Miller & Conley, Legacy in the Making

Branding has gotten a bad rap in the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency. It has been conflated with egotism and narcissism. But entrepreneurs and companies work hard to develop and burnish their brands, knowing that it is an essential part of doing business. In Legacy in the Making: Building a Long-Term Brand to Stand Out in a Short-Term World Mark Miller and Lucas Conley show how some brands are charting a modern legacy on maps of their own making.

The book itself is, I assume, meant to be some kind of branding statement. It is square (9” x 9”) with glossy paper and lots of photos. It is printed in black, white, and cyan. It comes across as something of a coffee table book, although its intent is much more serious. As an effort in book design branding, I consider it a failure. Fortunately, the reader can learn to ignore the design noise and focus on the message.

The meat of the book is its profiles of brands, both for-profit and not-for-profit, based on interviews, most often with the brands’ founders. The reader can learn from, among others, Patagonia, the Tribeca Film Festival, Girls Who Code, The Honest Company, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, the It Gets Better Project, Grey Goose, the Belmont Stakes, Lexus, and Wimbledon.

Legacy in the Making will inspire budding entrepreneurs and challenge executives of established brands.