Biz - Branding

I recently attended and enjoyed a business presentation by Bob Lamons on branding. I won his book “The Case for B2B Branding-Pulling Away from the Business to Business Pack” via a business card drawing.

In Texas, my kids think branding is marking with a steaming hot iron symbols to indicate ownership of cattle.

All corporate executives would like to sear into the minds and hearts of their customers a positive image and idea of their products or services. Not that corporate executives view their customers as cattle but rather important business relationships.

Mr. Lammons writes in his book, “A good brand will generate a highly focused set of expectations for the buyer, as well as for distributors, retailers, suppliers, employees and other audiences in your marketing universe.”

Branding is about creating positive expectations for your target audience. When I asked by kids to give me an example of branding it was no surprise.



Mr. Lamons book is a real world business combat manual which supports his views with numerous examples and contains twenty one case studies. From a financial analysis perspective, understanding the premium future value of a company will in part depend upon the creativity of their marketing and branding.

My favorite case study was the Acme Brick Company. “In 1998, a telephone survey of new home buyers in four major Acme markets revealed an 84% preference for Acme brick. No other supplier had more than a 10% preference.” Plus, Acme charges a 10% price premium for their brick. Keep in mind these are rectangular stones we would like to throw at our television sets while watching the daily news.

Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) bought the Acme Brick Company in 2000 and said “We place a high value on investing in companies with strong brand positions in their markets.”

[image credit: www.mcdonalds.com,
Warren Buffet quote- http://www.brick.com/company/buffett.htm
Other quotes from Bob Lamons, “The Case for B2B Branding”]