The Brand Strategist's Guide to Desire

Brand Strategist's Guide to Desire

Dilemmas. They're annoying aren't they? Chipping away at our precious time. I'm in the middle of a dilemma right now, having started and restarted this review on at least three occasions. Let me tell you why.

Anna Simpson has written a book called "The Brand Strategist's Guide To Desire". Cracking title, eh? The book itself is pretty interesting too. The problem is that the title really doesn't fit the book. In fact, not at all, which leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. Good review or bad review?

First, the case for a good write-up.

We are all buggered. Completely buggered. If we don't get to grips with climate change then it's a one way trip to oblivion for each and every one of us. Well, maybe not us. But our children's children, or their children, or their children. Or their children. Someone's kids at any rate.

As it happens, although marketers still fret about getting a seat at the top table, we have a unique opportunity to save the day. How so? We are the voice of the customer, and if we can demonstrate to our colleagues in R&D, sourcing, logistics and manufacturing that customers value the survival of the planet over all other purchasing considerations, then we can change the course of history. Wielding our copies of Simpson's book, we will prove that consumer desire for Community, Adventure, Aesthetics, Vitality and Purpose, backed up with some very worthy examples from around the world, all support our plan for a new business built around a sustainable future. Sounds important, right?

Exactly. Very important.

Which is why I feel awkward about putting forward the argument for a bad review.

My main gripe is that when it comes to branding, naming is rather important. Names can convey a brand promise or a brand attribute. Names help consumers to choose between often similar looking products and services. Take the name of this book, for example. It suggests that firstly, the book is written by brand strategists for brand strategists and, secondly, that the book is a guide, one that can be picked up and easily applied. Sadly, neither suggestion is true. Of the umpteen people quoted and interviewed in the book, very few have demonstrable brand strategy experience. Furthermore, save the questions that Simpson poses every five pages or so ("Have you had an epiphany? How did it change your work?”, “Who is standing at the edge of your brand’s dance floor?”), and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it D-C-B-A model of product development (clue: it starts with desire), the reader is left to figure out how to apply the strands of trends and stories that the author cites, to their own business.

A more accurate title could have been “Creating Sustainable Brands: Using Consumer Desire To Profit Whilst Saving The Planet”. That book could also have been braver and more amusing, beginning with the premise that sustainable business is the only business worth doing, and then demonstrating how to use more recognisable consumer desires (boastfulness, envy, greed, pride, vanity) in Machiavellian ways to move people to do the right thing.

And then there's the massive omission.

Bonking. Having it off. Shagging. The desire to reproduce, and even copulate without a chance of conception, is arguably the single most powerful and hypnotic driving force in human history. Countless hours are spent preening, attempting to make ourselves more attractive to another of the same or opposite gender. Whole product categories have sprung up to support our efforts. Numerous achievements in art, science and commerce are made in an effort to impress a potential mate with our brilliance. Even a Google search for "desire" brings up, for the most part, precisely the sort of titivating images you would expect. Sex, and the pursuit of it, truly is the most famous desire of them all.

But not according to Anna Simpson.

According to Anna Simpson, sex isn't worthy of a mention in her book. Lynx have got it wrong. In fact, almost all perfumers have it wrong. Lust isn't an important human desire. Right-o.

When Mick Jagger sang that he couldn't get satisfaction, he was making both an assault on the consumerism which so troubles Simpson, but also the bite of sexual frustration. Carnal desire is too powerful to be ignored, especially when you are trying to save the world.

So, you now see my dilemma. On one hand, Anna Simpson has written a thought provoking book that could persuade commercial enterprises to perform a Damascene conversion and adopt new working practices that might just save mankind from self-destruction. On the other, the title doesn't match the content of the book, which is annoying, obviously.

Torn, I tell you, torn.


Read more from John Newton in our Clubhouse. His latest book, Nurture, is available from Amazon now.

Join our Book Club. If you're a member of The Marketing Society we'd love you to write a 300-word review for our Clubhouse. Or if you're an author get in touch. We've got lots of members keen to review your book. Contact Michael Piggott to find out more.

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