Visual Hammer is the latest book by Laura Ries. Ries is a marketing brand expert who along with her father provides consultancy services to large companies and writes books about how to ensure a brand embeds itself in the mind of the customer.
In books such as The 22 Immutable Rules of Branding and The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR Ries and Ries look at how to associate your brand with one word or one concept in order to create a leading brand. For instance, Google owns the word search and Volvo owns the word safety.
In Visual Hammer, Ries argues that the word that needs to stick in customers' minds is a nail and what hammers that nail in is the visual hammer. Ries makes her case with many examples such as the Coke bottle, the BMW sign and the Red Cross. All are images that everyone knows and immediately associates with their brand.
Reading Visual Hammer, and the other books by Ries, you start to understand why some companies are exceptionally successful and why others cannot build their brands.
Well worth a read.