Byron Sharp on 'How Brands Grow', five years on

'How Brands Grow', by Australian academic Professor Byron Sharp, is one of the most influential marketing books of the past decade. Since its publication in 2010, it has been mentioned countless times in agency and client presentations. Sharp himself was on hand at Unlearning, an event organised by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), a UK professional body for the ad industry, to give his views of the book's reception – and reveal what he has learned as a result of this response.

News 10 years ago Unknown author

Australian academic Professor Byron Sharp considers the response to his influential book How Brands Grow, published in 2010, which aimed to bring scientific rigour and new evidential standards to understanding marketing effectiveness.

The suggestion that there is no such thing as loyalty is a misinterpretation of the book - loyalty is everywhere, just "not the sort of loyalty that we thought".
Marketers have ignored the need to reach beyond heavier category buyers to lighter buyers to successfully grow a brand.
"Dumb" brand decisions are common as marketers persist with assumptions they learned in business school.

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