Brand New World by Max Lenderman ; Published by Jaico ;

Pages 264 ; Price Rs 295/-

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                                 The Russian thirst for Vodka is insatiable and yet successive administrations have tried to crack down on it, curb it, misdirect it- anything really- to force Russians to drink less..........Nevertheless, a budding oligarch named Roustam Tariko decided to launch a vodka brand called Russian standard in 1998. Nine years later Forbes magazine‘s World’s richest people ranking placed him at 150 with an estimated personal wealth of $ 5.4 billion.

                                  Rajshri group and Eros entertainment have created online sites where thousands of Bollywood movies, music videos and shows are available for a fee, or in most cases absolutely free. Free is anathema to the Hollywoodexecutives, who cling protectively to their content and distribution rights. But in India online dissemination and consumption of Bollywood content is arguably the future of the film industry world wide.

                                  These and many more exciting items are the soul of the book under review. The author Max Lenderman currently works as the Executive Director of GMR Marketing in USA .He is an internationally sought-after speaker on Branding, marketing and youth trends. The world is changing constantly and fast. The changing needs of businesses and economies manifest in varying patterns. Branding and advertising rule the roost now and have the power to shape and reshape economies. ”Medium is the message”, declared Marshall Mc Luhan and the power of advertising and branding affirms this. Power lies in persuasion which doesn’t rest on abstract dreams of the future, but on concrete goals. This generation demands action in the words of the advertising in the accompanying product. The most indigenous ideas of branding and success now come from the BRIC countries –Brazil, Russia, India, China. The economies of these countries are exploding and Lenderman  proves  how the smallest of ideas, rooted in the culture of the country brings out the best results.

                                             Breaking the loopholes to create new advertising strategies to not just brand your own product but to ensure co branding of other products is the call of the day. Adobe Photoshop released free versions of its product in China to counter piracy but made   companies like Citibank to sponsor the ‘Save’ Command, Tide to sponsor the ‘Clear command’, Xerox bought rights to the ‘ Copy’ command and Gillette sponsored the ‘Cut’ Command. Logos of these companies were visible every time you clicked these options. Adobe avoided piracy while . Co branding helped the other companies.

                                             Lenderman’s book is replete with such insights and there is a generous dose of practical achievable advertisements ideas. Ideas that do not reek of just money and selfish motives, but ideas for advertising and a branding world where human emotions and values find place . The book offers deep insight into how markets work and why similar advertising techniques will not work everywhere. The book also discusses Visual Pollution or Mental Pollution. As a generation we are subject to experiences of all the senses but through a variety of media which do not involve direct contact with each other or with nature. You hear people sing on the radio, you watch them dance on TV; you experience underwater swimming on a simulator. All this adds to mental clutter or mental pollution. These countries are aware of this and do not risk another colonisation by the western world and hence protest in their own indigenous ways. These methods help them release not only their product into the market but create brands that are people friendly and brands that stand by their consumers. An absorbing book to be relished by Brand makers and students of advertising and management,

P.P.Ramachandran.

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21-08-2011