Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

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Editorial Reviews:

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

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.

Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

How to "zag" when everyone else "zigs" June 28, 2007
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

In a previous book, The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier explains how companies can bridge the gap between business strategy and customer experience, noting that brand-building isn't a series of isolated activities; rather, it is a complete system in which five disciplines - differentiation, collaboration, innovation, validation, and cultivation - "combine to produce a sustainable competitive advantage. " His intent in Zag "is to zoom in on differentiation to reveal the system within the system."

Initially, he observes that the human mind deals with clutter the best way it can: by blocking it out. As a result, "the newest barriers to competition are the mental walls that customers erect to keep out clutter. For the first time in history, the most powerful barriers to competition are not controlled by companies, but by customers. Those little boxes they build in their minds determine the boundaries of brands." (Thomas H. Davenport and John C. Beck also have much of value to say about these boundaries and barriers in The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business.) In his latest book, Neumeier explains how to overcome these barriers with radical innovation - "the engine for a high performance brand" - that requires mastery of four disciplines:

1. Finding your zag
2. Designing your zag
3. Building your zag
4. Renewing your zag

Everything begins with identifying the zag. That is, offering something that combines the qualities of both good and different. "When focus is paired with differentiation, supported by a trend, and surrounded by compelling communications, you have the basic ingredients of a zag."

OK, but how to do that? Neumeier provides a design process that consists of 17 checkpoints, each formulated as a question. He explains how to answer each of them correctly (i.e. an answer most appropriate to the given organization) by proceeding through a sequence of 17 checkpoints, each of which evokes a question to be answered correctly (i.e. appropriate to the given organization), with the first two previously posed as a trilogy in The Brand Gap: "Who are you?" and "What do you do?" Responding to them may prove far more difficult than it may first seem and a correct (i.e. appropriate) answer to each is essential to achieving radical innovation. The third question posed previously, "Why should I care?" creates an even greater challenge. Fortunately, a correct (i.e. appropriate) answer to that question will be revealed by carefully proceeding through the remaining 15 checkpoints.

It is truly remarkable how much substance and how many thought-provoking questions Neumeier provides within a narrative of less than 200 pages. With both rigor and eloquence, he explains how radical innovation can break through ever-increasing clutter in a competitive marketplace, whatever and wherever it may be. Special note should also be made of the book's production values. All of his core concepts, checklists, key points, observations, and recommendations are presented within a visually appealing context. The last time I checked, there are about 34,000 business books on the general subject of brands. Neumeier has written two of the most valuable among them. Bravo!

4 out of 5 stars

Buy it (unless you can answer the question) March 9, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

How do you know if you should read this book? Simple, finish this sentence:

Our brand is the only ____________that ______________.

If you completed that sentence with something only your brand can do then you don't need to bother. If not, stop reading and order now.

Although everyone says they are (probably) uniquely qualified to do whatever it is they do, few can actually plug the holes in the sentence. Zag will teach you how.

Zag teaches that the only way to differentiate yourself is to zag when everybody zigs. Go where no one else has gone before. Don't make it different - make it radically different! Don't worry, there is a 17-point checklist to walk you through it.

Like the Brand Gap, Neumeier has dropped the heft and delivered "easy-to-read, easy-to-use and easy-to-remember principles." No words or pages are wasted in Zag.

I give it my highest rating.

4 out of 5 stars

Easy to read, useful advice October 30, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Unlike many business books, this one is to the point and useful. Neumeier takes us through what a brand is and the importance of zagging---ie being truly and fundamentally different. He then lays out the 17 point flowhart his firm uses he helping clients find their zag. There is a handy wrap up section of take home points. A worthy follow up to his first book.

5 out of 5 stars

An amazing book! October 23, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Marty Neumeier does it again! Like The Brand Gap, ZAG is destined to change the way we think about brands and their development. With an efficient, breezy style (and an eye for design), Neumeier offers a real gift to the world of business, marketing, and design. Buy this book. Read it. Live it. Your brand strategy (and your life) will never be the same.

5 out of 5 stars

A Must Read For All Marketing Professionals June 4, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Positioning a brand to genuinely differ itself from the competition is one thing. This book goes beyond most branding books by providing a handbook that clearly identifies strategies to create a distinctive consumer experience (ZAG). Neumeier uses real world examples to demonstrate how brands ZAG using organically grown strategies and execution that is placed into their entire culture.

The book provides detailed explanations as well as charts for key themes such as Good and Different, Defining a brand, Market place clutter, Designing your ZAG, True lines that translate into real world Taglines, engagement, and how to create mutual loyalty programs that engage and challenge consumers rather than buy loyalty with discounts.

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