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(905) 681-7484Contact us today for a free, no-obligation, in-home estimate: www.mollymaid.ca Thorough, consistent and reliable home cleaning 100% satisfaction guaranteed Regular and occasional service Spring Cleaning Gift Certifi cates e-mail: anderson@mollymaid.ca w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, Ja nu ar y 12 , 2 01 1 1 6 quickly and we finished it very quickly as well. What they came up with when they sifted through the material was the creation of the concept of Affinity. Branding is a well-known factor of good marketing, where even work- ers today are being told that they need to brand themselves when they are looking for a job. In developing the book, however, they looked for a factor that went beyond brand- ing, to explain why consumers become downright passionate about the brands they use and will believe and buy into it, long after it may have let them down. Thats where the concept of Affinity comes in. Affinity is that factor, and the book takes the Harvard case study approach by specifically referring to 29 instances. Aster agrees that this approach does have the seeds of Malcolm Gladwell's successful series of books such as Tipping Point and Blink. However, he points out that their approach is fundamentally different. The differences between what Affinity is like and the way Tipping Point or Blink or whatever is, is that there is a central concept, but what distinguishes Affinity from Gladwell is there is a clear theoretical basis for the work, which is the first part of the book. I think it is a strong theoretical perspec- tive. You could do an entire university course on that theoretical perspective and it has to do with democratic theory, democratic poli- tics, what is the marketplace of ideas. I could spin that out and the notion of trust and the notion of the collective consensus, all of that has been built into the first part of the book. I dont think Gladwell has that. I think Gladwell has one flashpoint, like a Tipping Point and he uses that one insight and it doesnt have a substantive grounded theoret- ical basis. Ford and Toyota and their philosophies, make up a significant part of the studies in this book. Aster says the contrast between the way the two companies operate is inter- esting. One is fashion and style oriented as opposed to quality oriented, said Aster. The other is engineering and quality oriented as opposed to fashion oriented. It is a clash of cultures. Aster recently returned from the Frankfurt book fair and La Roche d'Hys and will soon be heading to Guadalajara to sell Mosaic books to the Spanish market and when he returns he will continue working on the next marketing book with Goldfarb, before he heads off to France again. Aster proves that life, as well as retirement, can truly be productive and fun. Continued from page 16 People are passionate about branding, Affinity author says Cogeco Stars Among Us 11 Applications online at www.oakvillearts.com Deadline: February 1, 2011 presents Entries open to LOCAL TALENT of all ages in all arts disciplines It takes 8 muscles to read this ad. Dont take your muscles for granted. Over 50,000 Canadians with Muscular Dystrophy take them very seriously. Learn more at muscle.ca