Reviewed by: N Ravindran

BLOGS and other Web-based social media are a hot topic now and many books have been published about why to blog, how to blog, and how to use blogging to sell your product or service to the world. Yet underlying this trend is the importance of personality and the death of faceless corporate branding.

The message in this book is that faceless companies don't work any more. 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 era, what you say your brand stands for is no longer good enough. What you demonstrate to your customers matter most. This is the power of your personality. Driving breakout campaigns in today's business climate are the authentic back stories and individual voices of the brand.

If good marketing is storytelling, then marketing personality gives an identity to the storyteller. But many organisations and individuals have spent years perfecting their techniques for hiding their personality behind carefully scripted disclaimers for the big, or pretending to be big for the small. In both cases, personalities are being lost. Yet personality remains a key factor in how consumers select brands to be passionate about, and products to buy.

This book offers a guide for business people, entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone interested in finding more authenticity to understand the value of having a real voice and using something that organisations might be more accustomed to burying their personality.

In part one of this book, the author calls for the death of the faceless corporation, and shows how personality is what makes great brands stand out. In part two, he shows how to put personality to work.

Part two comprises mini-chapters, postings if you will, that focus on specific business challenges in marketing successfully in the new social media era. These challenges range across the spectrum of management.

The book offers practical ideas including assessment guides, tactical ideas, case studies, and visuals. Each chapter presents step-by-step advice for each challenge and also features experiences of people who have done each siccessfully and integrate their advice.

The book is an essential guide for brands on putting back the missing ingredient in their marketing to build loyal customers, foster consumer and employee evangelists, and create a connection that goes beyond profit.