# I’m with the Brand: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We are

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/books/im-with-the-brand-the-secret-dialogue-between-what-we-buy-and-who-we-are/
- Published: 2008-09-11T07:42:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Brands are dead. Advertising no longer works. Weaned on cable TV, the Internet,
and other emerging technologies, the short-attention-span generation has become 
immune to marketing. Or so we’re told.**

New York Times Magazine columnist Rob Walker argues that we’re experiencing a more
important and lasting shift in the dynamic between consumer and consumed than these
reductive conclusions would suggest. Technology has created the possibility of advertising
anywhere and everywhere, and people are embracing brands more than ever before –
creating brands of their own, and participating in marketing campaigns for their
favourite brands in unprecedented ways.

Increasingly, motivated consumers are pitching in to spread the gospel virally, 
whether by creating internet video ads for Converse All Stars or tagging public 
structures with logos of skatewear companies. In the process, they have begun to
funnel their cultural, political, and community activities through their connections
with brands.

In _I’m with the Brand_ Walker introduces us to the creative marketers, entrepreneurs
and artists who have found a way to thrive in this changing cultural landscape.

Using profiles of brands old and new, including Timberland, Apple, Red Bull, iPod,
and Nike, Walker demonstrates the ways in which buyers adopt products, not just 
as consumer choices, but as conscious expressions of their identities.

_I’m With the Brand_ tells the story of how what we buy has increasingly has come
to define who we are.

## Reviews

“Rob Walker brilliantly deconstructs the Religion of Consumption. Love his column,
couldn’t put his book down”. 
**Paco Underhill**_, _author of _Why We Buy_

“Will inspire you to examine your shopping trolley a little closer in future”
_Buzz
Magazine_