title: Branding Only Works on Cattle: The New Way to Get Known (and drive your competitors crazy)
author:  Jonathan Salem Baskin 
description: Branding expert Baskin plays the merry iconoclast in this witty guide that marshals the latest research and a good serving of common sense to debunk branding's many myths. The author's claim that branding is a waste of money is likely to be controversial, but his research is sound and persuasive: he covers the failure of the Gap's Red campaign, the useless Burger King mascot, why Starbucks' success has nothing to do with branding, and he revisits Coke and Pepsi's rivalry, which culminated in their multimillion-dollar dueling ads featuring Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that had scant effect on sales. Baskin's understanding of consumer behavior is nuanced and sophisticated, as are his explanations for why branding myths have so perniciously persisted (he draws parallels between the longevity of outmoded marketing strategies and that of Ptolemy's geocentric concept of the universe). Baskin is impatient with the resources and energy poured into branding, and readers will be, too, when they realize how little it influences consumer choicesand his well-reasoned, well-written book will garner him a wide and appreciative audience. <i>(Sept.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: PRAISE FOR INTERNATIONAL BRAND STRATEGY
  Sean writes from the perspective of someone who has pondered the 
  vagaries of product naming while standing in a shop in rural Ethiopia, 
  reimagined adapting automotive ad copy sitting in a sleek conference 
  room in Sweden, and walked the streets of Beijing to meet with engi-
  neers to find insights on a client’s QA testing. He’s a practitioner who 
  knows what works and why, and any marketer who wants to sell 
  internationally or adapt a global brand locally would do well to 
  follow his lead.
  Jonathan Salem Baskin, President, Arcadia Communications Lab and Author of 
  Branding Only Works on Cattle
  Value is as perceived in the eyes of the buyer, as the L’Oréals, Nestlés, 
  Unilevers and P&Gs of the world have discovered and learned to 
  exploit. Sean Duffy shows you the way to do it too! He has condensed 
  his 30 years of handling strategic marketing and brand development 
  exercises over six continents in a slim, practical but comprehensive 
  book. It pr