As bookshelves groan with tomes on branding, it's fair to ask whether we need another. But Bruce and Harvey suggest upfront that this is "not a textbook on brand strategy or brand management". Perhaps, then, this is the enigma of the title. What is this book about?

If not to explain how to manage a brand better, what is its purpose? The answer appears a little worrying. For this is a book about dreams and an approach to brands, based on the idea of the "Brand Dream". In truth, this is just a different method of brand strategy, and is centred on an assessment of where a brand has come from, where it is and where it may head in the future.

The problems start when it comes to the experimental workshop methods required to get employees to create a new brand dream. In a downturn, getting directors and other staff to write a play, paint a picture and then go on a "medicine walk" to formulate a new vision for a brand is a bit rich.

There is strong analysis of good and bad brand management and interesting thoughts on innovation, but much of the thinking seems too distant from the reality of recession.

Wiley, £24.99