It isn't an accident that this book, the work of two consultants, reads like a tightly focused marketing textbook. What Braunstein and Levine understand is that a Web site is not a brand. While the Internet is a wonderful distribution channel, it is only a tool for building a brand. If you want to create a brand, you have to do what companies have always done: create an indelible mark on the minds of customers by combining a product that meets their needs with a vivid image. Using a vivid image of their own to get the point across, the authors draw on the origin of the word "brand" suggest that marketers do exactly what ranchers do when they want to leave their mark on cattle: apply heat and pressure. Through a series of short chapters, Braunstein and Levine show how to apply heat--the values of the organization--and pressure--what goes into the marketing effort. Since the book covers the basics, readers expecting "marketing tricks" are going to be disappointed. But executives--even those with a marketing background--are bound to get a boost from lessons such as "users are not customers" (customers represent repeat business, users don't) and constant reminders of the importance of customization and immediately meeting your customers' expectations. The payoff for doing this well can be enormous. As the authors write: "A deep brand is the ultimate Internet search engine. People go to search engines when they don't know who can address their needs; they go to brands when they do." (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.