Brands and branding (2nd Ed), 2009
The rise of the consumer society is frequently blamed for many ills but rarely praised for its principal social contribution: generating the wealth that pays for and sustains social progress. Long-term improvements in health, education, living standards and opportunities depend on wealth creation. Strong economic growth goes hand-in-hand with strong, recognisable brands. No brand: no way to create mass customer loyalty; no customer loyalty: no guarantee of reliable earnings; no reliable earnings: less investment and employment; less investment and employment: less wealth created; less wealth created: lower government receipts to spend on social goods (see Figure 4.1 on the next page). This is the most basic, and arguably the most valuable, social contribution that brands make. But the ways in which brands create social value are considerably more nuanced and sophisticated than this.
Click here to read the full chapter from The Social Value of Brands, by Giles Gibbons, Founder and CEO of Good Business, which is taken from The Economist’s second Edition of ‘ Brands and Branding’, published by Profile Books in March 2009.
For further information or to order copies please contact David Lourie
Good Business, 2002
In 2002 Good Business founders Giles Gibbons and Steve Hilton wrote 'Good Business'
The message of the book is a simple one. If you want to change the world, then do it through business. If you want to help your business, then help change the world. The book, which includes a foreword by Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres, received outstanding praise and can be bought at Amazon (and is also now available in Korean)
"This is a book which offers a fresh and illuminating perspective on the role of companies in society." - Geoffrey Owen, former editor, Financial Times
"...a fluent synthesis of entrepreneurship and social responsibility." - Daily Telegraph
"The case that business corporations can be major contributors to improving the world we all share is skillfully made in Good Business." - David Varney, Chairman, Business in the Community
"Utopian? Maybe. Naive? Never." - GQ
