Byron Sharp bites back

'How Brands Grow' aimed to apply scientific rigour to marketing effectiveness, and bring standards in the sector closer to other evidence-based disciplines. Among its key findings, based on decades of datasets, is that brand growth is largely about building physical and mental availability – and that brand loyalty is less exclusive or deeply-felt than many marketers think. But Sharp suggested that some of the book's conclusions have been misinterpreted. "I didn't say there was no such thing as loyalty, I said that loyalty is everywhere," he told the audience. "But it's not the sort of loyalty that we thought."