Written by Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins, The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World takes a look at the evolution of Web 2.0 and its effect on marketing. It is a wake-up call to companies trying to manage their brands the old-fashioned way. Its message: change your attitude to meet the new reality or get left behind.
The book itself seems to target an audience short on time and attention spans. Small enough to fit in a pocket, it boasts about 200 pages, and that includes a glossary and an index. Nearly self-contained essays span every page or two, four at most -- just the right size to squeeze into a spare five or ten minutes. You can grasp each concept individually. The book as a whole comprises four parts of roughly equal length:
The Future of Brands is Open
The Rise of the iCitizen
Inside the Open Brand
Getting to Open
Though I haven't read Mooney's previous book (The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live by in the Age of the Demanding Consumer), I get the sense that this one is intended as a complement to that work. It can be appreciated on its own, however.
The first part explains the difference between a closed brand and an open brand. Many marketers are reluctant to change what they've been doing because it has been so successful for the past 30 years -- at least until the advent of the Internet. They're also reluctant because building a brand on the new model means that they have to surrender a lot of control to consumers. But companies that do so stand to gain real rewards; the authors list five reasons to open your brand, and the top two are revenue and return on investment.
This section also turns open into a four-letter abbreviation. An O.P.E.N. brand, according to the authors, is
On-demand: Available for consumers 24/7, since "today's consumers...want it -- and often get it -- 'right now.'"
Personal: An open brand must build relationships with consumers one at a time.
Engaging: Brand marketers must realize that they are now competing with consumers who are creating their own content, and "must develop content that is immersive, participatory, and relevant in order to earn a place in the social web and consumer conversations."
Networked: Brand marketers need to be aware of the power of a single consumer when he or she gets online. The authors are talking about viral marketing here, but also what can best be described as word of mouth on steroids.
This section concludes by covering the "alpha openers" of Web 2.0. If you're digitally aware, you won't find any unfamiliar brands here. A few of them may be better known for other things (I think of Amazon.com as an online retailer, not a place I turn to for reviews), but they all share one trait: they've enabled consumers to connect with each other in new ways, and empowered them to do more than just buy stuff.
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