[Book Review] Kim Yujin

After reading Kim Yujin's Famous, the word brand feels different. The book carefully explains that a brand, which we often think of as just a logo attached to a product or a stylish image posted on an Instagram feed, is actually about designing how it will remain in people's memories.

The word brand has been overused, and far too easily, for a long time. Everyone says, "Build your own brand," but it is rarely explained what it actually takes, in what strategies and contexts, to become "famous." This book addresses that vague point head-on. It does not leave the claim that you must become famous as a simple slogan; instead, it presents it as a system that can be designed.

The book begins with a rather provocative chapter titled, "Branding that Burns into the Customer's Brain." It talks about how thorough and strategic the design must be for a brand to be engraved in customers' minds. It says that even a single font, a single color, or a single brand name must carry clear intent.

Author Kim Yujin is an expert who has spent a long time doing on-site consulting in the food service industry. Thanks to that, the examples in the book are full of realistic cases involving restaurants, cafés, menu development, and more, making them practical enough to use right away in the field. But the strategic principles behind them are not limited to food service. Concepts such as "a painkiller-like brand," "a brand that touches emotions," and "a strategy that stimulates customers' instincts" can apply to marketing in any industry.

One part that stood out especially in the book is the rule of "the most" and "the first." It emphasizes that for a brand to survive in the market, it must establish itself faster than anyone else or in a way that is more distinctive than anyone else. It should not be a familiar brand, but one that is remembered instantly. What matters here is likability. The explanation continues that to create a brand people cannot help but like, the brand itself needs a human personality.

Famous presents a path not to a "best-selling brand" but to a "brand that stays in the heart." And it emphasizes that the process must go through design, experimentation, and refinement, not intuition alone. For someone just starting a brand, or someone already running one, this book will serve as a checklist and a compass for brand strategy.

Famous

Author Kim Yujin Publisher Doysdam Release 2024.09.12.

If you want your brand to shine like a jewel and be praised, reveal your thoughts through the arrangement of people, the background, and props.

From the explanation of mise-en-scène

Humans like new things more than obvious and common things. They value rare things more than things they can find anywhere.

If you are a small business owner, write a new update on Naver Place every day.

If you want to attract customers from overseas as well, upload 1,000 photos to Google.

If you have a great product, post content on Instagram every day.

If you want a deeper relationship, communicate actively on social media.

If you want to make your brand known around the world, fill YouTube with videos.

If you want to win over Gen MZ, flood TikTok.

Casually approach influencers, send friend requests, leave lots of comments, and stop by to say hello every day. Like politicians during election season. Frequent exposure creates familiarity. Once people feel familiar with you, they can get closer. You can become famous faster only if at least one more person talks about your brand. Tell them, "Leave your inconvenience and pain to me. I'll make sure the cost you paid doesn't feel wasted. I'll take care of everything generously, so come to my brand anytime."

They don't come because they don't know.

They don't buy because they don't know.

They don't do business because there is no relationship.

Just say it. Start the conversation first.

Customers are taught.

Eat it this way, and it tastes twice as good. Enjoy it this way, and you get your money's worth. Eat it in this way, and it's twice as fun. The unique fun of our brand that other brands will never teach you. If you kindly teach this, people will be happy. And they will trust and follow. People lean on what they are taught. People are always looking for someone they can rely on.

The moment they see it, they should be able to feel, "Ah, if I start meeting this brand, this is what I can become right away."

...Please listen a lot. Listen so much that customers feel as if they fully control us. The answer becomes clear as you listen.

There is a reason Subway became number one. More than any other brand in the world, it works hard to be controlled by customers.

Subway does not try to place customers under the brand's control; rather, it tries to place the brand under the customer's control.

Humans want to keep brands that are easy to control close by.

You survive by listening.

You win by listening.

You become famous by listening.

Lift up the other person. Lift up the customer until it makes you dizzy.

The choice of picky mothers.

Top-performing marketers choose OO.

The decision of smart parents.

If you are a devoted father.

If you are a capable young person.

If you want prospective customers who have not yet experienced the brand to make a choice, give the brand a human side so they can feel familiar with it.

Draw the eyes, draw the nose, draw the mouth. This is the easiest way to approach customers familiarly, be less forgettable, and remain in memory for a long time.

If you truly like something, state it proudly and put it on display. You need to find customers on the same side as soon as possible.

The phenomenon in which people trust more those who imitate another person's behavior and expressions without being noticed, and those who resemble their own behavior, is called the chameleon effect.

(...about setting a high price)...while you are thinking about it, you evolve a great deal. Because you do not want to feel sorry, and because you do not want to feel embarrassed again, you end up taking care of the composition and details that match that high price, and before long, an unexpectedly excellent work is completed.

However, for this top-price strategy to be completed perfectly, there is a stage that must absolutely be gone through. Remove all cheap cues. Get rid of the extremely cheap-looking cues that are commonly used by ordinary, average brands. Otherwise, customers will not recognize it.

Know-how is tech. Arm yourself with the greatest tech on earth. Humans like new products, but they also really like technology.

The best way to establish yourself in the market and in people's minds in a short time is to say that your brand's products and services are the most advanced.

Attach the words science or engineering to your item.

This is how you say goodbye to claims that anyone is already making or could have made. Instead, identify the points that no one has claimed so far and that no one can claim. At this moment, what matters most is people. Not functions, performance, or accessories. In that sense, if I were to give you one tip, it would be to create a new use.