ZAG: The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands

When everybody zigs, zag, says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear whiteboard overview style of the author

Auteur

Marty Neumeier's professional mission is to "incite business revolution by unleashing the power of design thinking." He does this by writing books, conducting workshops, and speaking internationally about the power of brand, innovation, and design. Marty serves as Director of Transformation at Liquid Agency, and divides his writing time between California and southwest France.

Texte du rabat

In an age of me-too products and instant communications, keeping up with the competition is not a winning strategy. Today you have to out-position, out-maneuver, and out-design the competition. The new rule? When everybody zigs, zag. In the recent bestseller, The Brand Gap (AIGA/New Riders), Neumeier showed companies how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. In his latest book Zag, he illustrates the first big step in building a high-performance brand-radical differentiation. While most books on business and branding present an exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) array of examples and studies to support theses, Neumeier takes the opposite tack. By presenting the least amount of information necessary, and by using the shorthand of the conference room--illustrations, diagrams, and summaries--he brings the big ideas of branding into sharp focus. Instead of a scholar's view from the outside, he offers a practitioner's view from the inside. In a book that you can finish in a brief plane ride, Neumeier has compressed his thoughts into 200 pages of easy-to-read, easy-to-use, and easy-to-remember principles. Those with a grasp of branding will be inspired by what they find here, and those who would like to understand it better, will find the courage, insights, and process to build a high-performance brand.

Résumé

"When everybody zigs, zag," says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear "whiteboard overview" style of the author’s first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation. The author argues that in an extremely cluttered marketplace, traditional differentiation is no longer enough—today companies need “radical differentiation” to create lasting value for their shareholders and customers. In an entertaining 3-hour read you’ll learn:

• why me-too brands are doomed to fail
• how to "read" customer feedback on new products and messages
• the 17 steps for designing “difference” into your brand
• how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “trueline” to drive synergy
• the secrets of naming products, services, and companies
• the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios
• how to “stretch” your brand without breaking it
• how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycle

From the back cover:
In an age of me-too products and instant communications, keeping up with the competition is no longer a winning strategy. Today you have to out-position, out-maneuver, and out-design the competition. The new rule? When everybody zigs, zag. In his first book, THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier showed companies how to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. In ZAG, he illustrates the number-one strategy of high-performance brands—radical differentiation.

ZAG is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA. For a quick peek inside ZAG, go to www.zagbook.com.

Contenu

• Part 1. Finding Your Zag
• Hit ’Em Where They Ain’t
• The Dynamics of Different and Good
• Look for the White Space
• Uncover a Need State
• Find a Parade
• Part 2. Designing Your Zag
• Brand As a System
• Checkpoint 1: Who Are You?
• Checkpoint 2: What Do You Do?
• Checkpoint 3: What’s Your Vision?
• Checkpoint 4: What Wave Are You Riding?
• Checkpoint 5: Who Shares the Brandscape?
• Checkpoint 6: What Makes You the “Only”?
• Checkpoint 7: What Should You Add or Subtract?
• Checkpoint 8: Who Loves You?
• Checkpoint 9: Who’s the Enemy?
• Checkpoint 10: What Do They Call You?
• Checkpoint 11: How Do You Explain Yourself?
• Checkpoint 12: How Do You Spread the Word?
• Checkpoint 13: How Do People Engage With You?
• Checkpoint 14: What Do They Experience?
• Checkpoint 15: How Do You Earn Their Loyalty?
• Checkpoint 16: How Do You Extend Your Success?
• Checkpoint 17: How Do You Protect Your Portfolio?
• Part 3. Renewing Your Zag
• Scissors, Paper, Rock
• The Focus of Scissors
• The Momentum of Rock
• The Size of Paper
• How Structure Becomes Stricture
• Unlocking Your Zag
• When Good Shareholders Go Bad
• The New Prime Directive
• A Two-Stage Rocket
• Zagging At the Speed of Change
• The 17-Step Process
• Take-Home Lessons
• Recommended Reading
• About Neutron
• Acknowledgments
• About The Author
• Index