The Goddess Guide to Branding: Your Blueprint for Building an Abundant and Authentic Feminine Brand

Brand strategist McCarthy and her sister McAndrew, a venture capitalist, debut with a lackluster manual on how embracing the qualities of Greco-Roman goddesses can help women-owned businesses stand out. Cursory profiles explain that Diana is primarily associated with the outdoors and adventure, Venus with beauty and creativity, and Athena with wisdom and ambition, but the omission of any discussion of the myths these figures originate from feels like an oversight. The highlights of the book are interviews with executives whose brands align with the qualities of various goddesses. For instance, the founder of EO, an organic body care products company, recounts starting the business in the 1990s as an alternative to the chemical-heavy items that dominated the market, a move the authors liken to the goddess Hestia’s association with healing and purity. The authors provide questionnaires meant to help readers select a goddess to build their brand around (“If all the goddesses were at the party, who would your customers want to talk with first?”), but there’s virtually no guidance on how to ensure that consumers identify a brand with a particular goddess’s values. Heavy on concept and light on execution, this fizzles. (Aug.)