Lovemarks - Hardcover

Roberts, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 157687270X ISBN 13: 9781576872703

Publisher: powerHouse Books, 2005

Synopsis

"Ideas move mountains, especially in turbulent times. Lovemarks is the product of the fertile-iconoclast mind of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts argues vociferously, and with a ton of data to support him, that traditional branding practices have become stultified. What’s needed are customer Love affairs. Roberts lays out his grand scheme for mystery, magic, sensuality, and the like in his gloriously designed book Lovemarks.”
—Tom Peters

Tom Peters, one of the most influential business thinkers of all time, described the first edition of Lovemarks: the future beyond brands as “brilliant.” He also announced it as the “Best Business Book” published in the first five years of this century. Now translated into fourteen languages, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Lovemarks is back in a revised edition featuring a new chapter on the peculiarly human experience of shopping.

The new chapter, "Diamonds in the Mine," is an insightful collection of ideas for producers and consumers, for owners of small stores and operators of superstores. So forget making lists! Shopping, says Kevin Roberts, is an emotional event. With this as a starting point, he looks at the history of shopping and how it has changed so dramatically over the last ten years. Using the Lovemark elements of Mystery, Sensuality, and Intimacy, Roberts delves into the secrets of success that can be used to create the ultimate shopping experience.

About this title

Review:

Sellout "Brand" or just plain "Bland"? In Lovemarks, advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts delves deep into what mysteries lie behind the long-term success and unwavering customer loyalty for a can of Coke or a pair of Levi's, ultimately concluding that Love is the answer, and without some emotional connection to a product, it will dry up like a generic raisin in the sun. Enter Lovemarks, the new marketing buzzword, which will likely be bandied about at board meetings as vigorously as The Tipping Point.

But before Roberts can get to what in fact a Lovemark means in the worlds of advertising and marketing, he takes us on a virtual tour of his CV. There was his first post at Mary Quant in London, then the gig as New Products Manager of Gillette International in the Middle East, on to CEO of Pepsi in Canada, and later the same role at Lion Nathan in New Zealand. The list goes on, and so does Roberts--on and on--about his achievements and experience building brand awareness and shaking things up (he famously machine-gunned a vending machine at a presentation for a spot on the evening news). More importantly, he succeeds at blasting away the smoke and mirrors that might prevent a creative genius (or an ordinary consumer) from seeing what makes Superman the most beloved super-hero of all time.

Despite the somewhat egocentric approach to taking us there (he is, after-all, a pretty smart guy), we arrive at Roberts's point beautifully, and see what he sees: "That human attention has become our principle currency." And that, in these times, forming long-term emotionally charged relationships with customers is the only way to make a product weather the long haul. And while Roberts speaks to us in a spirited, conversational manner (that makes Lovemarks a pleasure to read), the design of the book seems to work against him, as convoluted typography and a general lack of layout consistency give the book a visually amateurish look. --Christene Barberich

About the Author:

Kevin Roberts is CEO Worldwide of ideas company Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s largest and most successful creative organizations, handling more than fifty of the world’s most valuable global brands. Heading a team of more than seven thousand people in eighty-two countries, Roberts led Saatchi & Saatchi to become both Advertising Age and Adweek magazines’ Global Agency Network of the Year in 2003. He is the author of the best-selling book Lovemarks: the future beyond brands (powerHouse Books, 2004), which has now been translated into fourteen languages, with more than 150,000 copies in print.

About this edition

• Publisher: powerHouse Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 157687270X
• ISBN 13: 9781576872703
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248