Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands
by Kevin Roberts
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kevin RobertsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04
ISBN: 1576872041
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Book Reviews of Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands
Book Review: How the trees lost out
Summary: 1 Stars
I've awarded one star, only to show respect to the trees that have been lost to the world to produce this book. Research undertaken by the UK's National Urban Forestry Unit concludes that trees have a positive impact on the incidence of asthma, skin cancer and stress-related illness by filtering polluted air, reducing smog formation, shading out solar radiation and by providing an attractive, calming setting for recreation.Sadly, my wellbeing has taken a turn for the worse after reading this book.
So what's the problem?
Fundamentally,the idea that this is a revealatory new idea, the basic premise, is wrong. There has been no progression from products to trademarks to brands. The world hasn't suddenly arrived at a moment when brands now need to be Lovemarks. Man has been in 'love' with inanimate and everyday objects, extracting more 'meaning' than the object itself, since our early history. Dr Francis Pryor, President of the Council for British Archaeology, believes the symbolism of something as inanimate as an upside-down oak tree at Seahenge, Norfolk is fundamental to understanding the Bronze Age mind.
'We often find everyday objects deliberately turned upside down at Bronze Age sites. The inverted oak {at Seahenge}is a very complex statement. It is the world turned upside down, just as death is an inversion of life. From a ritual point of view it symbolises taking objects out of this world and placing them in the next.' In his book on our early history, he describes how Man would take their most cherished possessions and give them up to the gods. These possessions are now what we might call brands.
This leads to my second point. Brands have been around far longer than this book (and, to be fair, most books on the topic)understands. Bronze and Iron Age man left their distinguishing marks - such as a horse cut in chalk - on the landscape (their trademark! or brandmark even!!) to identify their presence to the rest of the world. That mark had more than just an identity attached to it - it had power and a whole set of emotive connotations. The conquering armies and citizens of Carthage had their own symbol of quality stamped on their produce, from earthen jars to fabric to manuscripts. That mark brought with it all the powerful and distinguishing attributes of Carthage. Religion cottoned on to the power of branding very quickly: after all, the Crucifix is nothing but one of the most succesful and enduring logos ever created.(And early Christains 'sold' the Faith by using a whole battery of what are now known as guerilla marketing techniques.)
Advertising 'folk' often mistakenly think that brands and marketing is some mid-19th century concept, and there are new concepts waiting to be hoisted uopn the world.
Or maybe this particular author,hasn't, for example, realised that the good men of Persil understood a hundred years ago that instilling love into their brand was a winning idea that ultimately led to Victoria Beckham in her autobiography proclaiming 'Right from the beginning,I said I wanted to be more famous than Persil Automatic.'
And as Jeremy Bullmore has articulated far better than I ever could, the single distinguishing characteristic of all great brands is fame. In fact let me use his words from 2001: 'Forget the marketing-speak. The image of a brand is no more nor less than the result of its fame: its reputation. And like a reputation, it can be found in only one place:in the minds of people.' He goes on to say that 'It's thirty years or so since I first heard real people in group discussions talking openly and quite unselfconsciously about their favourite washing powder. But they didn't just talk about Persil: they talked about my Persil.'
'My Persil'...you see that was heard in the 1960s and that didn't happen overnight.
'Lovemarks' might be new word but the idea behind it isn't new to Lever nor a multitude of others.(Let'just throw in Enzo Ferrari, Coco Chanel, Coco Cola for starters.)
'Been there and done that.'
(And even if a marketeer hasn't been there, having consumers love your brand is not an essential ingredient for success - I can't believe that Microsoft is a much loved brand for example.)
New words, marketing-speak as Mr Bullmore would put it, don't a new idea make.
Now I'm going to dig a hole and put my copy of 'Lovemarks' in it upside down.
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