Design Book Givewaway

Posted 26 Nov 2009 - 11 Gratefully received comments

This competition is now closed, however, please feel free to contribute to the discussion in the comments section.

I’m giving away 3 copies of “The Brand Handbook” by Wally Olins. I reviewed this book earlier in the week and was impressed with the amount of information it delivers in a compact and concise way. This book is not specifically designers, it is aimed at a broader audience. Anyone that might be concerned with branding of any type will find useful information between it’s covers.

Brand-Book-Giveaway

I’m a great believer in books, I love knowledge, and good knowledge should always be passed on, so that’s what I’m doing. You can read my review of this book in an earlier post.


I have 3 copies to give away.
All you have to do to enter is be part of the discussion in the comments section of this blog post. I’ll get the ball rolling with a simple branding related question, then it’s up to you to chip in. If you don’t feel like you can continue the discussion just give me a good example of a brand that you feel is successful and a few reasons why you think it is.
Alternatively you could simply leave a comment suggesting improvements I could make to my blog, or the sort of articles you would like to read.

I will moderate each comment, if I feel it is relevant and decide to approve it you can consider that an acceptance of entry. If your comment doesn’t appear in the thread it has been declined. My judgement is final on this and I’m only stipulating it as a way of avoiding ‘empty’ entries. I want to give the books away, but I also want a bit of discussion.

Feel free to post multiple times to carry on with a discussion, but you will only be entered once.

Another way to enter is to sign up to my email notifications. Everyone that signs up will automatically go into the draw.

If you decide to participate in the discussion AND sign up to my email notifications, you will be entered into the draw TWICE.

I will keep the discussion open until 12 noon (UK) Sunday (29/11/2009) and announce the winners on Monday (30/11/2009). Winners will be notified by email.

The winners will be the first three entries selected at random.

I’m happy to post these books worldwide, but I cannot be held responsible for how long it will take to reach you or any extra charges that might be incurred through customs etc. The books will be posted from the UK.

Good luck.

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11 Comments

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    November 26, 2009 at 9:02 am

    I’ll start with a nice easy question to get the discussion going, but it’s a question that a lot of people get wrong.

    What is a brand and why do they exist?

    [Reply]

  • Tom Stutt says:
    November 26, 2009 at 9:04 am

    Hi Ken,

    One brand that I think is mega successful is Tesco. People may not like them and people will but what they have done is bring customers to their store because they sell pretty much anything. Supermarkets used to be, you buy groceries, you get out and thats it. Tesco have turned supermarkets into a different shopping experience. Clothes, toys, food, drink, electronics, homeware. They sell pretty much anything and the thing is they are usually cheaper that the high street stores. This is why I think Tesco is a great brand and that is why they are super successful.
    Cheers Ken.

    [Reply]

  • Mark Skinner says:
    November 26, 2009 at 11:59 am

    I have the impression brands are what cause people to choose one companys service over another, it consists of many things from peoples opinions of the company to the logo to the way it runs. It’s important that every single part of your brand is a positive aspect so that you will be more successful, if someone doesn’t like the look of your website, or your logo, or your company’s MD, they aren’t going to use you… but if they like these things, and hear good things, then the money will come rolling in. Creating a good brand isn’t possible by just making a pretty logo and a nice tagline. Otherwise McDonalds would have gone down the pan along time ago.

    [Reply]

  • Tom Stutt says:
    November 26, 2009 at 1:14 pm

    @ Mark Skinner – what you said about liking the things and hearing good things backs up what I said about Tesco. That is why Tesco sell many things. People will like something that they sell, then other will hear about what they have to offer which gives a good impression that they sell something for everyone and offer their products at a good price.

    [Reply]

  • Carolyn Ruffell says:
    November 26, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    I once read that ‘a brand is nothing wanting to be everything’ which i think pretty much sums it up. A brand is only created by the consumer, the product is what is actually successful, any company starts out as nothing but always has a brand the brand only becomes bigger as the company becomes more successful,

    [Reply]

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    November 26, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    Thanks for dropping by Carolyn, hope you are well.
    I wouldn’t agree that a brand is made by the consumer. A lot of people are paid lots of money to develop branding for consumers to buy into. Consumers justify a brands conception and existence.
    One question your comment raises for me is this:
    Does a company get bigger because of successful branding or does the brand get bigger because of the success of the company?

    [Reply]

  • Christopher Mitchell says:
    November 27, 2009 at 9:29 am

    A Brand is a companies way of getting their name noticed and getting recognition from the general public (both good and bad). They exist for the purpose of getting people to know about the company in question. Brands also have to constantly be fluid or developed, if they are left alone they can become stagnant or old.

    A good example is PricewaterhouseCoopers, who redevelop parts of their brand every 3 months, in some fundamental ways. They change their list of colour spectrums they can use and entire image galleries. The only thing that remains constant is the use of their PwC logo and font.

    [Reply]

  • Mart Willingham says:
    November 27, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    Someone mentioned Tesco!! I’m not a big fan myself of big supermarkets pushing out the little guys selling everything cheap. However working in a electical store knowing what they sell is complete pants! They make there mark up on food etc hence the undercutting of other items; games,tv’s,clothes etc.

    A good brand i admire… Yes Ken get ready for it…Trump. Donald J Trump thinks big and just owning anything Trump gives people a sense of wealth. The guy is worth billions realestate, books, clothing, golf courses etc. Yeah Mr Trump maybe pushing out little guys (he owns tonnes of buildings in NYC just sold land of Empire State Building) however this is a guy who gives back to the community unlike Tesco who wanna push everyone out.

    Sorry for the Tesco rant i’m gonna leave it at that.

    [Reply]

  • Andy Kleeman says:
    November 27, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    I think lot of people confuse brands/branding with logo’s when the way something looks is a very small part of a ‘brand’.

    Virgin Atlantic for example, their logo is not their brand (although is part of). Their brand is the way the company conducts itself from the red uniforms, to the way someone answers the phone through to the way meals are served onboard.

    Cadburys is an example of excellent branding, there’s two things in particular that stick out from Cadburys recently.

    1) their adverts with the Gorilla playing drums / the airport vehicles / kids with eyebrows – had very little to do with Chocolate but everyone soon knew them to be cadburys the second they came on.

    2) ‘Cadbury’s Dairy Milk’ is now ‘fair trade’… its been played very well, ‘Cadburys are doing a good thing’… but hang about… why has it taken them this long? have they been exploiting people for all these years previously and just decided to right their wrongs? – either way it’s certainly been announced in such a way to show them in a positive light….

    The main thing I try to remember is a brand is not a logo and a nice logo does not make a nice company, a brand happens over time through hard work, determination, a good ethos and good communication.

    [Reply]

  • Ken Reynolds says:
    November 28, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    Great comment Andy, not sure you need the book ;)

    [Reply]

  • Carolyn Ruffell says:
    November 29, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    hmm i still agree with what i said before, as cadburys wouldn’t be recognised if it wasnt already an established product, a company still has to build on themselves before a brand is successful and that includes the uniforms and the way things are delivered to the client cos if the product is poor the brand is worth nothing at all

    [Reply]

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