Booksmart: The Culture Code [Clotaire Rapaille]

I initially read this a couple years ago when it first came out; lives up to most of its hype with interesting perspectives on brands.

Example: Rapaille cites the Jeep as having a different positioning (both in the corporate communications and in the minds of consumers) in the US than it does in Europe. The author states that the “American experience with Jeeps is very different from the French and German experience because our cultures evolved differently (we have strong cultural memories of the open frontier; the French and Germans have strong cultural memories of occupation and war).

Therefore, the Codes — the meaning we give to the Jeep at an unconscious level — are different as well.” As such, the Jeep may be positioned as highly utilitarian in Europe, but as a vehicle to take on the elements and the proverbial Great Outdoors in the US. ~Colin Mangham

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