Book Review of Accidental Branding

I have been reading a few chapters of Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands by David Vinjamuri and I thought I’d share some of my opinions with you. 

From what I have read, the book seems to be different and I like different. The book is about how eight entrepreneurs accidentally built amazing brands:

Every story here starts with something unexpected happening, whether it is a cyclist realizing he can’t eat his sixth consecutive energy bar because it just doesn’t taste good (Gary Erickson of Clif Bar), a mother trying and failing to find videos with classical music, foreign language, and poetry for her baby (Julie Clark of Baby Einstein), or a hitchhiker getting picked up on the side of a road in Maine by a beekeeper who shares her values (Roxanne Quimby of Burt’s Bees).

Thanks to pure luck, these eight entrepreneurs, built amazing brands, and I believe that their stories should be read by all of us. Because there are a lot to learn from their stories. 

Would these very successful accidental entrepreneurs have become as successful if it wasn’t for pure luck and very good timing?

Many of the entrepreneurs did not graduate from college, they did not have rich backers and they managed to live hand-to-mouth. And they probably would have become successful even without the pure luck, but maybe not as successful if it wasn’t for the accidental part.

The reason why all the entrepreneurs probably would have become succesful even if they didn’t experience the luck and accidental part, is due to the fact that they all have one thing in common. Every single person David Vinamuri interviewed for his book is a perfectionist. And it’s the attention to details that makes all these brands authentic and so powerful.

Before I read this book, I didn’t think that accidents could be part of branding at all. I never thought of pure luck, but it all seems so natural when you read the stories and I end up thinking; of course, accidental branding happens all the time.

David Vinamuri defines an accidental brand through three tests:

1. An individual who is not trained in marketing must create the brand.
2. This individual must experience the problem that the brand solves.
3. The individual must control the brand for at least 10 years.

Now, buy the book and read all the amazing stories on how these very successful entrepreneurs (like John Peterman and Craig Newark) built their brands.