Book club
Type the word “brand” into Amazon and you get 336,637 results. Search Google and you get a mind melting 882,000,000 results. Although that does include Russell Brand...
Anyhow, you get our point. There’s an awful lot of people out there with an awful lot to say about brands and our business. So, short of developing reading super powers, how do you sort the good stuff from the rubbish? What are the best books to help you get started in the creative industry? And which books might inspire or excite people already in the know?
And there, in a flash of inspiration, the Book Club was born. Who better to ask but the great and the good. The people who know brands better than most and who are at the top of their game. What’s on their bookshelves and what would they recommend for yours? And what better way to find out than to ask them. Which is what we did.
Below is a first instalment of an occasional series, a sort of Letters from Brandland. Some initial suggestions from the biggest brains in the business, the ones who know brands, communication, what’s important, what’s not, better than most. And as more suggestions come through, we’ll include them here. Of course, if you, dear reader, have a particular favourite or something you think might inspire other Clubbers, then we’d love to know that too. Just ping an email to scope@periscopeuk.com and we’ll do the rest.
Happy reading.
Perverse Optimist by Tibor Kalman. Suggested by Nigel Salter of Salter Baxter because it’s full of ideas, is brilliant thinking by a brilliant designer, and you could apply the ideas to any line of business. Just as good at social/political commentary as record sleeve design. You can’t say fairer than that.
A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young. Suggested by Jim Prior of The Partners. Published first in 1965, it's a practical guide to how to think different, and big. It's written in the style of a generation (or two) ago which kind of adds to its charm. It takes no more than about half an hour to read but, used properly, will last you a life-time, according to Jim.
Bill Bernbach’s Book: A History of the Advertising that Changed the History of Advertising by Bob Levenson and It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden. Both suggested by Marc Cadman of euro rscg as great reads about or by industry superstars. Perfect for those with a first foot on the ladder, as well as for those who might like a little reminder of what it’s all about.
Glyn Britton of Albion London recommends Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte and New Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly as great mind openers.
Brand Innovation Manifesto by John Grant, Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams, Here Comes Everybody by Clay Skirky and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. All inspirational must-have reads from the bookshelf of Martin Baillie at glue.
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Freakonomics by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Both suggested by Kim Crawford of Periscope because they inform and inspire and illuminate in equal measure.