Creative B2B Branding (No Really): Building a Creative Brand in a Business World [Hardcover]

Scot McKee has cracked it: instructional text expressed in the form of coffee table pick up/put down magazine. It's simple to read: the points he makes are clear and concise, informative and reinforced with anecdotes and colourful experience. The guy has done it then written about it. Tough to find both skill-sets in one person working in the B2B arena in such an appealing way. He says what we'd like to think. And if we don't think like that we are formulaic and, ultimately, work in a way which is self-defeating. I like it. There's edge. But it's logical edge, not gratuitous. It's logical because it's founded on principles, built on method and finished with analysis. And the creative bit comes at the end of the process not the start. Which means it's got a chance or delivering results. (No, really).Creative B2B Branding (No Really): Building a Creative Brand in a Business World

Yes, yes, yes, that was a very nice brand thingy document whatsit. Now then, I need a new case study and my wife likes pink...' The first thing that you notice when reading Scot McKee's book is the style that it's written in. Mckee has a certain direct, elaborate and definitely humorous way of putting things. From its inception McKee takes us through a short history of B2B branding to its current state, mixing theory and practical examples and ends up taking a look into the (online) possibilities that lie ahead.

The journey that the book takes you through conveys the continuous need for improvement of B2B branding efforts. A brand is a confusing thing, it's not merely the badge or logo but a brand is all about perceptions in the minds of an audience. What we as marketers must manage are those perceptions in order to build a reputation that sets our company apart from the competition. Preferably we manage this in a creative way. The central message of this book therefore is: `B2B marketer, dare to be different!". In these often homogeneous markets we operate in, having a brand and reputation may well be the most important thing that makes buyers choose us. Not anything to think lightly of, and McKee doesn't. He pleas to B2B marketers to work on storytelling the benefits instead of merely stating the functional features of products or services. He uses a lot of real-life examples from his own experience to support this. The examples range from rebranding Eskimo's, using corporate brand tattoos, through to the use of dodgy stock photography and rocket science.

What's good about the book is that McKee uses his own voice to tell his story and while it makes you laugh frequently it helps you understand what he's on about. McKee is passionate about creative B2B branding - "Love is the magic ingredient" - and he manages to convey his enthusiasm effectively throughout this book. While McKee himself claims that he's never been able to read a whole business book I was happy to read his book, although I would have liked it even better if the form it was written in would have been more creative - it's a lot to take in and although the content is good, a more creative form could help to digest this even better. All in all a great expose on the way forward for B2B branding, with a lot of true to life observations, interesting statements and swipey, clicky things that you want to hug and kiss (really!).

I've known Scot (the author of this book) for quite some time - and I've hired him more than once for good reason. His agency, Birddog, delivers breakthrough Brand Strategy, Creative Strategy & Digital Strategy - without a picture of a suited handshake in sight. Hurrah.

I recently finished reading this book (Creative B2B Branding: No Really) and I found it useful to get his perspective on creative b2b branding. I'm already looking at sections of the book for a 2nd time - and I think it is fair to say, I'll return to the book in years to come.

The bottom line is that Scot is a B2B marketing legend. And if you are a B2B marketeer with even a modicum of common sense - you'll read this book straight away.