David Taylor and David Nichols are Managing Partners of the brandgym, a network of senior brand coaches that help teams to create a clear brand vision and the action plans to turn this into growth. Clients include SAB Miller, Tesco, Unilever, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Kerry Foods and RSA Insurance.

David Taylor has been named one of the world's 50 leading marketing thinkers by the CIM. He is the author of three other brandgym books published by John Wiley: Brand Stretch, Brand Vision and Where's the Sausage?. He also writes [...], one of Europe's top 10 branding blogs. David started his career in brand management with P&G before doing an MBA at INSEAD. He then started and grew the Paris office of Added Value, where he met David Nichols.

[...]

David Nichols is a leading expert on innovation and the author of the brandgym book Return on Ideas: A practical guide to making innovation pay, in addition to Brands & Gaming published by Palgrave Macmillan. He started his career at OC&C Strategy Consultants, moving on to the marketing consultancy Added Value where he was Managing Director of Australia and then the UK. He has a first class degree in Aerospace Engineering from Bristol University and is an aerobatic pilot in his spare time.

[...]

What's new in Brandgym 2? xiii

Overview to The Brandgym Workouts xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction: Being a leader 1

Being a leader is better - Hollywood gum 3

Leader Brands need brand leaders 7

Brand-led business 8

Staying in shape 9

Inside Tesco 10

1. Workout One: Follow the money 17

Why branding still has a bad name 19

Follow the money 22

Business model vs. brand equity - Axe shaving and Special K bars 26

Follow the money brief - Cointreau 27

Key takeouts 29

3-part action plan 29

Handover 30

2. Workout Two: Use insight as fuel 33

Beyond findings to insights - Mucinex 35

Don't understand the consumer. Be the consumer - Nike 37

360 ¿ insight 38

Competition - Magnum 39

Culture: looking at the bigger picture - Castrol 41

Consumer: digging deeper to understand more - Harley Davidson 43

Company: look within 47

Key takeouts 49

3-part action plan 49

Handover 50

3. Workout Three: Focus, focus, focus 51

Focus is good 53

TheDanonestory 54

Different brand portfolio models - Gillette 56

So, how many brands do you need? - Santander 65

How many brands can you feed? 70

Setting the right strategy - Cadbury Dairy Milk 72

Key takeouts 75

3-part action plan 75

Handover 76

4. Workout Four: Build big brand ideas 77

The power of vision 79

Beyond box filling to big ideas 80

Insight fuel - Pampers 84

What are you going to fight for? - T-Mobile 88

Sausage and sizzle - Richmond sausages 89

The story of your brand - Pampers 96

Test drive the vision 100

Time to sign up 105

Make it real 108

Key takeouts 110

3-part action plan 110

Handover 111

5. Workout Five: Grow the core 113

The heart of a healthy brand 115

SnowWhiteandthe17Dwarves-Frito Lay 118

Two ways to make a million (or five) - Heinz soup 122

Core growth requires more creativity, not less 124

Remember and refresh - James Bond 125

Renovation waves 129

'SMS' (sell more stuff) - The Geek Squad 132

Upgrade the core 135

The power of packaging - innocent smoothies 136

Core range extension - Ryvita 141

Re-inventing the core - Warner Music 144

Key takeouts 146

3-part action plan 146

Handover 147

6. Workout Six: Stretch your brand muscles 149

Building business, building brands - Gillette 151

Why one in two innovations fail 158

Why funnels don't work 160

Rocketing - a new innovation paradigm 164

Destination - Powerade 166

Combustion 171

Nozzle 175

Expander - Post-its 177

Key takeouts 182

3-part action plan 182

Handover 183

7. Workout Seven: Amplify your marketing plan 185

Brand chapters - Jordans Big Buzz 187

Harnessing online media - T-Mobile Dance 190

Product as hero - Dove 194

Be brave, break codes - Cats like Felix 197

Tighter briefs are better - NSPCC 200

Key takeouts 205

3-part action plan 205

Handover 206

8. Workout Eight: Rally the troops 207

People power 209

Beyond brandwashing - RSA Insurance 211

Step 1: Products people are proud of - Apple iPhone 216

Step 2: Hire the right people and treat them right - Pret a Manager 217

Step 3: Lead by example - innocent smoothies 220

Step 4: Sell the cake not the recipe - Hellmann's 221

The five-month itch 223

Key takeouts 224

3-part action plan 224

Handover 225

References 227

Index 231