Is Your Brand Showing Its True Personality?

PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED

Why Companies Lose Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back

By Rohit Bhargava

"Find a way to humanize your brand, use your personality, and take your brand from good to great. The first step is to believe that personality matters. The second is to read this book." --Guy Kawasaki

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- In his new book, PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED: Why Companies Lose Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back (McGraw Hill; March 28, 2008), marketing expert, award winning blogger and social media guru Rohit Bhargava explains how faceless companies do not work in today's environment. In a world where consumers have more access to information than ever, and more power to share their voice, a brand's identity is no longer controlled through marketing and advertising. In this new era, what you demonstrate to your customers matters most. This is the power of your personality.

Packed with more than 100 insightful examples and real-world case studies including brands such as Intel, Virgin America, Boeing, Microsoft, Google, and many more, PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED takes a storytelling approach to sharing insights such as:

-- Dispelling the myth that only large companies are faceless

-- Introducing the real secret to building a personality

-- Depicting how social media is changing the way organizations communicate

-- Revealing the secrets and tricks for positioning brands through social media

-- Offering practical step-by-step implementation strategies that allow you to effectively turn an idea into action

PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED is different from other business books because it goes from theory to action. The book does not just present readers with a good theory and leave them alone to work out how to apply it to their business. Instead, the second half is full of action guides, thought starters and practical advice as a handbook to get readers started with giving their organization personality right away.

Additionally, the book has a large online component to the book as well, including hidden URLs for secret content, a blog called Personality Matters, free downloadable bonus content, a "Making Of" gallery, and The Personality Project -- a site featuring 100 contributions from visionary minds including best-selling authors, artists, filmmakers and others -- all demonstrating why personality matters in their business.

ABOUT THE BOOK

PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED: Why Companies Lose Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back

Published by McGraw-Hill

Publication Date: March 28, 2008; ISBN-10: 0071545212; ISBN-13: 978-0071545211; Price: $22.95

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rohit Bhargava is a Senior Vice President and founding member of the 360 Degree Digital Influence group at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, one of the world's largest communications agencies. He has crafted marketing strategy for dozens of the world's largest brands including Lenovo, Ford, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and many others. He also authors the award winning blog Influential Marketing, www.influentialmarketingblog.com and has been featured in media worldwide including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, AdAge, BrandWeek and MarketingChina. Rohit is also a featured marketing speaker and will be speaking at six marketing and industry events in the coming weeks. He currently lives in Washington DC with his wife and two young sons.

For more about Rohit, visit www.aboutrohit.com.

For more information on PERSONALITY NOT INCLUDED visit the Official Book Website at www.personalitynotincluded.com.

For more information on Rohit Bhargava, please visit: www.aboutrohit.com or email Rohit at rohit.bhargava@ogilvypr.com.

To download the full introduction, visit www.personalitynotincluded.com/introduction.pdf.

Early Praise for Personality Not Included:

"Building brand personality has been a big part of my career. To a large degree, it was unwritten because no one had quite found a way to speak or write tangibly about its importance. Now you're holding the solution in your hands. Take the lessons here and apply them to your business. Find a way to humanize your brand, use your personality, and take your brand from good to great. The first step is to believe that personality matters. The second is to read this book."

- Guy Kawasaki, bestselling author of The Art of the Start, Entrepreneur and Founder of Garage Ventures

"Wow. I devoured Personality Not Included, frequently shouting 'yes!' as I followed Rohit's spot-on analysis of a fundamental truth: Being faceless doesn't work anymore. Personality in both people and companies is what customers get passionate about and drives seemingly unlimited success. This is one of those rare books to purchase by the case so you can give copies to employees and investors. But make sure to keep a few for yourself to read and re-read so you don't miss a thing. Bravo!"

- David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR

"Authenticity in products and personality is the new hallmark of corporate success -- Rohit shows us why the days of faceless corporate spin are over and points us in an exciting new direction."

- Lucas Conley, Fast Company writer and author of Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Business of Illusion and the Illusion of Business

"Personality Not Included breaks down the old barriers between marketing, advertising, and PR and shows people how to nail the single objective of it all: creating powerful conversations with your customers and getting them to choose you over the rest."

- Timothy Ferriss, Top Blogger and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek

"There are two types of small business owners -- ones that know they are in the business of marketing and those that don't. For either, Personality Not Included is an eye opening look at what really matters when it comes to delighting your customers. If you want a guide to being more than ordinary, get this book."

- John Jantsch, Award-Winning Blogger and Author of DUCT TAPE MARKETING

"Just being pretty isn't enough anymore, today a brand also needs a strong personality to survive. Bhargava gives you the techniques and tools to help your brand go from wallflower to social butterfly."

- Laura Ries, Co-author of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

"Filled with powerful insights, yet written like a collection of stories - you don't see many business books that are this tough to put down. If you believe that great marketing is about creating powerful experiences, then you need to get Personality Not Included." Reading Rohit's written word is much like hearing him speak at conferences. He is able to clearly articulate the notion of passionate story telling, and how to tap into the global, universal truths that allow brands to form deep emotional bonds that connect with their customers. He even goes beyond how to effectively engage the customer and explains how to continue an intelligent dialogue with the customer after a brand already has their attention. Great story telling is essential experiential marketing at its best -- it allows the strongest bonds to be formed. The brands that learn from this book will be the ones kept from being thrown into the waste basket of commoditization. Read this book - then read it again - it's that good!"

- Erik Hauser, Founder Experiential Marketing Forum

Director International Experiential Marketing Association

Founder - Executive Creative Director Swivel Media

"Finally. The roadmap to marketing in the era of social media, which we've all so desperately needed. With Personality Not Included, Rohit defines the power of brand personality in a world of instantaneous, ubiquitous storytelling AND gives marketers the practical knowledge and tools they need to transform their brands and marketing approaches with the secret weapon of personality. If there is one book I recommend every client and every agency person read right now, it's Personality Not Included. Every chapter gives you new ways to navigate an increasingly complex marketing landscape with clarity, nimbleness and pragmatism. Invest in reading it -- the dividends will be enormous for your brand and your business."

- Carla Hendra

Chairman, Ogilvy New York

Co-Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy North America

Generation Y demands both authenticity and personality in a brand. Personality Not Included acknowledges the real challenges for brands created by social media while reminding us that it's "personality" that ultimately inspires your customers to not just like you, but to truly LOVE you. Rohit goes beyond the theoretical and includes hundreds of company stories as well as practical advice on how to bring out your brand's personality. As a blogger who has built a brand based on personality, I found Rohit's book to be an essential addition to my library.

- Anastasia Goodstein, Founder, Ypulse.com, author of Totally Wired: What Teens And Tweens Are Really Doing Online.

"The secret to free marketing: Give people a reason to talk about you. How: Have a personality. This fantastic book will teach you."

- Andy Sernovitz, author, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking