Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover the Hidden Gems in Your Business by Lynda Resnick (Review)

From the website:

POM Wonderful. FIJI Water. Teleflora. The Franklin Mint. Lynda Resnick’s marketing triumphs read like an encyclopedia of branding. She is the smartest and hardest-working marketing brain in the business-the kind of marketer who can sell “ice sculptures to Eskimos.” But her brilliant ideas aren’t simply the result of random inspiration; they’re the products of a systematic approach to marketing that any company-large or small-can adapt to achieve success. In RUBIES IN THE ORCHARD, she divulges her secrets for creating some of the world’s most memorable and iconic brands, and the bull’s-eye strategies to sell them.

Lynda believes that every company can find “rubies in the orchard”, elements of intrinsic value that consumers will desire. Here, she shows how every successful marketing campaign begins with uncovering these hidden gems, and communicating their value honestly and transparently to the consumer.

Through Lynda’s behind-the-scenes narrative, we learn the secrets of her extraordinary successes, including POM Wonderful-the wildly popular 100% pomegranate juice that created an entirely new product category out of a fickle and obscure fruit-and FIJI Water, a fledgling brand she transformed into the #1 premium bottled water in America, with sales that have increased 300% since 2004.

A born marketer, Lynda shares tales from a remarkable life, from opening her own ad agency at age nineteen to the time she famously overpaid for Jackie Kennedy’s pearls at auction, then transformed her “mistake” into tens of millions of dollars in sales for the Franklin Mint. Here for the first time, she reveals her commonsense method of breaking through marketplace clutter and consumer cynicism, and creating blockbuster brands with true staying power.

My Review:

I found this to be an interesting and informative book. It seems to be heavy on the autobiography part and light on the marketing advice. What marketing advice is in the book sounds great. I am not in the marketing profession but she shows real life examples of how she made it work super successfully. The main point is finding the rubies or intrinsic values for that company and truly believing in the product. She promotes thinking inside the box. I liked reading the background information on the different companies she worked on like POM, Fiji Water, Telefora, and Franklin Mint. My favorite of her companies is probably POM Wonderful. The pomegranate was an overlooked wonder fruit before her company developed it. We now know its nutritional and flavor possibilities. She also touches on "green" issues like packaging and carbon footprints. This is a quick but light read. Not everybody will like it though particularly because of the focus on her and her personal achievements comes off as a self promotional. I did not let it bother me but it is up to the individual reader to see past it if they can and find the rubies. :)

Thank you to Janna at POM Wonderful for my review copy.