The World Doesn’t Need Another Boring Business Book
This book may not strike you as a serious business book. But it is.
Sure, it uses a zombie metaphor to frame a highly nuanced and serious argument. And yes, its written in similar fashion to a zombie movie with ever increasing and calamitous stakes. And of course, its even incorporates graphic novel style imagery to drive home its points.
But make no mistake, it carries a sobering message for B2Bs and their stakeholders that will change the way you look at B2B brands.
Boring Business Book? No.
Serious, but entertaining business book? Yes.
A Must-Read for B2Bs
Too many B2Bs don’t take marketing seriously. They say they do. And some even believe they do. But they don’t, because too many B2B boards and C-suites don’t respect marketing:
- They don’t see it as a critical discipline to their business.
- They don’t hire for it or invest in it in ways that foster a healthy brand.
- They don’t devote the resources needed to create a competitive edge.
- And they don’t understand how to use it to enhance their business growth.
Instead, too many B2Bs try to systematize marketing and pigeon hole it into an administrative function that behaves the same way other business disciplines do.
Only instead of building strong brands, they create zombie brands: Mutations of otherwise healthy brands that lurk in the shadows, fail at forming meaningful or memorable connections with buyers, and fall short of the lowest standard of marketing — distinguishing their brand from the competition.
In a recent survey of 25,000 buying experiences, a whopping 68% of B2B buyers report that the B2B brands they encounter at work “all sound and act the same”— while 71% of B2B marketers rate themselves favorably for “communicating a distinct brand position.”(Gold, Geen, and Hounsell 2024, 16)
In the chasm between those two groups lies not just lost opportunity and throttled potential, but a zombie brand contagion that’s creating B2Bs that are fundamentally incapable of ensuring their own survival.
Beware the Rise of Zombie Brands examines the catastrophic rise of zombie brands and highlights how B2Bs that ignore marketing as a critical business discipline are not only working against their own best interests, but are failing in their fiduciary responsibilities to their stakeholders.
A must-read for every B2B board, C-suite, and buyer — not to mention every B2B marketer, partner, investor, customer, and employee, this is the story of how B2Bs created their very own existential threat and how they can fix it.
Bonus Chapter
The final chapter of this book is a case study of the real world implications of being a zombie brand. It focuses on a once unicorn turned zombie brand with nearly 300 employees, $300million in funding, and a $2Billion valuation and relates the author’s own first-hand account of working on the inside to save the infected zombie brand from itself. Zombies may not scare you, but this chapter will.
Is your brand a zombie?
Would you know if it was?
Take the Zombie Brand Challenge! Inside this book is a quiz readers can take to determine if their brand is healthy, zombie brand adjacent, or a full-fledged zombie brand.
Take the quiz today, because what you don’t know can kill your business.
What You’ll Learn
- What makes a brand a zombie brand
- Why and how brands become zombie brands
- Why we should all be afraid of zombie brands
- Why buyers (and all stakeholders for that matter) should steer clear of zombie brands
- How to recognize, resuscitate, and rejuvenate zombie brands
- What happens if you don’t
Who Should Read This Book?
The better question is who shouldn’t?
When it comes to bringing your company back from the dead, you’ll need all the help you can get. So start at the top and work your way down:
- The board, every member.
- The C-suite, every chief.
- The Marketing department… given there’s actually a department and not just an overworked, underpaid manager. But yeah, her too.
- The Sales team.
- Product development.
- And well, hell, anybody and everybody who influences your brand’s success in the market.
Read it, and then spread the word on the dangers of being a zombie brand as if your life depends on it! Because it does.
Warning to Readers:
Reading this book will permanently alter your perspective on the brands you deal with each day. If you do not want that to happen, do not read this book.
Consider yourself warned.
READER Reviews
"This magnificent book by Walter High describes exactly how B2B brands go wrong. And more importantly, what to do about it."
"Despite the educational heft, the book is fast paced and (like a well cooked brain), easy to digest. The metaphors and illustrations bring life to a subject so often devoid of energy and soul. And the immaculate structure makes the entire thing immediately actionable."
~ Dan Holt
Creator of Mary’s Marketing Adventures and Founder / Chief Mary Officer, Mary in Burnham, England
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a career marketer, Walter High has worked with some of the best known brands in the world in both B2B and B2C arenas and across sectors and industries. His clients and employers have included Hollywood film studios, Harvard Business Publishing, multiple high-tech start-ups, healthcare institutions, hotel groups, non-profit organizations, advertising and design studios, capital investment groups, U.S Senators, and even a subsea demolition company.
He has worked within companies, worked as a consultant to companies, and run his own companies.
His body of work includes strategy as well as hands-on creative, writing, direction, and production for digital, video, radio, film trailers, print, packaging, display, etc.
Okay, show’s over. Go home now.
