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The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding: And How to Break the Vicious Cycle
John Wiley and Sons Ltd, Feb 2011, Pages: 250
The world of Asian* brands is best characterized by complementary portions of confusion, delusion and outright ignorance by senior managers and brand owners. The net result is that the development of Asian brands has been arrested and significantly lags behind those in the West. Repeated surveys of Asians across the region confirm over and over again their overwhelming preference to drink Coke, wear Nike shoes and drive BMWs. Rare is the Apple zealot-like emotional relationship Asians will show for any Asian brand. Yet the region is awash with tens of thousands of new brands that emerge every other day reflecting an unstoppable energy and vitality that is fueling the increasingly universal belief that this century will belong to Asia (and China in particular). The continued absence of genuinely great Asian brands (as opposed to merely good brands) will at best slow down that prospect, at worse throw a real spanner into the works. Sooner or later something needs to happen. And something will and in all likelihood it will be driven by individual visionary Asian business leaders. This book provides a clear and compelling blueprint that will deliver long-term sustainable competitive advantage to these exceptional leaders who will, in time, blaze a pioneering trail for others to follow.
The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding aims to do three things: uncover, educate and execute.Firstly, it aims to expose the practices, circumstances, policies as well as management attitudes and mentality that individually and collectively conspire to effectively hold back Asian brands from graduating to great brands. These range from the plainly visible, to the insidiously undetectable. It is reflected in cultural values that encourage middle level company employees to sanitize bad news; it is reinforced by the unwillingness of all level employees to experiment with new ideas or even volunteer opinions for fear of being penalized for being wrong; it thrives in operational environments that separate functional departments responsible for creating the product from those that promise the experience of the product to the customer; and it dies a still-born death in the hands of CEOs who lack long term vision in favor of short-term wins.
Secondly, it aims to re-educate Asian managers - particularly CEOs - on the subject of brand and branding. It takes aim at the countless misconceptions and the outright ignorance that have collectively contributed to poor and non-existing brand building practices in Asian companies. The approach is provocative because many of the metaphors used (from rock music to religion) not only provide immediate and relieving clarity, but many do so by aiming to deliver personal epiphanies. Suddenly the vague, nebulous, contradictory and confusing are rendered clear, connected and comprehensible.
Thirdly, it provides a comprehensive step-by-step explanation of the typical multi-phase methodology brand consultants use to either position new brands or re-position existing brands that have lost their way. The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding is a long awaited no-holds barred reality check for Asian decision makers that at the same time validates the potential greatness hidden in Asian brands and provides the means to making them so.
*Excluding Japanese brands
This is one of the most thoughtful books on branding I've come across. Most such books are either quickly-crafted 'how-to' books or academic tomes over-burdened with references. This book is thoughtful because it raises questions which deal with the 'why' rather than just 'how' of branding. The reference to brutal truth as the truth which will set us free—to examine ourselves without self-illusions—is liberating. The notion that Asia has many good, but no great brands, is also not a put-down but a clarion call for Asian CEOs to rise to the challenge and create lasting, meaningful, committed brands.
Ho Kwon Ping
Chairman/CEO, Banyan Tree and Board of Trustees, SMU
2010 recipient of the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' by the American Creativity Association
A cold shower to wake people up. Joe Baladi's Brand Blueprint is a great tool for anyone involved in Sovereign Relationship Marketing or brand building anywhere.
Timothy Love
Vice Chairman
Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom APIMA
There are many books about branding but few address Asian companies directly. Joe Baladi has been one of the loudest voices to advocate strong branding practices to Asian companies determined to outperform their competitors. The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding is a timely book that all Asian CEOs with global aspirations should read.
Richard Eu
Group CEO, Eu Yan Sang International
The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding is the first book that connects branding frameworks to the realities of operating in Asia. It offers a very straightforward perspective on the challenges Asian CEOs face as they build their businesses and their brands, and perhaps the most compelling part of the book is the passionate plea for how Asian CEOs should be thinking different about branding. In true Baladi style, it is straight from the heart.
Maarten Kelder
Managing Partner (Asia), Monitor Group
A very interesting and valuable perspective on Asian branding... one that decision makers in the region should read and embrace. Well done Joe!
Ron Sim
Founder & CEO, OSIM International
Brands mean Business, anywhere in the world! The focus on Asia, at this time, is natural since the developing nations of the region did so much to help the world recover from the global 2008 economic crisis. Baladi's text is timely; it is thoughtful and thought-provoking; putting people and brands center stage with practical insights borne of his breadth of personal experience at the frontline.
Chris D. Beaumont
Professor, Tokyo University, Global Centre of Excellence
Director, North Asia, Results International
The brutal truth is that Joe Baladi is right. Asian CEOs must learn the brand skills used so successfully in the rest of the world. It will take a big change in mentality, but the rewards will be vast. This book is a great start to that revolution.
Michael Newman
Author, 22 Irrefutable Laws of Advertising
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