Dan Schawbel Interviews Susan Gunelius about Hugh Hefner, Playboy and Harry Potter

This week, I answered some questions posed to me by Dan Schawbel of Personal Branding Blog about my new book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, and my book about the Harry Potter brand, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon.

You can read the full interview on Dan’s blog and learn how Hugh Hefner, Playboy and Harry Potter are connected in terms of branding strategy.

Bet you never thought you’d hear that Playboy and Harry Potter can be compared to each other!

Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview:

Dan Schawbel: What branding lessons can we learn from Playboy and Harry Potter?

Susan Gunelius: I think the biggest similarity between the Playboy and Harry Potter brands is the importance of having a brand champion and brand guardian at the helm. Both Playboy and Harry Potter have two of the strongest brand champions and advocates leading the way — Hugh Hefner and J.K. Rowling. Both resolutely defend their brands just as much as they promote them.

Read the rest here.

20% Discount on Harry Potter – The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon Available Now

I’m going to be the Keynote Speaker at the Harry Potter MPA Program which is part of the annual Harry Potter Education Foundation (HPEF) conference in July 2009, Azkatraz. My publisher, Palgrave Macmillan, is offering a 20% discount off of my book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, to complement the event. You can get all the details here.

If there’s a Harry Potter fan in your life, this book would be a great holiday gift! And if you just find branding and marketing success stories fascinating, as I do, then you might want to pick up this book for yourself!

I hope you enjoy it!

Image: Susan Gunelius/Palgrave Macmillan

Susan Gunelius Interviewed on ThirdWay Advertising

This week, David Vinjamuri, author of Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brandsand President of ThirdWay Brand Trainers, published an interview I did with him to discuss my book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, marketing, blogging and branding. 

David asked some great questions and reminded me just how much fun it was to write this book.

You can read the complete interview here.