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My stuff: books
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My books

Kumar and Varna (eds.): Nation Branding: Concepts and Country Perspectives. Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press 2009.
Contributed a chapter, ‘Poised for Success: the Indian Brand Prepares Itself for the 21st Century’, on how India, above many other countries, has the right ideas for its nation brand.
Yan: Typography and Branding. Christchurch: Natcoll Publishing 2004.
Created with Natcoll in Christchurch, New Zealand. Finally published in November 2004, with a lot of my 2002 material. Fortunately, the ideas have stayed current, and there’s a lot of post-9-11 inspiration inside this title.
 
Yan: View Point Series 1 of 4: User Seductive—Perspectives on 21st Century Branding. Wellington: Charlie Ward and Wai-te-Ata Press, Victoria University of Wellington 2004.
This was a pleasure to work on. Charlie Ward is a talented young Irish designer who came to me with a book proposal, with a series of four books, each of which would be printed privately and in limited numbers. I wrote the first; Kevin Roberts the second. Charlie (and Barbara Schmelzer, and photographer Jono Rotman) has more than done the remainder justice with a startlingly stunning work. Nominated for a Best Design Award in New Zealand in 2004.
 
New Age Branding Das (ed.): New Age Branding: Concepts and Cases, Vol. 1. Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press 2003.
I contributed one case to this marketing course book, ‘The brand attitudes of automobiles’, which I originally wrote for CAP in 2002.
Beyond Branding, edited by Nicholas Ind Ind (ed.): Beyond Branding: How the New Values of Transparency and Integrity Are Reshaping the World of Brands. London: Kogan Page 2003.
Beyond Branding, to be published in autumn 2003, challenges business to adapt to a world of transparency. My fellow authors and I argue that business has to have a human perspective so that it benefits people rather than manipulates. Visit the site at www.beyond-branding.com, co-designed by me and developed by Johnnie Moore. The book went into its second printing in 2004 and went paperback in May 2005.
 

 
Academic articles

J. Yan: ‘Social media in branding: fulfilling a need’, presently (January 2011) submitted to The Journal of Brand Management.
Approved for publication, I discuss how social media impact on branding and brand equity.

J. Yan: ‘Branding and the international community’, The Journal of Brand Management, vol. 10, no. 6, 2003, pp. 447–57.
The relevance of the international community and the shortcomings in the nation branding of the United States.

J. Yan: ‘Corporate responsibility and the brands of tomorrow’, The Journal of Brand Management, vol. 10, nos. 4–5, 2003, pp. 290–302.
Dealing with the future of corporate social responsibility.

J. Yan: ‘Online branding: an antipodean experience’, Human Society and the Internet. Berlin: Springer-Verlag 2001.
From conference proceedings, a paper on how the digital divide is being bridged and early success stories.

Related articles can be found at The Journal of the Medinge Group.
 

Books I’ve been quoted or referenced in

Simple Questions Give Brilliant Answers Eklund and Isoaho: Simple Questions Give Brilliant Answers. Helsinki: SQBA 2010.
A wonderful book filled with quotations on leadership, including contributions from yours truly. I was asked to contribute by my friend Prof Antti Eklund, the acclaimed Finnish architect, designer and brand management consultant.
Seib (ed.): New Media and the New Middle East. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2009.
My ‘Branding and the International Community’ paper for the Journal of Brand Management was also cited in this volume on new media.
The Dragon and the Taniwha Ip (ed.): The Dragon and the Taniwha: Māori and Chinese in New Zealand. Auckland: Auckland University Press 2009.
Briefly mentioned in relation to Māori intellectual property rights.
Levy and Shastry: Happy about Knowing What to Expect in 2009. Cupertino, Calif.: Happy About 2009.
More predictions, though for now, this was my last contribution to Happy about.
Films that Work Hedinger and Vonderau (eds.): Films that Work: Industrial Film and the Productivity of Media. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press 2009.
One of my earlier papers on branding and the international community, covering the reality of nation branding and politics after 9-11, cited.
Made in …

Jaffe and Nebenzahl: Made in …. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai editore 2008.
A translated, Italian edition of Eugene and Israel’s book on place branding and the country-of-origin effect, in which I am thanked.
 

Life Is a Verb Digh: Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally. Charlotte, NC: Skirt 2008.
I helped out my friend Patti Digh with a quotation for her book on positive thinking.
Alba and Stay Alba and Stay: I’m on Facebook: Now What?. Cupertino, Calif.: Happy About 2008.
Tips on how to get the most for your company through being on Facebook.
 
Keith Dinnie: Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice Dinnie: Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann 2008.
It was very kind of Keith Dinnie to include my viewpoints on nation branding in his definitive work on the subject. This is easily one of the best books on nation branding out there.
Identity Crisis

Fisher: Identity Crisis: 50 Redesigns that Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands. Cincinnati, Ohio 2007.
Jeff Fisher quotes me talking about the importance of the ‘soul’ of a business to a brand.

 

Levy: Happy about Knowing What to Expect in 2007. Cupertino, Calif.: Happy About 2007.
I am pretty sure I was in 2006’s as well, but never mind, I am in 2007’s, with half a dozen predictions. Mitchell reckons the accuracy rate is down to around 85 per cent now, but that is still better than hit-and-miss. Darn it, I left out the iPodPhone, but there’s always next year.
National Image and Competitive Advantage, 2nd ed.

Jaffe and Nebenzahl: National Image and Competitive Advantage: the Theory and Practice of Place Branding, 2nd ed. København: Copenhagen Business School Press 2006.
Eugene and Israel follow up their successful book on national image and expand the chapters slightly to include nation branding.
 

Schultz, Antorini and Csaba (eds.): Corporate Branding: Purpose/People/Process. København: Copenhagen Business School Press 2005.
I provide a brief quotation on nation branding, and countries competing against one another.
Levy: Happy about Knowing What to Expect in 2005: Predictions from Over 50 Executives. Cupertino, Calif.: Happy About 2005.
I was asked to make a lot of predictions for business books in 2005, and this book is another example. Mitchell Levy is a heck of a nice guy, too, and created some positive ideas to help executives for the year ahead. The jury’s still out on my positive prediction, but apparently Mitchell’s selectiveness earns him a 90 per cent accuracy in his books.
 
The New Consumers Myers and Kent: The New Consumers: the Influence of Affluence on the Environment. Washington, DC: Island Press 2004.
This was obviously the original book that Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent wrote before it turned into an Italian edition—though I learned of the European one first. The challenge, as they put it: ‘how to make fashion sustainable and sustainability fashionable?’ I like to think we have started on that course and encouraged other fashion magazines to do the same.
 
I Nuovi Consumatori Myers and Kent: I nuovi consumatori: paesi emergenti tra consumo e sostenibilità. Milano: Edizioni Ambiente 2004.
Norman Myers and Jennifer Kent’s book on new consumers show how they care about corporate social responsibility. They cite me and my decision to make Lucire the first fashion industry partner of the United Nations Environment Programme as an example.
 
Lawrence Green and Jenny Campbell: The Kiwi Effect Green and Campbell: The Kiwi Effect. Wellington 2004.
It’s hip to be square. Lawrence Green and Jenny Campbell have done something admirable: found out what makes successful New Zealand business people tick. I was honoured that Lawrence approached me as an interviewee and flattered I made it into so many chapters. DNA Design did the cover—and a marvellous job of it, too. Check out Lawrence’s company here; and Jenny’s one here.
 
Postrel Postrel: The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Æsthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness. New York: HarperCollins 2003.
Style affects our choices more than we think, posits Virginia Postrel. I haven’t bought this yet, but it’s an interesting thesis, and I noticed I’m a footnote in it from my days helping out Visual Arts Trends.
 
Earls Earls: Designing Typefaces: Insight. East Sussex: Rotovision 2002.
The author, the editor of Typographer.com, had asked me for comments on the topic of intellectual property protection for typefaces. I’ll be checking this one out, to be sure.
National Image

Jaffe and Nebenzahl: National Image and Competitive Advantage. København: Copenhagen Business School Press 2001.
My colleagues Eugene Jaffe and Israel Nebenzahl, arguably the world’s leading authors on country-of-origin effect, with the definitive book on the subject. A pleasure to have lent a hand to these two distinguished scholars.
 

Sebastian

Sebastian: Digital Design Business Practices, 3rd. ed. New York: Allworth Press 2001.
One of the most comprehensive books covering design principles and the rights of those involved in the publishing industry. The earlier editions came with an excellent reputation. The third edition of this book, which includes chapters on web strategy, design and running a practice, sees me quoted.

 
Selected papers

Gilboa: ‘Public Diplomacy: the Missing Component in Israel’s Foreign Policy’, Israel Affairs, October 2006, pp. 715–47.
It’s quite an honour to be cited by someone as well respected as Prof Eytan Gilboa on branding and the international community. The paper itself, on Israel’s national image and its 21st century deterioration, makes for interesting reading.

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Macrae: Brand Transparency. Washington: Institute of Brand Leadership 2002.
Chris Macrae’s excellent collection of writings about brand transparency, edited by Dannielle Blumenthal, is one of the best in getting us to question dogma and convention, breaking through the business world’s conditioning and its use of falsehoods in the process. I appear in it once and am honoured to be amongst such illustrious company. Hop over to Valuetrue.com and learn more about Chris’s initiatives.

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The Medinge communiqué

Highway from Stockholm to MedingeA conspiratorial financial system has severely damaged the reputation of corporate America and global businesses.
   Accounting protocols fail to model the ways that organizations actually create lasting value. Enforcing existing financial regulations with greater vigour helps rebuild trust, but merely adds scaffolding to a dilapidated structure.
   World-class companies can sustain growth for their investors while also learning to make the world a better place. They can do this if their leaders champion the integrity of human issues as well as finding simple ways to build value for all stakeholders. The solution, say the signatories, is through branding, which reflects an organization’s truth and its human aspects, and helps foster positive exchanges of value.

Excerpted from press release,
‘Financial measures have failed; branding is the way forward, say experts’, August 5, 2002
Forms the basis of a 2003 book by signatories to the Medinge Communiqué

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In his compelling closing piece, ‘The brand manifesto’, Jack Yan expresses his concern that brands really are in trouble. He discusses how brands were intended as a sort of shorthand for complex ideas and to build trust among buyers. But, as trust fails, that shorthand is no longer received as it was intended. He states that this is especially true among those in Generation Y who are cynical about many brand propositions and actively seek out responsible brands. For brands to continue to be financial catalysts, Yan proposes a new eight-point brand manifesto. This manifesto delivers what he believes are eight points, which if followed, ‘should guarantee a safe position for the brands of tomorrow’: passion, focus, deliver what one promises, make people happy, finance is broken, brands are not ads, bring humanity and create community.

Susan Nelson
Executive Strategy Director
Landor Associates
in the Journal of Brand Management, vol. 13, no. 1, 2005, pp. 89–90

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Books
Books by others on my current reading list that have inspired me

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Books
The books my friends are working on

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Latest
The brand manifesto’s eight points

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