69 Books Like Brand Sense

I got to know Chris Malone when we both worked at Coca-Cola. I was impressed by his work and so was excited to read his and Fiske's book after it was published. What I like most is that Malone explores how we form personal relationships with brands, mirroring our own interactions with people. This concept echoes my personal beliefs, which was exciting to see.

I really connected with the way Malone and Fiske approached how warmth and competence play a big role in brand relationship building. And, if I pass it through the relationship lens, it makes sense why it would be foundational in building customer loyalty.

I highly recommend this book to people, especially brand stewards, who want to know why we fall in love with some brands and hate others. Malone and Fiske share pragmatic examples of how to apply their findings, which I have contemplated with my… show more.

This book unlocks what makes brands truly successful.

I love the examples of Apple and Nike, which are brands I follow and personally own. It’s impressive to see how these core elements not only make “breakaway brands” more successful than their competition but also what makes them ingenious and addictive.

One of the key points I tout in my consulting is the need to be ruthlessly consistent. It’s clear that “breakaway brands” live this philosophy day in and day out. I highly recommend this book to anyone responsible for growing brands and who wants to make an indelible impression on their consumers. 

I found this book absolutely riveting. I geeked out on the science behind user behavior and how brilliant companies use these insights to create products that people can’t live without.

In Eyal’s Hook Model, he lays out a four-step framework that consists of a Trigger, an Action, a Variable Reward, and an Investment that is truly ingenious. The framework reveals how successful brands keep their consumers coming back. With all his research and examples, I was fascinated by what companies do and found myself constantly asking, “Could I do that with my own brand and products?”

It really made sense to me from multiple perspectives: as an entrepreneur, brand strategist, and marketing consultant. What makes this book so compelling is its ethical approach. Consumers know instinctively when brands are disingenuous, and so using these insights is sure to make my products more addictive and delightful to my clients and their… show more.

I work in brand strategy, brand expansion, and licensing. As such, I am always on the lookout for great books that discuss how these concepts are interconnected, as they are so rare. Anne H. Chasser and Jennifer C. Wolfe's book is one of those books.

I loved that the book illustrates how integrating intellectual property into brand development can help make brands better and more desirable. I love the real-world examples and how to take what companies are doing to protect the intellectual property and build a stronger connection to the end-user.

As someone deeply involved in brand licensing, I found this book to be a refreshing resource in a world of stodgy technical books on the subject. The world is surrounded by licensed products, and Brand Rewired helps to illustrate why that happens to be the case.

The business world is obsessed with big data and artificial intelligence. 

Big data is collected for analysis. Analysis through AI. It lacks to ability to capture emotion and to be successful long-term, businesses need to connect with their markets at an emotional level.

Lindstrom uses real-life case studies to show how looking at the little things; how people use items and why, and observing what others don’t see in a home, a workplace, or a community can help better deliver concepts that big data just can’t see.

This story is not only a history of Singapore and Malaya before, during, and after the war, it is also a beautiful love story and gripping family Saga. It’s a chunky book in which Noel Barber paints an indelible picture of pre-war colonial life in Singapore for both the colonials and the Malaysians.

Noel Barber brings to life the British defence build-up and the military and colonial administration’s mistakes, which led to the Japanese invasion. It was as though they could not believe the Japanese could or would invade their territory. The story is romantic and heart-breaking, as Noel Barber delves into family ties and the characters’ fight for survival.

I recommend this book for two reasons: I read a lot, yet this book has stuck with me for over twenty years, so it must have impacted me. Second, this author is no longer with us, so I think everyone… show more.

I could not put this book down. Lavish settings, exotic locales, hardened professionals—this book has it all—and that describes the good guys. Each chapter introduces a new, fully-developed character with his or her justifiable motivation for engaging in a sinister plot to disrupt Singapore’s financial system.

Cyber-attack expert Wendy Chen and her spy-lover Guy Anderson must thwart the attack before it happens, but will her computer expertise and his secret agent skills accomplish it before they are killed? I loved the fast-paced and colorful description done in the best Ian Fleming fashion. Added bonus: Kinsey’s narrative increased my cyber-thriller writer vocabulary.

I can’t honestly say that this is a very good book. Jiu Dan is no Eileen Chang; she is not even Wei Hui. Yet her 2001 semi-autobiographical tale of a young Chinese woman traveling to Singapore as a “student,” but instead spending her nights selling herself to wealthy local men, is so shameless that it ought to be read at least once. In Crows, the authoress does not try to portray herself as naive nor on a soul-searching road to personal redemption, nor anything but cold-blooded. For that reason alone, Jiu Dan sets herself far apart from the others on this list.

A confession I have to make from the get-go: I met Tommy Koch in person in 2013, on a professional visit to Singapore. Koch struck me as the kind of Asian intellectual seldom seen in the West nowadays. He is competently versed in his civilization’s (Chinese) supremacy discourses and at the same time, is a global citizen of the first class. He knows where myth ends and reality strikes. We rarely see Western intellectuals of this sort any longer. The nearest we’ve ever had was Kissinger—and he’s too controversial to be a functional counterpart to Koch. In this book, Koch and his editorial partner compile a vision of America as seen by Singaporean decision-makers. This book is not only important to know how Asian nations have viewed us over recent years, but is a fundamental read for any international-relations buff interested in gauging the future ahead.

The fate of Singapore was sealed long before the Japanese attack on Malaya in December 1941. The blame lay with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who refused to listen to warnings from military advisers to reinforce defences in Singapore and Malaya. Her was convinced the Japanese would never dare to attack a white power. Obsessed with beating Rommel, Churchill poured into the Middle East massive resources that should have gone to the Far East. However, when inevitably Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942, Churchill attempted to deflect criticism by accusing the defenders of spineless capitulation.