A Brand is an Onion is a book of opinion, advice, anecdotes and illustrations that are the fruit of the author’s experience, whether as a manual or a repertory of ideas. Hugh Wilson argues that a brand is an onion, or at least it should look and behave like one: singular and yet coherent. Every aspect of a brand is branding, he says, just as every slice of an onion is unmistakably onion.

Hugh Wilson is a marketing expert, having spent ten years at L’Oréal before creating his own brand, Handmade. Also a former brand director at Clarins, he is now lecturer and consultant on brand strategy. A Brand is an Onion covers a wide range of subject areas, many atypical – culture, serendipity and timing, he believes, are equally as vital to branding as management, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Both practical and philosophical, A Brand is an Onion contains stimulating thinking from a wide range of sources, bringing an original Anglo-French touch to the subject. The aim is to open perspectives without giving ready-made answers. 

Odyssee, 288pp, 14cm x 21cm, illustrated paperback, 2024