Rebuilding Brand America

Tilting at windmills -- The queen of branding -- Charlotte in wonderland -- The prince of pollsters -- Measuring distance in kilograms -- Why do they hate us? -- The pictures in their heads -- The business of America -- The power of brands -- Brand America -- CEOs in handcuffs -- Plague or paranoia -- In search of anti-anti-Americans -- The path to happy -- Sink roots, don't just spread branches -- Go glocal -- Share your customers' cares -- Stiff-necked, tree-hugging critics -- Share your customers' dreams -- Myth America -- A lever to move the world -- Waging peace.

Urban redevelopment in American cities is neither easy nor quick. It takes a delicate alignment of goals, power, leadership and sustained advocacy on the part of many. Rebuilding the American City highlights 15 urban design and planning projects in the U.S. that have been catalysts for their downtowns—yet were implemented during the tumultuous start of the 21st century. The book presents five paradigms for redevelopment and a range of perspectives on the complexities, successes and challenges inherent to rebuilding American cities today. Rebuilding the American City is essential reading for practitioners and students in urban design, planning, and public policy looking for diverse models of urban transformation to create resilient urban cores.

In the early 1980s, Harley-Davidson was on the verge of bankruptcy. In the general public's opinion, quality was substandard—of both motorcycles and riders. Harleys leaked oil and were often broken down. Riders were roughnecks, out to raise hell. The Harley-Davidson brand was tarnished. What s more, the charges were true. By the mid-1980s, Harley couldn't produce enough bikes to keep the public happy. Dealers were selling bikes off the showroom floor, struggling to assuage customers frustration. And today, Harley-Davidson is a model brand. Harley-Davidson isn't just a motorcycle company anymore. It is a community, a look, a source of self-expression, an all-American appeal for freedom—all expressed in one little logo. So, what happened? How did Harley manage to pull itself from the fire, brush itself off, and ride off into the sunset? The secret: branding. Histories will tell you how Harley-Davidson closed the quality gap between Hogs and the cheaper, faster, sleeker Japanese bikes; how Harley used Japanese manufacturing methods to increase its cash flow; how Harley clawed its way back from the brink of bankruptcy. All these aspects were important to Harley s rise from the ashes, no doubt, and as such are discussed in this book. But the true power of the big, beautiful, orange and black machine that is Harley-Davidson lies in its image, the Bar and Shield, the brand. Rebuilding the Brand: How Harley-Davidson Became King of the Road is the story of how a core group led a team of not only marketing folks but also employees, management, dealers, and vendors to rebuild the Harley-Davidson image. Told through the perspective of Clyde Fessler—who held several positions within Harley, from head of marketing services to VP of business development—Rebuilding the Brand provides dynamic branding information couched in an entertaining story. Fessler describes the methods used to create the iconic image Harley-Davidson enjoys today, methods that can be translated to nearly any industry, and explores the topics of brand experience, brand personality, brand extension, brand association, brand consistency, and brand welfare. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Countries are among the most powerful brands on the global marketplace. Love it or loath it, never has there been a bigger or stronger brand than the United States of America. More than any other country, America has been blessed with a huge range of positive brand attributes. The country is associated with the definitive youth lifestyle (Coke, MTV, Levi’s); with sporting prowess (Nike, NBA, Timberland); and with technological supermacy (Microsoft, Dell, IBM). America is well-informed (CNN, Time, Newsweek) and, naturally, wealthy (American Express, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs). Of the top 100 international brands, 64 of them are American-owned. The core of America’s potency lies in it being the country of origin for the world’s three most valuable and profitable business sectors: entertainment, merchant banking and IT. This makes America the world’s most powerful public domain brand. American brands simply hitch themselves onto this powerful national brand, and a cultural and commercial trail is instantly blazed for them around the world. This book traces American history, the values of Brand America and the growth of anti-Americanism upto the Obama presidency. America is truly the greatest branding story of them all, and this book tells it for the first time.

With the end of the Cold War and the prospect of a federal Europe ever closer, this book is a timely reassessment of the processes by which western Europe was reborn out of the devastation and despair of 1945. Concentrating on the first postwar decade and making rich use of the latest research findings, David Ellwood gives a detailed account of the practicalities of reconstruction - how it was done, what it cost, who paid for it, and what those involved hoped for, expected and actually received.

A beloved folk singer presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishes. Dubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America's small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises. Here, in an account that "reads as if Pete Seeger and Jane Jacobs teamed up" (New York Times), Williams muses on why some towns flourish while others fail, examining elements from the significance of history and nature to the uniting power of public spaces and food. Drawing on her own travels and the work of urban theorists, Williams offers real solutions to rebuild declining communities. What I Found in a Thousand Towns is more than a love letter to America's small towns, it's a deeply personal and hopeful message about the potential of America's lively and resilient communities.

The building of a vintage Indian Chief motorcycle is more than the restoration of a bike?it?s the resurrection of a dream. Rebuilding the Indian chronicles one man?s journey through the fearful expanse of midlife in a quest for peace, parts, and a happy second fatherhood. Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn?t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father for the first time in over twenty years. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts not so euphemistically referred to as a ?basket case? and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a colorful cast of local experts, Haefele takes us down the rocky road of restoration to the headlong, heart-thrilling rush of open highway on his gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer.