This one book really inspiring because it shows how the famous brand started from a small piece of company.

Among the brand stories included in this book are from the following company/brand:

1. adidas – Germany
2. Billabong – Australia
3. Cloud Bay – New Zealand
4. The Coca-cola company – USA
5. Green & Black’s –  UK
6. KFC – USA
7. Pizza Hut – USA
8. Dyson – UK
9. Volvo Cars – Sweden
10. Dorling Kindersley – UK
11. Lonely Planet – Australia
12. Hilton Hotels – USA
13. IKEA – Sweden
14. Apple – USA
15. Blackberry (RIM) – Canada
16. Nintendo – Japan
17. Nokia – Finland
18. Sony – Japan
19. Bebo – UK
20. eBay – USA
21. Google – USA

Most memorable quotes from the books are as follows :

from the Adidas’s founder , Adolf (Adi) Dassler vision:

three guiding principles:

• produce the best show the requirements of the job
• protect the athlete from injury
• ensure the product lasted 

He became the first entrepreneur that use sports promotion to raise awareness for his products.

Another one is from Coca-Cola which the writer state as :

“Coca-cola had made its mark on the international market, and for a time, was seen as an icon of unity, in an era that had not yet grasped the consequences of globalisation.”

Here is one how KFC started: 
Harland had spotted the opportunity to serve food after customers who had stopped for petrol asked if they could get good nearby.

The good thing about this book is it also put up the “Testing times” faced by these brand and also they managed to overcome it then “Going Global” at which most of it reach their peaks.

Each story for the brand also end with a question “Where are they now?” , which is most fulfilling knowing we can connect or at least relate to the stories being shared by the writer in this book.

For example , the story about IKEA, this is how the ethos are being put into this book:

“Mail order and furniture store in one. As far as I knew, that business idea had not been put into practice anywhere else. We were the first.”

I think most of us can relate to the following statement by the author:
“A visit to IKEA is predictable.
You set out with the aim of spending of just $50 but exit, like a rabbit dazzled by the headlights, having spent $500 in bookcases, ice-cube trays and picture frames, helped along the way by the little IKEA pencils and order forms so helpfully provided.”

hahahaha. 

Anyone remember how Sony promoted their WALKMAN?

“Technology is not everything. What is also needed is creative marketing. Walkman was not creative technology, but it created an enormous market.”

and the following wisdom quote from Akio’s auto-biography, Made in Japan (HarperCollins Publishers 1994):
“If you go through life convinced that your way is always best, all the new ideas in the world will pass you by”.

The only thing I believe could be better for this book is the more company or brand. 🙂