideas – especially after I read his 'Buyology'.

'Brand Sense' is a informative and enjoyable and yet a quick read – one that you could complete reading in 2-3 hours. While most content of the book is thought-provoking and is full of fresh ideas, some small parts of the book are basic (may be interesting to a reader new to the idea of branding).

Typically, marketers rely on vision and sound to create a marketing mix for a brand. Lindstorm unleashes new ideas on using other 3 senses as well – touch, smell and taste. He rightly points out that more the consumer is engaged in the brand experience, more likely he is to buy the brand's product/ service. In this cluttered world of advertisements, brands should create a unique story by engaging as many senses as possible to create a lasting impression.

The book contains some interesting real-life examples on brands like Microsoft, Toblerone, Coke and Apple. He highlights the use of each sense with an example. One of the examples I enjoyed was that of Toblerone. He goes ahead to explain the shape of Toblerone – the shape is what makes the product – you would not associate the same taste and experience with the same ingredients presented in a flat bar.

All in all, definitely worth a read. Would recommend this book to anyone interested in branding, marketing or in general growing his business.

(Ruta Writes...) books that made me think...

I am writing this as a reply to someone who asked me about which book I really liked... or which author I feel makes me think the most.

As far as the 'Business' domain is concerned, I like to listen to and read Guy Kawasaki. He writes and talks simplistic - but his thoughts hit the right target - spot on. Currently, I have been reading Seth Godin's book called Linchpin - and now I have started realizing why people like him so much! I have read many books on design, strategy and branding - Many of those were by people I really admire - Were educating. These books taught me a lot about the actual practice of design business - They introduced me to some of the finest and innovative projects. But there was one book that really made me think and change my perception:

Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik
We always hear or read 'be human' in your designs or 'think about the customer first' or at times giving a 'personalized experience'. This is easy to read in books, to say and to talk about. Solving real world issues by design and applying these principles at the same time, is always a hard task. At times, designers go clueless about bringing in the human factor. Dev Patnaik clears the clouds around reaching to your end consumer with a human hand - through design, branding and strategies - He likes looking at any problem through the lens of EMPATHY. It is one of the books that changed my perception about creating great brands. They do not happen - they are created through EMPATHY.

Also, I liked one of my recent reads by Alina Wheeler  (look below for the review)
She goes through the entire branding process in her book - It feels like a textbook and I like the way she goes about describing all the processes with the help of graphics, quotes and "some text". I feel this book is an important one because no one at school or in our professional careers teaches us the A-Z of the design/ branding process - You have to learn it by yourself. I feel if the entire process is taught to all the design students right from the very start - be it any discipline, I guess the interaction between teams at work will be more close and harmonious and there will be no "new discoveries" at work

I just cannot write enough about the authors, designers or strategists I like. But a few others apart from Dev Patnaik, Alina Wheeler, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin are Marty Neumeier, Tim Brown, Hartmut Esslinger, Tom Kelly and the list doesn't just end there. I have still a lot more to read, learn, to do and to explore. The next book on my to read list is 'Brand Identity Essentials' by Kevin Budelmann, Yang Kim, and Curt Wozniak.

(book review) Designing Brand Identity

Designing Brand Identity (3rd edition): An Essential Guide to the entire Branding Team by Alina Wheeler
John Wiley & Sons, NewJersey-USA, 2009


Designing Brand Identity is indeed an essential guide to the entire branding team – one of a kind book – theory blended with practical examples from the market. It is a step by step guide to the brand identity process. I believe it is a must have guide!

The book takes us through the basics of brand identity to processes like research, design, strategy to the best practices in the business – locally and globally through some live examples. The book has beautiful quotes from an array of experts in the design, strategy and branding field. 


I am a designer interested in learning and working on branding projects. This book gave a detailed picture of the entire process of brand identity. I found the book a easy read - has short, bite-sized paragraphs, underscored with visual examples. It is more like a  textbook – organized chapter by chapter – you can read sequentially or read any particular concept you want.


It is a must read for designers interested in the branding arena, makrketing people or just anyone interested in knowing what goes behing the scenes while creating a brand.

(book review) SHIFT

Shift: How to reinvent your business, your career, and your personal brand by Peter Arnell
Broadway Books, NY-USA, 2010

A book by Peter Arnell – one of the gurus in the branding and advertising business. He has worked on top notch brands such as DKNY, Reebok, Chanel, Banana Republic, Pepsi and the list continues. Shift is about re-branding brands and re-branding oneself. Arnell intervenes his professional and personal experiences throughout the book to give a new and positive outlook on our lives at the same time discussing stories about brands he has worked on.

I was specially interested in reading about the way Arnell interprets and develops new stories for his brands and the way he applies similar techniques to his personal life. Arnell believes that branding starts with YOU. The story of his weight-loss from 460 pounds to 150 pounds is compelling. The book is about 'Shifting' – your attitude, your thoughts and thus your personal brand, your business or your career.

The book has a personal tone that makes the book enjoyable. Arnell talks about the way he learnt about himself and his patterns and pro-actively changed his habits that helped him achieve the feat of weight loss. But, I wish he had given more insights into the business of branding and advertising. Perhaps, he may write another book just on branding techniques.

The book is a quick read, with about 200 pages. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a new outlook towards one's life or to anyone in the advertising, branding and marketing business and of course to all the people who want to lose a lot of weight! After all, its all about making the SHIFT.

(book review) Wired to Care

Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper when they create widespreadempathy by Dev Patnaik with Peter Mortensen

FT Press, NewJersey-USA, 2009

This “business” book is about what all of us already posses and use in our daily lives but are trained to leave it back as we enter the workplace – Its about empathy and caring about people. It takes various examples from Dev Patnaik's experience at Jump Associates – a hybrid strategy firm. The book kicks-off with a basic idea that companies should care about their customers and revolves around the idea that a business will succeed as much with their hearts as much as their heads.

The book arguably demonstrates that more a business appreciates what their consumers or employees want or empathizes with their needs, more are the chances that the business will succeed. The book makes even more sense if you have read – 'A Whole New Mind' by Daniel Pink. Its like a flow from one book to another like a sequel movie to a previous one.

What makes the book most interesting is the way Patnaik goes through real life examples about a number of companies such as Nike, Disney, Mercedes, Clorox, etc. and about empathy and the ways companies could integrate empathy into their daily businesses and narrates them like stories – Stories that you can't resist, stories that hang on to you even after you have finished the book. Dev Patnaik really connects to the readers.

I particularly like the example of Harley Davidson Motors where Patnaik shows that the simplest way to have empathy for your customers is to be like them. The easiest way to gain empathy is to hire your own customers as employees. Harley's employees are themselves riders and the company has their front parking lot reserved only for motorcycles. The parking for automobiles or “cages” as they say, is at the back. And this is just the beginning! I won't go into any more details of the story as it will take all the fun out from reading it yourself. Other stories for X-Box and Zune, Nike, Pattie Moore – the story of the designer are as much enthralling.

As Dev writes - “...if you want people to be interested in you, you should be genuinely interested in them. That's a pretty straight-forward lesson with relatively major implications.” The same thing applies to the relationship between businesses and consumers. 

Its a must read for all business leaders, CEOs, CFOs (all the people with a 'C' in their titles) and people in the design field. 

Their website is worth a look.

This book is all set to become a classic! 

(Ruta Writes...) sustainable business: being human

...sustainable business: being human

These days, form the books I have read, the work I have done, the businesses I have seen, it seems that emotional branding, giving experiences, is what works today and that consumers appreciate it more when they are treated as people instead of mere subjects of targeted advertisements. This idea led me to think that even in a world where everything is mechanized and where the value of being human is rapidly diminishing, thanks to the fast moving, labor saving technologies, people still want to feel cared about. In a place where affluence is respected and having a lot of 'stuff' is considered as a symbol of success, where we have come far from being cave-men, we still crave more for being human.

At times, I really wonder what it means to have all the “luxuries” as we call them – a big car, a hefty salary, an air-conditioned house – where in all the drapes and windows are always closed, where one has everything he wants but does not relate to the nature cycles – when it rained, when it snowed, when was the last time I really looked at the moon, when was the last time I felt the breeze on my cheeks, when does it dawn and how long is the day? It has been scientifically proven that being affluent does not make one content. It just gives a surge of excitement for a while which is temporary, by nature. Once you posses a thing, the graph of excitement rapidly goes down and one starts looking for other things to satisfy his urge to posses. Thus it is a paradox that having more stuff will not make one satisfied, but hungry to look for more stuff, in turn making him unsatisfied and hence, unhappy. What we really 'need' is to be loved and not just keep on having more stuff. Have you ever thought that being with our parents, friends, partners and giving them everything – emotionally, is more satisfying than watching T.V or giving out a big and expensive gift. As I like to say, emotions are best expressed through emotions!

Yes, I was talking about being an aware customer, a responsible person and a sustainable citizen. I always relate the notion of being 'human' to being 'sustainable'. Being sustainable is not just using 'green' products, using public transport or using less paper. It is also about being responsible for what we do, respecting ourselves, others and the planet. Sustainability is about being satisfied with what we have, what we are and being happy. Even though we keep on producing, consuming and trashing 'stuff', even though we demean nature's best resources, even though we have invented the fastest ways of globe trotting and in turn polluting the planet, even though we have become loners, we still feel the need to socialize, the need to be cared for, the need to be loved, as we did in any era. The fact that we realize that our world has limited resources and that we all live in one single home, we tend to get even closer and our world shirks to become one big human family. After all, sustainability is all about being what we are – humans!

A business that makes people feel cared about, one that promises being light on the earth (e.g: is durable, is non-toxic) and has a purpose that people connect with, is likely to be sustainable.

(book review) The Brand Gap

The Brand Gap: How to bridge the distance between Business Strategy & Design by Marty Neumeier
New Riders, NY-USA, 2003


Anyone – be it in the business world, marketing, design, branding or elsewhere realize the power of the word - 'Brand'. Everyone talks about things like branded products, brand identity or brand experience and that a brand defines one's personality or marks one's likes and dislikes. But does everyone really understand what a 'brand' really means? Marty Neumier answers it all for us.

The author gives a new and a practical definition to 'building a brand' while explaining the 5 disciplines of brand building viz. :
1.Differentiate
2.Collaborate
3.Innovate
4.Validate
5.Cultivate

The book runs around all sorts of processes that go in creating, maintaining and growing a brand – the successful and the not-so-successful ones. The book starts from the very basic question: 'What is a brand?' and treads through branding, trends, the tests, problems,  strategy, creativity, names, avatars, designing, packaging, marketing, globalism and evolution of 'brand' to very comprehensive 'take-home' lessons. And these are just a few topics the book talks about.

As they say - “Good things come in small packages”, the best thing about this book is that Marty covers it all in a tiny little book that one can finish reading in a couple of hours. Its like taking a 'one quick pill' for all.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a background in design, business, branding, consumer study, engineering, psychology and anyone who likes to know the story behind brands.

You can view a presentation on the book by the author –  The Brand Gap
Its a huge presentation but worth a watch!

(book review) Emotional Branding

Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for connecting brands to people by Marc Gobe`

Allworth Press, NY-USA, 2001

This book, 'Emotional Branding' by Marc Gobe` gives a meaty insight into the delicious history of branding. The book tries to bridge the gap between 'business centered' brands and consumers. Marc Gobe` understands that, for a brand to be effective, it should appeal to the consumers' emotions and feelings instead of treating its consumers as enemy targets and forcing themselves into the consumers' life.

The landscape for brands is changing by the day and increasingly, consumers run the brands. A brand needs to appeal to the emotional senses in order to succeed. Gobe` gives 10 commandments of emotional branding: 

1. from Consumers to People (consumers buy, people live)
2. from Product to Experience (products fulfill needs,experiences fulfill desires)
3. from Honesty to Trust (honesty is expected, trust is engaging & intimate)
4. from Quality to Preference (quality is a given, preference creates sale)
5. from Notoriety to Aspiration (what does your brand mean on an emotional level to consumers?)
6. from Identity to Personality (identity is recognition, personality is character and charisma)
7. from Function to Feel (function is practical & superficial qualities, feel is about experiences)
8. from Ubiquity to Presence (ubiquity is seen, emotional presence is felt)
9. from Communication to Dialogue (communication is telling, presence is felt)
10. from Service to Relationship (service is telling,relationship is acknowledgement)

The book starts with an Introduction chapter, ends with a Conclusion chapter and sandwiched between are 4 chapters named after the 4 pillars of emotional branding: Relationship, Sensorial Experiences, Imagination & Vision.

Though I enjoyed reading the book where Gobe` goes into small details such as describing various symbols and colors and their properties, to painting diagram for portraying the logo and identity evolution or writing about the generations - Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, to demonstrate relationship between 'Needs' and 'Desires', to stating 'Why' brands need to make that emotional connection, I would have enjoyed more had Gobe` shed more light on 'HOW' to make this emotional connection. 

This book is for people who think that products that sell the best, target the emotional level and one's who want to learn about branding and strategies and get insights into capturing emotions. It provides key insights into branding that will be useful for everyone in the chain - designers, marketing people, strategists and business people.