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It’s brilliant. While most books on branding focus either on the visual aspect or the overall business aspect of branding, The Invisible Grail looks at the power of words to communicate a brand’s values and personalities.

Thankfully, John Simmons practices what he preaches, making this business textbook an easier-than-usual read. (I’ve read some business books where you end up reading the same paragraph three times… grrr!)

The book’s message is summed up in a pyramid diagram, looking at the stages of relationship achieved by writing alone.

At the bottom we have plain language – which should be a prerequisite in business but often isn’t. Being understood. Conveying trustworthiness.

But then a brand needs to stand apart from its fellows. So the language starts to show why this brand is authoritative and worthy of respect.

Stage three – the top of the pyramid – is what the book is all about: being likeable. “Here we encourage the brand to have fun with language,” says Simmons.

He then goes on to show just how fun language can be. Like Innocent, a British company that makes all-natural smoothies and adds character to every piece of marketing materials – right down the ingredients label!

The Invisible Grail also looks at the art of storytelling. Tell your story well, and you’ll build a bridge of affinity with your customers better than any CRM software.

Good quote here:

“Stories provide us with a means to understand the world better and to understand the personal role we can play in it. A story is not written about you but for you. Each one of us reads something of our own story in any story written about someone else.”

As well as being a pretty good marketing textbook, The Invisible Grail gets pretty deep and talks about sociology, cultures, art, poetry, and stuff like that. Stuff business people don’t usually take to work. Very interesting, even the bits I disagree with.

The Invisible Grail is a very helpful book, as well as an interesting read. Get it. You’ll enjoy it.