It's been a while since I posted a book review, but don't let that fool you into thinking I've been avoiding Borders. My latest acquisition is a slim book, one of those 'business fables' that set out to teach some principle of business through a story. Some of these books can be very badly written - I'll gladly share some of the howlers I've read with you if you drop me a line. Others are actually a good book to read in their own right. Fortunately, 'Where's The Sausage?' by David Taylor (of BrandGym fame) is one of those books that falls right into the second category.
WTS tells the story of a sales manager who finds himself landed with the role of brand manager for the rather old fashioned core product of a company that sees itself heading off into new, exciting
gastronomic markets. He soon finds himself at loggerheads with the marketing manager, who thinks branding is about celebrity endorsements and colourful packaging to hide what is basically a pretty dire product.
Through the protagonist's struggles to come to grips with his new role, to win support from his fellow marketers and the other areas of the company, and to save the company from the marketing disaster that only he (and the reader) seems to be able to see coming, we learn how to create well-grounded, authentic brands from the inside out, that build on the unique and compelling characteristics of your product or service using down-to-earth, common sense approaches and involve the whole organisation, not just the polo-neck wearing creatives in the marketing office.
The tools and models Taylor introduces are all easily applicable to personal, corporate and service brands just as much as to product brands, and will greatly enhance your branding toolkit. There's also a supporting blog with war stories, articles and tools that is well worth a few hours of your time to expore.
All in all, an entertaining read (the kind that newspaper reviewers describe as a 'rollicking page turner') and one that you can share with colleagues and staff, whatever their role is. So buy it. Now! It's in my Recommended Reading list, and in my Amazon store, but here's the direct link anyway.
