The Marketing Book Podcast: "The Indispensable Brand" by Mitch Duckler

The Indispensable Brand: Move from Invisible to Invaluable by Mitch Duckler

About the Book

What makes your brand indispensable?

Increasing market share, commanding premium price points, enhancing profit margins–the overall growth and enduring success of your business are inextricably linked to the strength of your brands.

Whether it is a corporate, business unit, or product brand in question, your challenge is to identify a meaningfully differentiated positioning and to bring that positioning to life in the market in ways that are consistent with its compelling point of difference.

However, today we are faced with a condition that can only be described as brand monotony–consumers’ inability to distinguish between brands within practically any industry or category.

If you were to remove your brand name from packaging, advertising, or any other piece of marketing collateral–while leaving every other communication element in place–would consumers be able to identify it as coming from your brand? In most cases, the answer is a resounding “”no!””

The Indispensable Brand is your guide to crafting a brand strategy and rising above the noise and monotony in your industry… to move your brands and business from indistinguishable to indispensable.

In this book you’ll learn:

The five key components that comprise any comprehensive brand strategy
The four ways for identifying a brand positioning that is meaningfully differentiated
How to ensure every aspect of the customer experience is consistent with brand positioning
The five sources of inspiration that can drive transformative brand extension and growth
The seven types of brand stories, and their role in fostering enduring customer relationships
How to ensure digital activation not only drives transactions but builds long-term brand equity
How to measure and track your brand’s effectiveness and grow its influence over time

Your brands are more than a logo, identity, or tagline. They are among the most valuable assets of your company. They also represent the promise you make to and fulfill with, your customers.

Whether your business is B2B or B2C; large or small, product- or service-based–and regardless of industry or sector–the principles put forward in The Indispensable Brand will help you build and maintain a portfolio of strong, profitable, and enduring brands.

About the Author

Mitch Duckler is the founder and managing partner of FullSurge, a brand, and marketing strategy consultancy based in Chicago, Illinois. He has more than twenty-five years of brand management and management consulting experience.

Prior to FullSurge, Mitch was a senior partner at Vivaldi Partners Group and a partner in the Chicago office of Prophet, where he co-led the brand strategy practice area.

His client base includes Fortune 500 companies and numerous world-class brands, such as Exxon Mobil, Deloitte, Kellogg’s, Best Buy, Payless ShoeSource, American Family Insurance, NBCUniversal, Cox Communications, Alcon, The Home Depot, and General Electric.

Mitch began his career in brand management at Unilever, where he worked on category-leading personal care brands, including Suave and Degree.

He also worked for The Coca-Cola Company, where he helped launch an in-house consulting group that provides consumer and brand marketing consulting services to many of the company’s largest retail customers.

Mitch is a faculty member of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) School of Marketing. He earned a BS in business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

And, interesting fact – he attended the most recent perfect game in baseball (in 2012).

Listen to the Interview…

Links…

The Indispensable Brand: Move from Invisible to Invaluable by Mitch Duckler (Amazon)
The Indispensable Brand (book website)
Mitch Duckler (LinkedIn)
Mitch Duckler (Twitter)
Mitch Duckler (Full Surge)
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker
Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging that Energizes, Persuades and Inspires by David Aaker (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
Humanizing B2B: The New Truth in Marketing That Will Transform Your Brand and Your Sales by Paul Cash and James Trezona (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader: How to Succeed by Building Customer and Company Value by Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
Rise of the Revenue Marketer by Debbie Qaqish (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy by Kristin Zhivago (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
CMOs and The Spark To Drive Growth (Deloitte)
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill
Brand Leadership by David Aaker
Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant by David Aaker
Building Strong Brands by David Aaker
RE:Think Innovation: How the World’s Most Prolific Innovators Come Up with Great Ideas that Deliver Extraordinary Outcomes by Carla Johnson (Marketing Book Podcast interview)
Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing by Robert Rose and Carla Johnson (Marketing Book Podcast interview)

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