Faced with crowded markets, flat growth and growing consumer cynicism, brand marketers are looking for ways to deepen the emotional connection between their brands and customers. This book uses interviews and case studies to show how brands such as Harley-Davidson, Google, Zara clothing, and Camper shoes have outstripped the growth of their peers by igniting passion among employees and consumers alike. They are "passion brands," and they show the way forward for marketing in the 21st century. Drawing on both research and academic theory, the authors put forward a practical, systematic approach to the business of creating passion brands from existing brands. Always vivid, often contentious, Creating Passion Brands shows what really counts at the heart of branding today.

Every industry around the globe is being completely disrupted. Stalwart brands are losing market share to upstarts that capture our collective consciousness. Trillions of dollars are at stake. Brands know a new approach is needed. But most don’t realize the strategic underpinnings need to change. Great brands are no longer built through interruptive advertisements. Friction argues that brands don't simply need clever messages or new, shiny technologies. They need a fundamental change in strategy. Friction provides a system for embracing transparency, engaging audiences, creating evangelists, and unleashing unprecedented growth. The authors of Friction have worked on some of the industry's most innovative assignments for the world’s most successful brands. This groundbreaking book reveals how corporations can divorce themselves from legacy business models to create a passion brand. A brand that breaks its addiction to traditional advertising. A brand that empowers its customers. A brand that dominates the competition.

We at Hershey's know something about brands that ignite genuine passion. In Passion Brands, Kate unlocks the secrets, showing how passion grows as special brands conscript a loyal following to spend precious social and financial currency. It's a fast, hot read, full of tips and tactics you can apply today and feel tomorrow on the bottom line.-Dave West, President and CEO, The Hershey CompanyKate is dissecting passion as a branding exercise. Timely, thoughtful and as ever erudite. I love reading her stuff.-Paco Underhill, author of Why We BuyKate Newlin is one of the sharpest brains in consumer marketing.... Her success in creating, building and reinventing brands should make this work invaluable.-Daryl Brewster, chairman and CEO, Krispy KremeKate is quite simply one of the smartest individuals I've met in business.... Her raw creativity, coupled with a profound understanding of our culture, market space and consumers make for remarkably actionable thinking.-Jim Becktold, director, Proctor & GambleWhat makes some brands stand out from the pack year after year? In a vast marketplace glutted with countless pretty good brands, how are some products able to command unquestionable customer loyalty and lasting enthusiasm?Veteran business strategist Kate Newlin defines the key ingredients that go into passion brands-brands that we recommend to friends wholeheartedly, with a joyous, even evangelical zeal. Passion brands inspire an emotional attachment. Unlike consumer fads, we become personally invested in them, sometimes even more so than we do with our friends and loved ones.Newlin identifies the social factors that have made passion brands the driving force in consumer marketing today. Based on proprietary research, which makes use of in-depth interviews with company executives as well as state-of-the-art analytics, she answers the following key questions:?Are there common characteristics that enable passion brands to become carriers of personal meaning?What is the financial impact on a company that produces a passion brand?Do passion brands create a halo over the stock prices?She notes that in a world of almost unlimited consumer choices, the old rules of marketing just don't work anymore (product, package, position, price, and promotion). Now marketers must react to consumers in real time, encouraging brand democracy in which users can help decide a product's characteristics, from size and color to how it should be marketed.Passion Brands is must reading for entrepreneurs and denizens of corporate cubicles and boardrooms alike.Kate Newlin (New York, NY), the principal and founder of Kate Newlin Consulting, is the author of Shopportunity! How to Be a Retail Revolutionary, which was on the Oprah Selects list of O magazine in 2006 and was also a recommended selection of the 2006 Harvard Business Review. With over 25 years of experience in business strategy and marketing, Newlin has worked with a broad cross-section of Fortune 500 businesses, including McDonald's, Pennzoil/Quaker State, Kraft, Hasbro, Cigna, GE Capital, Waldenbooks, LensCrafters, and others.

In a world of switched-off and disenchanted consumers, the time is right for a new approach to communicating with customers. Passion Branding is that approach. Centred on a passionate relationship between brand and consumer and the leverage of that passion in order to create value for all involved in the relationship, Passion Branding can be a great way to drive brand awareness at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising, particularly for brands that don't enjoy high emotional affinity with customers. Drawing on major case studies from around the world (including Shell and Ferrari, Hyundai and the FIFA World Cup, and Guinness and the Rugby World Cup) as well as interviews with top practitioners, Neill Duffy introduces Passion Branding, shows why it is about much more than simple sponsorship, and details the many areas in which this versatile business tool can play a role.

Gold Medal Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award in Business & Economics In an era of economic uncertainty, layoffs, and hiring freezes, creating and promoting a top-flight personal brand that stands out in the crowd is more important than ever. In Fresh Passion: Get a Brand Or Die A Generic, Michael D. Brown shows you how to employ the Fresh Passion methodology to build a personal brand that will maximize your potential and help you to achieve success beyond your dreams in whatever field you choose. Whether you are an executive, an entrepreneur, a tradesperson, an educator, a student, or a member of any other vocation, Fresh Passion is the pathway to outperform and outshine your peers and competitors and obtain the professional and personal rewards you deserve. Brown outlines the Fresh Passion method in easy-to-follow detail, with plenty of interactive worksheets and quizzes to keep you engaged in the process and on the right track. You will discover how to create an entire experience you can present to employers, bosses, clients, and co-workers that will leave them begging for your services and expertise. With Fresh Passion, you can avoid the pitfalls of a generic career and instead obtain the benefits that come from being a branded entity. Inject some Fresh Passion into your life and your career today! It’s never too soon to prevent a generic death and never too late to create a winning brand that will guarantee you long-term personal and professional success that does not waver?even when the economy starts to shake.

"Married to the Brand tells the story of what makes profitable brand relationships work - through the eyes of the consumer, not the marketer. Packed with stories and compelling discoveries from a worldwide consumer database, this book explores why people bond with some brands and not others."--BOOK JACKET.

The world's most powerful brands are no longer being developed on Madison Avenue. They are methodically crafted by startups using a revolutionary new framework. process.Businesses are now able to validate their branding in the market, steering clear from meaningless questions like "If you were a dog, what kind of dog would you be?" and turning subjective opinion into fact. This is not new jargon for old thinking, but a fundamental shift in how brand development works.Unfortunately, many large companies haven't learned the new way. The cost? Millions of dollars in lost sales, and countless unsatisfied customers.The Lean Brand offers you the blueprint for creating passionate customers who love and support your business. Distilling over 16 years of experience in branding and the lean startup movement, Jeremiah Gardner teams up with New York Times bestselling author Brant Cooper to reveal:- The new definition of brand- How you can emulate successful lean brands like Buffer and SoulPancake to build a loyal customer base- How customers and brands really interact through The Lean Brand Framework- How to use Viability Experiments to test and iterate your brand, and find Product-Market-Brand fit- A set of tools including the Persona Grid, the MVB Canvas, the Experiment Map and the Value Stream Matrix that will help you develop your brand properlyGreat brands must do more than just satisfy customers; they must create passionate ones. The Lean Brand shows you how to develop meaningful relationships with your audience, based on a shared journey of value creation.