cover image Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters

Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters

Tim Manners. Portfolio, $24.95 (280pp) ISBN 978-1-59184-220-0

Manners, a branding consultant and editor, takes the reader through the various aspects of building a successful brand, using the title of his book as a one word manifesto; all of his ideas loop back to it sooner or later. Branding is no longer a numbers game, according to the experts that he quotes, but about making your sure your customer is happy; not just with the service, or the product, but in their lives. How can this be achieved? The author's answer: through relevant insights, innovation, investment and design. Combine these with careful attention to value and experience, and you'll get growth. What distinguishes this book is the author's scope: he's clearly well connected and has plenty of quotes from branding and marketing experts across several industries to prove it. British range manufacturer Aga and niche coffee retailer Intelligentsia are just two of the ""relevant"" brands that Manners explores, and this range of knowledge adds authority to an otherwise thin argument, which at times seems like the same old ideas, rehashed and rebranded.