Legendary Brands

Customer Reviews

A slew of pages is devoted to theorizing about these brands' narrative structure and occasionally the pseudo-scientific verbiage is a little distracting (e.g., "Brand mythology acts upon the cognitive orientation centers of the brain in much the same way that religion and other deeply held philosophical beliefs do").

Yet, all this could have been easily overlooked by the fastidious reader, but without a more organized analysis of how these seemingly facile narratives were conceived, attained, and then maintained by our "legendary" brands, the book falls short of its expectations. Some discussion of the evidence, even anecdotal, would have made this 5 star material although it may still be an interesting collectible for the insightful magazine style discussions of successful branding endeavours.

Vincent introduces and then explains what he calls a Brand Mythology System. It has four components: a worldview comprised of a set of sacred beliefs, a brand agent, brand narrative (or "story"), and consumer participation through a special set of of consumer feedback activities. Frequent patrons of a local Starbucks, for example, have the same shared values as those who belong to a private club.

Some of the most interesting ideas are provided in Chapter 10 as Vincent examines different types of brand agents which can be persons (e.g. Hugh Hefner, Martha Stewart, and Colonel Sanders), places (e.g. Disney theme park, Sesame Street, and Augusta National Golf Club), or things (e.g. Kate Spade handbag, Mont Blanc pen, and Rolex timepiece). In each instance, the agent connects the brand with the consumer through the power of positive association: wearing Michael Jordan's brand of basketball footwear, entering the Magic Kingdom, or wearing golfwear bearing the Masters logo. Obviously, there are few Legendary Brands. However, those responsible for managing new or emerging brands as well as those attempting to revitalize established brands can learn much of value from Vincent's book by understanding his various concepts and then following the guidelines he suggests.

Those who share my high regard for Vincent's book are urged to check out Stephen Denning's Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations, Brands: The New Wealth Creators co-edited by Susannah Hart and John Murphy, and Bernd Schmitt Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate to Your Company and Brands.

Similar Products