Did you buy more khakis from the Gap when they signed Sarah Jessica Parker as their spokesperson? Would you actually use FedEx more because of a funny Super Bowl ad? Would you buy a Toyota because their slogan is “Moving Forward”  or go to Geico for your auto insurance because you think their caveman commercials are funny? Most of us know the answer is “of course not” but the branding industry is built upon getting companies to spend millions upon millions of dollars in the (mostly wasted) effort to affect the way you feel about their products.

The reality is that it simply doesn’t happen, but that kind of branding survives because 1) it’s very difficult to actually measure and 2) because there’s a billion dollar industry driving it on a daily basis. In his new book Branding Only Works on Cattle, author Jonathan Baskin wants to tear that outmoded branding model to the ground and replace it with a practical approach to marketing that will teach companies how to focus on what customers actually do rather than what they hope, think and feel. This approach allows companies to actually measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and adjust accordingly, gather far more information about their customers than ever before, dramatically increase the effectiveness of their marketing communications, and save them millions of dollars in the process.

Branding Only Works on Cattle will be released on September 22nd and Publisher’s Weekly just released a terrific review or the book here (just scroll to the bottom, as it’s the last review on the page). Jonathan Baskin also writes a tremendously interesting blog called Dim Bulb that’s well worth checking out as he looks at those producing wonderful, actionable branding, and those dim bulbs who still just don’t get it.

Congratulations, Jonathan!