‘Ueber-Brands’* are brands that are perceived to be ‘peerless and priceless,’ that have acquired such ‘meaning beyond the material’ that people place them ‘above and beyond’* the sea of mundane products that might vie for their attention and business.
We have written two books on Ueber-Brands: The first – “Rethinking Prestige Branding” shares the “Secrets of the Ueber-Brands” – i.e. the principles we have found to drive the success of brands people admire and are willing to pay a premium for across industries. We studied well over a hundred of them and provide many example as well as in-depth case studies from brands as diverse as Aesop, Brunello Cucinelli, Dyson, EDEKA, Freitag, Gucci, Hermes, … to MINI, Nespresso, Oscar de la Renta, Patagonia, Cique Du Soleil and more.
The second “Brand Elevation” provides “Lessons in Ueber-Branding” – i.e. a hands-on, step-by-step guide on how to develop and execute a Brand Elevation strategy. From diving into your company’s DNA to reveal the core elements for an aspiring Brand Mission and Myth to crafting an organization culture, product and other manifestations that bring the brand to live in ways that are authentic and appealing. Beyond providing dozens of example and case studies, we asked six practitioners to describe how they executed these steps at brands ranging from Airbnb via Aqua di Parma, Burts Bees to Starbucks, Lakrids and YouTube.
We hope you will find these reads inspiring, entertaining and very practical – all at the same time.
(* ‘Ueber’ is German and means ‘above and beyond’ when used as an adjective. And, yes, we borrowed the idea from Nietzsche who would probably have described an ‘Ueber-Brand’ one that does not stop at providing utility but seeks to help humanity progress in one way or another.)
Ueber-Brands™ 