The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Many of the best brands today are of geek pedigree, powered by the technologies, traits and trends of the ascendant digital channel. Amidst the decline of mass marketing, push marketing tactics have been superseded by new forms of influence. These include the creating, sharing and influencing behaviors of an online population no longer content merely to consume, and the potent pairing of digital notoriety and network effects, which has given rise to the icitizenry.

From these sociocultural forces emerges a radical business imperative: to open up to consumer involvement in a brand's messages and offerings. Published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA Design Press, The Open Brand illuminates both the risks and immense rewards of doing so, and describes the essential consumer experiences that are requisite for cultural relevance?On-demand, Personal, Engaging, and Networked experiences, representing the chief values of the web-made world.

Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Consumers drive branding today March 13, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Anyone who is involved in marketing, product development, sales, public relations, or customer service should read this book.

Traditionally, companies have developed their message and pushed it out to their customers--this is push marketing. Companies would push demand through the sales channels. So, the various efforts were company-driven: product development, marketing, sales, and customer service, to name a few.

Today, the marketing model is increasingly a pull model. Customers pull demand through the various channels. And not just to the companies--but to a vast network of other people. This massive customer communication puts customers, not companies, in the driver's seat. If marketing is a show, the audience of customers now controls the stage. This is why a book like The Open Brand matters.

The book consists of four Parts. Part One consists of three chapters. These focus on the concept of "Open." The author has an acronym:

O: On-demand.
P: Personal.
E: Engaging.
N. Networked.
These describe today's marketing environment. While customers are empowered due to online tools such as Instant Messaging, e-mail, blogs, and communities, the effects of their communications reach well beyond the online world into every nook and cranny of the offline world as well.

Part II discusses the iCitizen. The power of the consumer is far different from what it was a few years ago. What is this power, and how did the iCitizen end up with it? Who are iCitizens? Who has more influence--a few celebrities, or thousands of regular people who all have a voice? Part II answers these questions and more. It also explains how and why the iCitizen can be both the medium and the message.

Part III explains the response to the iCitizen. It presents a strategic framework that allows a company to make sense of Part I (the social Web) and Part II (the iCitizen). It discusses the two trends that, more than any others, anchor the open brand framework:

The emergence of consumer notoriety. This is in stark contrast to what has historically been consumer anonymity with regard to brands (and the world). Now consumers can be highly visible, almost instantly. The implications are profound.
The emergence of creative production. This is in stark contrast to simple, uncritical consumption. Today, we have a dazzling array of engaging online activities that didn't exist just a few years ago. Someone writes a blog or releases a video, and a viewpoint (good or bad) can easily go viral.
Part IV is titled "Getting to Open." It's based on what the authors call "The Four OPEN Experiences." Different people experience the Web in different ways. The authors classify these as:

Collectively inclined icitizens believe "I connect."
Cultural change agents believe "I am."
Digital competence seekers believe "I can."
Celebrity-motivated icitizens believe "I matter."
Do you know which group (or experience) has the most power? The answer may surprise you, and that's OK. What's not OK is not learning the answer and doing something about it. What you do, exactly, depends on several interdependent factors. Part IV addresses those.

When you're done reading this book, you'll have an understanding of who is really driving many of the choices companies make. More importantly, you'll have a framework for developing a suitable response with long-term viability.

The book has an appendix with a glossary, acknowledgements, and index.

4 out of 5 stars

Anyone can be a brand March 21, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

As social networking via the Internet continues to explode and branch off into new avenues, it is inevitable that standard advertising methods are becoming increasingly antiquated and ineffective. According to Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins in The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World, today's tech-savvy consumer demands a larger role in brand establishment. More importantly, the influence they wield over prospective customers is unlimited.

Successful brands know that in order to build a reputation and gather repeat customers, they must create an interactive, on-demand experience for the public. Easily accessible reviews, forums, and 24/7 customer service are minimum requirements. The days of static sites are past and brick-and-mortar stores are finding it more difficult to operate without Web accessibility. Customers demand a personalized experience that focuses on their own unique needs rather than a generic message.

In addition, a brand must appeal to a customer's sense of ego and identity. Shoppers rely more than ever on the suggestions of friends, viewing standard advertising as seedy manipulation. Today's consumers can easily train themselves to ignore ads and commercials. But knowledgeable friends and colleagues are not limited to those consumers interact with on a personal level. The Internet has propelled a legion of nobodies to seemingly overnight fame and continues to uncover new celebrities on a daily basis.

Here we arrive at the core message of The Open Brand, that anybody, anywhere, has the ability to make a brand through simple word of mouth, using the Internet as a platform. Part two chronicles the "rise of the iCitizen," noting seventeen influential self-made online celebrities, including Dane Cook, Perez Hilton, and Harriet Klausner, and why industries should care what they have to say. YouTube, MySpace, and Blogger are just some of the outlets that allow any average person to experience their "15 minutes of fame."

Mooney and Rollins have an eye for trends, and focus on several companies that have already successfully immersed themselves in this new arena of branding. Much of the book lists suggestions for building a brand and utilizing the limitless resources the Internet has to offer. As a blogger, I was particularly interested in the authors' emphasis on the influence us common folk have. It is clear they consider bloggers an important outlet to marketing. They also list some pretty surprising regulations that most people probably aren't even aware exist. The glossary is also a useful tool. Until I read this book, I used RSS on a daily basis, but never knew what the acronym stood for. Now I do.

The layout of the book's graphics and text makes its source (marketing experts) apparent. Large, attention-grabbing fonts and contrasting colors create a fun reading experience. The messages are short, to the point, and effective. The principles within could be utilized by large companies or the blogger next door, but are essential for building a name in the current state of networking.

4 out of 5 stars

Smart synthesis of trends and tactics April 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

There are two schools of thought on the role of the 'expert' in consulting industries: (1) it's our job to be the smartest guy in the room on our 'best at' subject or (2) it's our job to make our client feel like the smartest guy in the room.

Mooney/Rollins definitely fall in the latter. They've built a book that converges all the big ideas and groundswell of momentum around the social Web into a simple story on impact and action.

One that any marketer would find accessible and very quotable.

I say 'built a book' because it's the structure that agency wonks will be attracted to. A visual approach to the ideas and concepts we talk about every day, repeatable cases and solid frameworks.

For clients and converts, it's all content.

Tons of fresh, smart ideas that will have you scribbling notes in the margins.

4 out of 5 stars

The Future of Brands June 2, 2008
Many books have emerged touching discussing the emergence of the internet, social media, and online conversations and their impact on marketing and advertising.

Mooney and Rollins take this one step farther to take a look at how brands need to adapt and "OPEN" up in order to be successful in this new landscape.

Great book for anyone looking for ideas on where the future of business is headed.

5 out of 5 stars

An amazing book for a changing world June 24, 2008
The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World

It's been a while since a book with the word "brand" in the title has rocked my world. But this book has done just that.

Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins present a structure, methods, case studies and measurement advice on how brands have to and can evolve in a world gone digital and open. If you are in an agency that is looking to understand digital or if you are client side struggling with how to engage a population that is enabled by technology in ways never before seen in our society, then this book is for you.

Digital is no longer a channel. The internet connects all of us in ways we never foresaw. How brands build relationships in this coming time will determine who survives and who falls.

But why buy this book?

1) It's written by a team of marketers who have engaged digitally with some of the top brands on the planet (Resource Interactive).

2) Unlike most books written by agencies, this book pulls no punches and actually lays their tools on the table.

3) The book presents a structure and then dives into tactics and how we have to shift what we measure. But the best part are the unbelievable number of case studies. They live what they preach and put forward their own clients and projects as fodder.

I love this book in case you couldn't tell. ;)

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