Inclusive Branding: The Why and How of a Holistic Approach to Brands

Citation

Tackett, A. (2005), "Inclusive Branding: The Why and How of a Holistic Approach to Brands", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 74-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420510583789

Emotional Branding, Integrated Branding, Identity Branding and Sonic Branding are just a few of the new branding books that have come out in the past few years. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that some, if not most, of these new books fail to build off of previous scholarship and thus contribute less than they probably could to the marketing literature. Others simply repackage or revive old themes such as the importance of integrated marketing communications or threading the brand marketing attitude and practices through the entire firm, from the accounting department to human resources.

This is not to say that these books are a waste of time – they are not. It is just that most marketing professionals have limited time to read the full deluge of books that are published on the topic and that most of these books do not provide enough meat to be the one book a marketing manager might read all year long. Instead, the aforementioned books seem to be best suited for experienced and well‐read marketing professionals and educators who are looking for subtle differences of opinion, fresh arguments or new case studies[1].

Nonetheless, I was excited to have the opportunity to review Inclusive Branding: The Why and How of a Holistic Approach to Brands, by Klaus Schmidt and Chris Ludlow because each year there seem to be a few gems that successfully introduce branding, but without feeling rudimentary … that introduce fresh ideas, but without pretence and hyperbole[2]. With almost two decades of experience in the field, Dr Klaus Schmidt, who states that he wrote the first book on holistic branding, has an appealing mix academic and applied experience.

The book was easy to read and fairly interesting, but the content was presented in a somewhat self‐serving way. By this I mean that the holistic model presented is promotional in nature – always highlighting its success under the guidance of Dr Klaus, without providing many details. This book is definitely not a “how‐to” guide, and it does not bother to compare and contrast this approach with other academic literature and other practitioners’ approaches.

However, Dr Klaus does provide an interesting model, even if it is not fully detailed. I also think that this is a good reference book if you are interested in case studies on any of the following companies: Mercedes‐Benz, Orange, BUPA, Manchester United, Virgin, CMS, Miele, or Dunlop Sport.

The case studies make up three‐quarters of the book, and each case study is written by marketing heads, chairmen and other company insiders commenting on the companies that they work for. There are no footnotes in the book, which is organized into 12 sections:

1. 1.

   Inclusive branding: roots and reasons

2. 2.

   Vision into reality;

3. 3.

   Pressing issues, inclusive solutions;

4. 4.

   In real life;

5. 5.

   The best or nothing: Mercedes Benz;

6. 6.

   A bright brand future: Orange;

7. 7.

   Changing preconceptions: BUPA;

8. 8.

   A team approach: Manchester United;

9. 9.

   A brand without limits: Virgin;

10. 10.

    A professional image: CMS;

11. 11.

    Continuity through change: Miele; and

12. 12.

    Rejuvenating a proud brand: Dunlop Sport.

The author uses the forward to introduce holistic branding and to claim ownership for inventing it:

Acceptance of the “holistic” idea grew slowly but surely. We pioneered it through working with a number of enlightened clients, achieving revelatory results. In 1994, I wrote the first book on the subject, and now many other consultancies and “agencies” claim to have a “holistic approach” or to be holistic in some other way, although none has the range and depth of methods and tools which we have developed over the years.

While the author is no doubt a knowledgeable marketing professional, I thought it was bold to claim that he and his partner invented the approach. The adjectives “enlightened” and “revelatory” set the tone for the author's view of himself and his book.

The first chapter provides a short narrative of the history of branding and distinguishes between branding and developing a corporate identity. The author follows the development of both, and I think that he does a good job succinctly summarizes that:

…corporate identity has become branding, but the meaning and relevance of the latter has been transformed in the process (Klaus, p. 7).

Further, he provides a few very interesting grids that show the different perceptions of what corporate identity means in seven countries.

Dr Klaus also briefly discusses current issues: clients rebelling against traditional advertising pricing and strategy, the silo‐style organizational structure of most American corporations, and the general problems with applying a holistic marketing paradigm to a compartmentalized corporate structure and the difficulties with repositioning and re‐branding a company.

Chapter two introduces Dr Klaus's holistic brand model, expressing “six interdependent dimensions of a holistic brand” (Klaus, p. 20) They are:

1. 1.

   culture;

2. 2.

   behavior;

3. 3.

   products and services;

4. 4.

   markets and customers;

5. 5.

   design; and

6. 6.

   communications.

The approach attempts to be both consumer‐facing and inward‐facing; according to Dr Klaus, it can also be applied to a current or an aspirational situation.

Chapter three focuses on “current and pressing issues” and then shows how “the holistic approach is an appropriate and relevant way to view, and then deal with, the problems and opportunities.” The key sub‐headings in this chapter are “The challenge of the global brand”, “The big issue: costs”.

This is the last chapter written by Dr Klaus – the balance of the book contains case studies selected to highlight and reinforce the concepts presented in the first three chapters. I have chosen not to review the individual case studies, but will comment generally that they are interesting and well presented[3]

In summary, I do not recommend this book to anyone looking for an overview on branding, or to marketing managers looking for concrete ideas that they can apply. Given most managers’ time constraints, there is better material out there. I do think this book would be useful to anyone looking for more information about the companies highlighted in the case studies, or for seasoned academicians who have a command of the literature.