Brand Champions

Ian P. Buckingham is a leading author in the fields of Employee Engagement and Brand Development. After a formative start to his career on the customer service front line, he has subsequently held a range of senior consultancy positions within the world's largest Marcomms business – Omnicom and beyond. He develops and delivers Organization Development and Change Strategies as well as Brand Development and Executive Development programs for a wide range of clients across sectors. Buckingham has a reputation as a forthright, iconoclastic critic of some of the more draconian and spin-oriented practices of the agency and corporate worlds. He is widely and frequently quoted in a range of HR and Marketing publications. He blogs for People Management magazine and is a member of the CIPR advisory board. Ian Buckingham is the founder of Bring Yourself 2 Work a consultancy of engagement specialists. He is a champion of the need for authenticity in communication and behavior between business owners, employees, colleagues and their customers, calling for greater coordination between the HR and Marketing functions for more effective brand management.

• List of Tables and Figures Part 1 – What's a Champion Brand? Part 2 – What's Employee Engagement? Part 3 – Brand Superheroes Uncovered Part 4 – Equipping Brand Champions Part 5 – Reinforcing a Brand Champion Culture Closing thoughts Acknowledgements Bibliography Index

'I found this book excellent (and I've read quite a few books on the same subject). Ian Buckingham manages to clearly explain the importance of brand engagement & employee engagement... Engaging employees to love your brand, talk about your brand and stay with your brand, is as critically important now as it ever was - particularly during these economically dynamic times...Brand Champion is well worth the read' Stephanie Lunn, international HR executive'What makes Brand Champions a recommended read is the richness of material on 'how' to build brand enthusiasm. Original cases (from Barbour to British Gas) make a refreshing change from the usual 'cool brand' suspects. There's a treasure trove of tools for you to raid from 'brand superheroes' to 'brand eisteddfods' anything that links individual contribution to bigger brand purpose is to be warmly welcomed.' B2B Marketing Website'Buckingham is one of the few business writers to span the territories of HR as well as the more external facing disciplines like Advertising and Marketing, consistently arguing the case for a joined-up approach to brand management. His style is always provocative but enjoyable and ultimately thought provoking in a Handy-esque way. His examples are often drawn from the UK, which makes a welcome change from many US-centric commentators, and the conclusions he points the reader towards and approaches he suggests are certainly applicable internationally. We've made very effective use of his thinking and methods throughout our network of global offices.' J. Sanderson, Senior Brand Manager, International HealthCare Company'With Brand Champions, as with Brand Engagement and his work in general, Ian once again shows that branding is not about large budgets but small consistent actions, branding is not about logos but about people, that branding does not belong to marketing, it belongs to each of us in our everyday actions. Brand champions are right before our eyes if only we look.' Anna Farmery, Managing Director, The Engaging Brand, www.facebook.com/l/944e3Gvin8p_lDCnWJbe4Z1B2Qg;www.theengagingbrand.com'Insightful . . . finally a book that exposes the real brand champions within our organizations and deftly guides managers on how to nurture and challenge those employees. With case studies to illustrate, Buckingham uncovers what is needed to create a committed culture of empowered and engaged employees ready to achieve a higher level of performance. As with his last book, this is a must read for any manager.' Maryanna Kontaratos, international HR, employee engagement and brand specialist