The Bookseller.com

14th October 2008

Alan Giles spent 20 years in bookselling with Waterstone’s and W H Smith. He retired as c.e.o. of HMV Group last year to take up non-executive and teaching roles.

A stand on brands

18.07.08

Do publishers’ brands mean anything? To celebrate its 50th birthday, the Marketing Society has selected the brands “that shone most brightly” in each of those 50 years (www.50goldenbrands.com). There isn’t a publishing brand among them.

Marketing guru Philip Kotler defined a brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol . . . designed to identify the goods or services of one seller”. But the American Marketing Association subsequently qualified this by adding “. . . and to differentiate them from those of competitors”.

That’s where most publishers fall down. Brands help simplify consumer choice, and provide the reassurance of a unique mix of benefits that satisfy the rational and emotional needs of a discrete group of buyers. Brands usually command a price premium against undifferentiated products.

Few publishing brands meet this test, although there are some notable exceptions: Penguin, Faber & Faber, and—benefiting from the halo effect of their institutions—OUP and CUP; at imprint level Virago, DK, Ladybird, Walker; and strong brands exist in reference markets such as dictionaries, atlases and travel guides.

Consumers aren’t the only audience. A well-understood brand provides clarity for booksellers, authors and their agents, and even the media. So why are publisher brands not stronger? Most marketing budgets are invested in individual titles or authors, not generically in imprints. 

Does branding matter? In today’s multi-channel environment, with participants in the supply chain falling over themselves to cut each other out of the deal, a strong, well-defined brand enables publishers to go direct to market and compete against strongly branded booksellers—Amazon, Foyles, Tesco, Waterstone’s and W H Smith. Could other publishers have launched “Faber Finds” (“bringing great writing back into print”) with the same credibility?

So how can a publisher strengthen its brand? Strong visual identity is a good start—as Matthew Evans and Desmond Clarke realised many years ago at Faber. Single-minded publishing, with a willingness to say no to a good title which doesn’t fit with the brand (easier when it can be passed on to a sister imprint) is key—Yellow Jacket is a great example. Substantial and sustained investment is needed, but the benefits are clear.

Many food manufacturers have allowed their retail customers to become the brand of choice for consumers, and settled back to an anonymous supplying role. But the very strongest grocery brands have largely protected their margins from powerful retailers.

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