What is cool? It’s difficult to identify, impossible to measure, and usually appears spontaneously. If you ask someone what it is, they’ll probably reply that they can’t tell you in exact words, but they know it when they see it.
But there is one thing every marketer knows about cool—nothing increases sales like cool does. Even though you may be able to reach a large audience, it may not matter if your product isn’t cool enough to ignite a customer’s interest enough to purchase it. In The Cool Factor, Del Breckenfeld shows how a brand can effectively be driven to new heights by partnership marketing with “cool” products, celebrities, musicians, and events that are already established as cool.
Not just another how-to book on marketing, The Cool Factor is an exploration into the successes of a world-renowned company through the eyes of an insider. Breckenfeld, head of Entertainment Marketing at Fender® Musical Instruments, the world’s bestselling and most recognizable brand name in electric guitars and amps, draws from his firsthand experiences to reveal how Fender became the coolest name in musical instruments and how marketers at Fender partnered with cool products, people, and events to up their cool factor even more.
With numerous examples from highly recognizable marketing campaigns, Breckenfeld shows how companies in the entertainment business and beyond can offer other firms countless opportunities for partnership marketing—and coolness by association. For any marketer in any industry, The Cool Factor offers invaluable lessons on using product placement, event marketing, charitable causes, the celebrity quotient, and other tactics for tapping the power of cool.
What an incredible book. Del has truly hit the bullseye with his insightful look at the world of entertainment marketing. I have been educated and inspired and plan to use his advice in the coming years on behalf of my musical clients. Thanks for a job well done!