Will Murray’s team have produced a quirky and unconventional book/Web site package that looks and feels different to a handbook or textbook. In the approaching “human economy”, they argue, things will have to be different.
The reader is presented with three “scenes”: based on ideas, actions, and dreams. Scene one sets out some ideas of brand – based on the level of stakeholder loyalty sought and promises delivered. Scene two offers an implementation framework to survive and prosper in the emerging brand landscape. Presented largely in the form of a quiz, this section prompts reflection and scoring of performance using several models. Scene three closes the book with several personal “dream” essays from, presumably, several clients and colleagues of Murray’s brand management group.
This is not an academic text but there is no escaping the enthusiasm. This book gives an emotional (and partly intellectual) kick, but the buzz of this dissipates all too soon. The form of the book/Web site does make thinking accessible by inciting the reader to ask questions and it provides some attractively packaged simple diagnostic tools set within a manifesto told as a story with more questions than answers.
