The Agile Brand: Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers (2018)

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Publication details
  3. Summary
  4. Key concepts and frameworks
  5. Who it's for
  6. Edition history
  7. How this book compares
  8. Related podcast episodes
  9. FAQs
  10. Related Terms
  11. Related Books
  12. Sources

Overview

The Agile Brand: Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers is a 2018 book by Greg Kihlström that traces how branding developed from a mark of recognition into an ongoing relationship between a company and its customers, and argues that brands which give up some control in exchange for that relationship earn more loyal, longer-term customers. It is written for marketers, brand managers, and business leaders responsible for a brand’s direction. It is the second book in Kihlström’s Agile series, following The Agile Web (2016), and it introduced the Agile Brand concept and the Evolution of Brands model that run through his later work. A revised second edition, The Agile Brand Revisited, was published in 2025.

See also: Agile Brand · The Evolution of Brands · Brand as Relationship · The Agile Brand Revisited

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Publication details

FieldDetail
Full titleThe Agile Brand: Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers
AuthorGreg Kihlström
ForewordNone listed
SeriesThe Agile Series (book 2)
PublisherSelf-published (distributed via BookBaby)
Publication date2018
EditionFirst; superseded by The Agile Brand Revisited (2025)
FormatsHardcover (2018), ebook (2018), paperback (2020 “Paperback Edition”)
ISBN978-1-5439-3260-7 (hardcover); 978-1-5439-3261-4 (ebook); 979-8-6429-9647-8 (2020 paperback)
Length120 pages
Where to buyAgile Brand Guide product page, BookBaby, Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo
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Summary

The book has two halves. The first is a history. Kihlström follows branding from its origins as a mark of ownership and recognition (a brand on cattle, a maker’s mark on pottery) through the mass-media era, when a brand became an idea planted in the public’s head, into the experience era, when the brand became the sum of every interaction a customer had with it. The point of the history is that each stage didn’t replace the last so much as add a layer, and that the layer being added in the 2010s was relationship: a brand that consumers expect to talk back to, and to answer.

The second half is about what that means for a company. Kihlström’s definition of an agile brand is one that takes part in an ongoing, two-way relationship with consumers and accepts that it no longer controls the whole conversation. Social media, review sites, and direct customer feedback had already taken some of that control away. The book’s argument is that brands which try to hold on to it look inauthentic, and that the trade (less control, more loyalty) is a good one if the brand has substance behind it. It gives practical examples of how to modernize a brand without abandoning its core values, and introduces the principles that Kihlström later formalized as the seven principles of an Agile Brand.

A question the book poses, which one early reader singled out, is what role the brand plays for the customer: friend, teacher, or coach. The framing is meant to force a choice that most brand positioning avoids.

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Key concepts and frameworks

The Agile Brand. Introduced here. An organization able to respond to external change (markets, customers) and internal change (employees, culture) while staying focused on growth for both the business and the customer. Documented at Agile Brand.

The Evolution of Brands. Kihlström’s five-stage model of what a brand has been: object, idea, experience, relationship, and facilitator. The first four are developed in this book; the fifth is extended in The Agile Consumer (2019). Each stage has its own Martechipedia entry under The Evolution of Brands.

Substance, focus, and relevance. The three components of a strong brand, carried forward unchanged into the 2025 edition.

Control for loyalty. The book’s central trade: a brand gives up some control of its message and gets a more durable customer relationship in return.

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Who it’s for

A brand manager updating positioning that was written for a one-way media world. A founder deciding how much of the brand’s voice to hand to customers, employees, and partners. A marketing leader who wants the history of branding as context for current practice. Readers coming to the subject now should start with The Agile Brand Revisited (2025), which keeps the argument and updates the examples; this edition is of interest for its original framing and 2018 context.

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Edition history

EditionYearPublisherNotes
The Agile Brand: Creating Authentic Relationships Between Companies and Consumers (hardcover, ebook)2018Self-published / BookBabyFirst edition.
The Agile Brand, Paperback Edition (The Agile Series)2020Self-publishedPaperback reissue of the 2018 text, labeled as part of The Agile Series.
The Agile Brand Revisited: Principles for the continuously improving, customer-focused enterprise2025Self-publishedSecond edition. New subtitle, foreword by Chris Bach, three-part structure, updated examples. Has its own entry.
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How this book compares

TitleAuthorYearFocusBest suited for
The Agile BrandGreg Kihlström2018Evolution of branding toward relationship; the Agile Brand conceptReaders wanting the original argument
The Agile Brand RevisitedGreg Kihlström2025Same concept, restructured around seven principles, updated examplesReaders coming to the subject now
The Agile ConsumerGreg Kihlström2019The consumer side of the same shiftReaders interested in changing consumer behavior
Building Strong BrandsDavid Aaker1996Brand identity and equityClassical brand strategy
Brand RelevanceDavid Aaker2011Creating categories competitors can’t matchBrand strategists
This Is MarketingSeth Godin2018Marketing as service to a chosen audienceGeneral marketing readers
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The first season of The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström (2019) followed this book’s structure:

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FAQs

Is this book still in print? Yes, in ebook, hardcover, and a 2020 paperback edition, though The Agile Brand Revisited (2025) is the current edition of the argument.

Should I read this or The Agile Brand Revisited? Revisited for most purposes. This edition is worth reading for the original framing and for the 2018 context, including the longer treatment of branding’s history.

What is the Evolution of Brands model? Kihlström’s five stages of what a brand has been: object, idea, experience, relationship, and facilitator. This book develops the first four.

What does “agile” mean in the title? Organizational adaptability, not Agile software methodology. The book is about a brand’s ability to take part in a changing relationship with customers.

Who published it? Kihlström self-published it, with distribution through BookBaby.

What is the “control for loyalty” idea? The book’s argument that a brand which gives up some control of its message in favor of a two-way relationship earns more durable customer loyalty.

Does it have a foreword? None is listed on the available editions.

Where does it sit in the Agile series? Second, after The Agile Web (2016) and before The Agile Consumer (2019), The Agile Workforce (2020), and The Agile Brand Revisited (2025).

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  1. Agile Brand
  2. The Evolution of Brands
  3. Brand as Object
  4. Brand as Idea
  5. Brand as Experience
  6. Brand as Relationship
  7. Brand as Facilitator
  8. Brand Equity
  9. Customer Experience (CX)
  10. Agile, Customer-Centric Culture
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Sources

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