So I think that just about does it. As a recap, this book set out to explain the reasons why listening to the customer can be at the expense of growing a brand. Throughout my life, I've been fascinated by the power of marketing and branding. I'm amazed at how marketing and advertising can encourage us to make completely illogical decisions, such as buying a product that's twice as expensive as a near-identical one. Creating brands is complicated and sensitive. There needs to be clarity in how the brand is established and consistency in taking it to market. This balance of clarity and consistency needs to be derived from the brand itself, not the consumer.

Marketing and branding have a terrible reputation. The publisher of this book, John Wiley & Sons, is branding it as a business book because marketing books don't sell. I think this sullied reputation is contributing to marketers looking in all the wrong places to justify their marketing decisions. These include consumer research and consumer insight, rather than marketing and branding strategy, with marketing sciences. 

Hopefully I've made a compelling argument that listening to the consumer will ultimately destroy your brand. This is because fundamentally, consumers don't need your brand or product. If it exists in an established category, there is at least one alternative to satisfy the consumer. Listening to the customer makes you smaller. You'll stay out of the consumer's way and meet generic category needs because that's what they want.

The alternative to listening to the customer is developing brand intelligence and prioritising what your brand stands for beyond everything else. The ultimate in brand intelligence is to create a brand so motivating and differentiated that it busts through preconceptions and creates a category of one. My friend Rob Perkin's feel-good business ‘OMGyes' is a brilliant example. But this approach isn't always possible or always needed. 

Brand growth within a category is possible and, as outlined in the book, stands the best chance of success if the organisation is aligned around the brand and what it stands for. For brands to grow, they need to create mental and physical availability — which is most comfortable if everyone is clear on what the brand stands for. From the board to the CEO (I mean chief brand officer), the CMO and across the organisation, if all are behind the brand, decisions are faster and brands can act tactically and enjoy increased earned media. An example is our work with the iconic brand Vegemite. The ‘Tastes Like Australia' platform has liberated the brand, allowing it to act with tactical, attention-getting freedom.

Next up are brands doing what I can't imagine many consumers recommending, and that's to embrace their dark side and shine a light on their negatives and weaknesses. In a world chasing perfection and efficiency, powered by ridiculous insights supplied by human-centred designers, creating friction, and getting people to stop and think is to be applauded. We'll have to work harder to generate friction, create waste, make mistakes and make a mess. But it's worth it because people will spend more time processing brands and messages.

And failing that, stop doing things for the customer and instead get your customer to do things for you. Invite them to co-create your products like IKEA, or, at the very least, ask them to be involved in the marketing by investing part of themselves into the brand. The more you ask them to be involved, the more they'll like you. To read more about this, grab of copy of my previous book, The Advertising Effect: How to change behaviour. 

It's challenging to create the new, the unusual, the attention-getting and the different. The more people we ask, the more we are drawn to the middle ground of mediocrity. As an individual, it's hard to stand your ground and believe in yourself. However, a brand needs to convince an entire organisation to stay the course — and it can be diverted very quickly. Listening to consumers increases the risk of homogenisation and brand devaluation. Stop listening to your customers and try hearing your brand instead.