Companies like Apple, Nike, and Starbucks have made themselves as recognizable as they are successful. But large companies are not the only ones who can stand out. It’s achievable for any business willing to break away from the industry norms and find innovative ways to serve its customers.Based on a decade of research into what makes companies successful, Sticky Branding’s 12.5 guiding principles are drawn from hundreds of interviews with CEOs and business owners who have excelled within their industries. By following their examples your company will:- Attract more customers- Sell more, faster- Inspire employee engagement- Become immune to the competition- Earn higher profitsSticky Branding is your branding playbook. It provides ideas, stories and exercises to make your company stand out, attract customers, and grow into an incredible brand.

    Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

    For decades, understanding management—what works, and what doesn't—has been the pursuit of the world's best and brightest. Globally, there are more than 1,500 credible schools offering master's degrees in business administration, and hundreds of magazines and newspapers and thousands of books devoted to the subject. What's been missing is a simple and convenient way to disseminate the best ideas and practices to managers everywhere, at all levels and in all kinds of industries and organizations. The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management draws the best from the existing body of knowledge and research, and summarizes it in a simple, clear, and useful way. Focusing on classic and contemporary works that have been recommended by members of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council—all chief executives of large and successful global companies—it is an invaluable reference and essential tool for every manager, new and experienced alike.

    In a brilliant and unconventional book, Phil Rosenzweig unmasks the delusions that are commonly found in the corporate world. These delusions affect the business press and academic research, as well as many bestselling books that promise to reveal the secrets of success or the path to greatness. Such books claim to be based on rigorous thinking, but operate mainly at the level of storytelling. They provide comfort and inspiration, but deceive managers about the true nature of business success.The most pervasive delusion is the Halo Effect. When a company's sales and profits are up, people often conclude that it has a brilliant strategy, a visionary leader, capable employees, and a superb corporate culture. When performance falters, they conclude that the strategy was wrong, the leader became arrogant, the people were complacent, and the culture was stagnant. In fact, little may have changed -- company performance creates a Halo that shapes the way we perceive strategy, leadership, people, culture, and more.Drawing on examples from leading companies including Cisco Systems, IBM, Nokia, and ABB, Rosenzweig shows how the Halo Effect is widespread, undermining the usefulness of business bestsellers from "In Search of Excellence" to "Built to Last" and "Good to Great."Rosenzweig identifies nine popular business delusions. Among them:"The Delusion of Absolute Performance: " Company performance is relative to competition, not absolute, which is why following a formula can never guarantee results. Success comes from doing things better than rivals, which means that managers have to take risks."The Delusion of Rigorous Research: " Many bestselling authors praise themselves for the vast amount of data they have gathered, but forget that if the data aren't valid, it doesn't matter how much was gathered or how sophisticated the research methods appear to be. They trick the reader by substituting sizzle for substance."The Delusion of Single Explanations: " Many studies show that a particular factor, such as corporate culture or social responsibility or customer focus, leads to improved performance. But since many of these factors are highly correlated, the effect of each one is usually less than suggested.In what promises to be a landmark book, "The Halo Effect" replaces mistaken thinking with a sharper understanding of what drives business success and failure. "The Halo Effect" is a guide for the thinking manager, a way to detect errors in business research and to reach a clearer understanding of what drives business success and failure.Skeptical, brilliant, iconoclastic, and mercifully free of business jargon, Rosenzweig's book is nevertheless dead serious, making his arguments about important issues in an unsparing and direct way that will appeal to a broad business audience. For managers who want to separate fact from fiction in the world of business, "The Halo Effect" is essential reading -- witty, often funny, and sharply argued, it's an antidote to so much of the conventional thinking that clutters business bookshelves.

    The book illustrates the importance and inevitability of gamification and walks readers through the process of using game mechanics and concepts to motivate staff, engage customers, and ignite business growth in ways previously impossible.Gabe Zichermann is CEO of Gamification Co and Dopamine and is considered one of the world's foremost experts on using game thinking and game mechanics to engage customers and employees. Joselin Linder coauthored the acclaimed Game-Based Marketing with Gabe Zichermann. Her work has appeared on NPR's "This American Life," AOL, and gamification.co.

    A brand must be elastic enough to allow for reasonable category and product-line extensions, flexible enough to change with dynamic market conditions, consistent enough so that consumers who travel physically or virtually won’t be confused, and focused enough to provide clear differentiation from the competition. Strong brands are more than globally recognizable; they are critical assets that can make a significant contribution to your company’s bottom line.In Global Brand Power, Kahn brings brand management into the 21st century, addressing how branding contributes to the purchase process and how to position a strong global brand, from identifying the appropriate competitive set, offering a sustainable differential advantage, and targeting the right strategic segment. This essential guide also covers how customer ownership of your brand affects marketing strategy, methods for assessing brand value, how to manage a brand for long-term profitability, effective brand communications and repositioning strategies, and how to manage a brand in a world of total transparency—where one slip-up can go around the world via social media instantaneously.Filled with stories about how Coca-Cola, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Marriott, Apple, Starbucks, Campbell Soup Company, Southwest Airlines, and celebrities like Lady Gaga are leveraging their brands, Global Brand Power is the only book you will need to implement an effective brand strategy for your firm.

    How well do you know your customers What Customers Crave examines how the hyper-connected economy is radically changing consumer expectations, and reveals what companies need to do to stay on top. The solution rests on two simple questions: What do your customers love? What do they hate? Find the answers, and you’re well on your way to success.Jam-packed with tools and examples, What Customers Crave helps you reinvent how you engage with customers (both digitally and non-digitally) and:● Gain invaluable insights into who they are and what they care about● Use listening posts and Contact Point Innovation to refine customer types● Engineer experiences for each micromarket that are not only exceptional, but insanely relevant● Connect across the five most important touchpoints● Co-create with your customers● And much moreWhen you learn to provide your customers with exactly what they want, they not only buy—they come back again and again…and bring their friends.

    Covers every aspect of the negotiating process with practical, proven advice: from beginning steps to critical final moves.

    But have you ever wondered how Google makes billions of dollars while providing search, email, and maps for free? How do they figure out which ads perfectly capture your interests? And how do they search the entire internet so quickly, anyway?By answering real-world questions like this, Swipe to Unlock gives you a peek under the hood of the technology you use every day, decodes technologists' weirdest buzzwords, and shows you how technology is changing the society we live in for better or for worse. Unlock the answers you need to become a better-educated consumer, digital citizen, or technology professional.

    We depend more than we realize on wishful thinking and romanticized ideas of history. In the new paperback edition of this fascinating book, a book that has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, Slashdot.org, Lifehacker.com and in The New York Times, bestselling author Scott Berkun pulls the best lessons from the history of innovation, including the recent software and web age, to reveal powerful and suprising truths about how ideas become successful innovations -- truths people can easily apply to the challenges of today. Through his entertaining and insightful explanations of the inherent patterns in how Einstein’s discovered E=mc2 or Tim Berner Lee’s developed the idea of the world wide web, you will see how to develop existing knowledge into new innovations.Each entertaining chapter centers on breaking apart a powerful myth, popular in the business world despite it's lack of substance. Through Berkun's extensive research into the truth about innovations in technology, business and science, you’ll learn lessons from the expensive failures and dramatic successes of innovations past, and understand how innovators achieved what they did -- and what you need to do to be an innovator yourself. You'll discover:Why problems are more important than solutionsHow the good innovation is the enemy of the greatWhy children are more creative than your co-workersWhy epiphanies and breakthroughs always take timeHow all stories of innovations are distorted by the history effectHow to overcome people’s resistance to new ideasWhy the best idea doesn’t often winThe paperback edition includes four new chapters, focused on appling the lessons from the original book, and helping you develop your skills in creative thinking, pitching ideas, and staying motivated."For centuries before Google, MIT, and IDEO, modern hotbeds of innovation, we struggled to explain any kind of creation, from the universe itself to the multitudes of ideas around us. While we can make atomic bombs, and dry-clean silk ties, we still don’t have satisfying answers for simple questions like: Where do songs come from? Are there an infinite variety of possible kinds of cheese? How did Shakespeare and Stephen King invent so much, while we’re satisfied watching sitcom reruns? Our popular answers have been unconvincing, enabling misleading, fantasy-laden myths to grow strong." -- Scott Berkun, from the text"Berkun sets us free to change the world." -- Guy Kawasaki, author of Art of the StartScott was a manager at Microsoft from 1994-2003, on projects including v1-5 (not 6) of Internet Explorer. He is the author of three bestselling books, Making Things Happen, The Myths of Innovation and Confessions of a Public Speaker. He works full time as a writer and speaker, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes magazine, The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired magazine, National Public Radio and other media. He regularly contributes to Harvard Business Review and Bloomberg Businessweek, has taught creative thinking at the University of Washington, and has appeared as an innovation and management expert on MSNBC and on CNBC. He writes frequently on innovation and creative thinking at his blog: scottberkun.com and tweets at @berkun.

    Best in the marketplace." -Steve Hayden, President, Worldwide Brand Services, Ogilvy & Mather "In 1986, the Levi's(R) Dockers(R) brand challenged the biggest fish in the men's apparel sea, Haggar. And we beat the pants off them! In his new book, Adam Morgan adroitly presents many of the same fundamental marketing principles which worked so well for us. A must read for marketing professionals." -Steve Goldstein, V.P. Marketing & Research, Levi's Brand U.S.A. Years ago, Avis was a little fish in the car rental industry. Fearing the company would be swallowed up if they didn't "try harder," Avis boldly announced its #2 status to the world through advertising-and the rest is history. Why has this approach become a marketing legend? Because there are more people who can relate to being #2, 3, or even 4, than can claim they know what it's like to be the Big Fish. There are plenty of little fish out there, circling in schools around the brand leaders they so desperately wish to surpass. Squeezed by new competition, a retreating consumer, and aggressive retailing practices, marketers of second- and third-rank brands are struggling to survive in a business environment where they have fewer resources and less control than ever before. But instead of watching-and copying-every move the Big Fish makes, these "Challenger" brands need their own set of marketing rules if they have any hopes of staying afloat and competing effectively against the leader. Eating the Big Fish is the first book that sets out to define those rules. Adam Morgan offers an innovative mental and strategic framework for those who find themselves in this new, hostile middle ground, looking for aggressive growth against the market leader. Morgan, the Joint European Planning Director of TBWA (the international advertising agency behind the campaigns for such brands as Absolut vodka, Apple computers, and Sony Playstation), has examined in detail forty of the most successful Challenger brands of the last ten years -new or relaunched brands which have achieved rapid growth (and fame) with limited marketing resources. He outlines the reasons why Challengers must think differently in order to survive, offering hands-on advice, plentiful examples, and invaluable information to help a Challenger learn how to swim out of the shadow of the Big Fish. At the heart of the book are the Eight Credos of Challenger Brands -Morgan's analysis of the common marketing strands that these Challengers seem to share, which range in scope from the need to project who you are and what you believe in (#2, Build a Lighthouse Identity) to insights about the organizational structure and focus in such companies and brands (#8, Become Idea-Centered, Rather Than Consumer-Centered). Morgan fully analyzes each Credo, discussing in detail the marketing strategy and behavior of the specific Challenger brands that have shaped the rules. He provides case studies that include both his agency's clients and other well-known brands, such as Lexus, Oakley, Fox TV, Energizer, Virgin Atlantic, Swatch, Nissan, and more. Morgan then draws the Credos together into a "Challenger Strategic Program" that can be applied to the reader's own market and brand challenge, offering a proposed outline for a two-day Off-Site Program that will attempt to kick-start the Challenger process for a core group within any marketing or management team. In addition, Morgan looks at the great Challengers of the last ten years who have gone on to become brand leaders, and shows how even the rules of brand leadership have changed -why staying #1 now means, in fact, thinking and behaving like a #2. Anyone can follow a leader. It takes a smart company to go up against the Big Fish, and Morgan's innovative, strategic program will show even the littlest fish how to make a meal out of the competition.

    A growth-focused approach: The book is divided into three sections, which cover planning for fast growth, building a company for fast growth, and leading for fast growth. Each topic the author covers - from creating a vision for the company's future to learning how to generate free PR for a developing company - is squarely focused on the end goal: doubling the size of the entrepreneur's company in three years or less. A down-to-earth action plan: Herold's experienced-based advice never gets bogged down in generalities or theory. Instead, he offers a wealth of practical tips, including: How to design meetings for maximum efficiency; How to hire top-quality talent; How to grow in particularly tough markets; How to put together a board of advisors - even for a smaller company; and, How even the busy entrepreneur can achieve a work/life balance.

    The first part offers John Hegarty’s personal insights and advice on the advertising business: Ideas, Brands, The Agency, Briefs, Pitching, Storytelling, and Technology. In the second part, Hegarty talks about his own career and experiences, from his early days working with Charles Saatchi to the founding of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in 1982 and its rise to global renown with offices in London, New York, Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Sao Paulo.

    It offers a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power modern marketing and PR to communicate with buyers directly, raise visibility, and increase sales. It shows how large and small companies, nonprofits, and more can leverage Web-based content to get the right information to the right people at the right time for a fraction of the cost of big-budget campaigns.Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real-world examples of content marketing and inbound marketing success, this is a practical guide to the new reality of reaching buyers when they're ready.Includes updated information, examples, and case studies plus an examination of newly popular tools such as Infographics, photo-sharing using Pinterest and Instagram, as well as expanded information on social media such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedInDavid Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, advisor to emerging companies including HubSpot and Eloqua, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media. Prior to starting his own business, he was marketing VP for two U.S. publicly traded companies and was Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world's largest information companies."The New Rules of Marketing & PR" offers the single resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, nonprofit managers as well as those working in marketing or publicity departments to build a marketing and PR strategy to grow any business.

    “This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we’d work together someday.” After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he bought a little-known graphics company called Pixar. One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and executive to whom he had never spoken before, to persuade Levy to help him get Pixar off the ground. What Levy found was a company on the verge of failure. To Pixar and Beyond is the story of what happened next: how, working closely with Jobs, Levy produced and implemented a highly improbable plan that transformed Pixar into one of Hollywood’s greatest success stories. Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, firsthand account of Pixar’s ascent, how it made creative choices, Levy’s enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper lessons that can apply to many aspects of our lives.