What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best From the Rest

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Book Review Editing
Yohn, D. L. (2013). What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest. John Wiley & Sons.
Chapter 1 of “What Great Brands Do” talks about how the root of most companies issues lie within the companies values. Sam Palmsiano talks about how IBM became irrelevant for this reason in particular which resulted in 400,000 employees losing their jobs back in the 1990s. The beliefs that were once set by IBM’s founder turned the company’s culture into a place of entitlement and arrogance. Palmisano made a bold but much needed choice to change IBM’S company culture. Palmsiano states that “It’s always easier to change what you say about your company than it is to change your company.” In other words, any company can just say that they’re making changes within their company culture through advertising or any other form of promotion. Although this is the fastest way to gain an audience’s attention, its not effective if the company doesn’t put their money where their mouth is and actually act on making a change.
Change starts within the workplace aka the employees. If there is no positive workspace, the less likely companies will deliver the best experience to the consumers. “Your brand must be a promise delivered.” The book discusses an outline of a 3 step process for a company to deliver their promises and maintain a positive company culture.
After Palmisano modified IBM’s culture, IBM started producing more revenue and profits. He created a new business model and was able to create a set of new expectations for the company and set his people up for success. One of the most important lessons I learned from the book is the importance of emotional brand building in public relations management. For instance, the author uses the example of Nike to illustrate the importance of focusing on the customer rather than the product: the sportswear company built a globally-renowned brand by focusing on the brand ethos when marketing its products. Nike inspires its target customers to “Just Do It” and most of its advertisements focus on selling the emotional rewards of fitness. Great brands understand that purchase decisions are driven by feelings and therefore focus on creating emotional connections with customers that translate to higher sales. This principle translates to public relations management since developing meaningful relationships with customers is at the heart of creating a brand identity that resonates with the general public.
Another important thing I learned from the book is the importance of building an internal brand culture that understands and supports the values, practices, and principles that define the company’s brand identity. The author uses the example of IBM to illustrate how focusing on creating an effective internal culture translates to improved innovation, employee responsibility in all stakeholder relationships, and better public relations. This example underscores the value of reinforcing a strong workplace culture supp...