Brand dissonance - or why we should read for ourselves.

One of the strongest personal brands in the world right now is Nelson Mandela – or "Madiba" as he's called by his fellow South Africans. We all have a pretty unified picture of who he is, or at least of what he's accomplished, helping South Africa on the way to a brighter future. And still today, at the age of 89 (he is turning 90 in July), earning the respect of the people of his country and world leaders alike.

Since my first visit to South Africa in 1999, I have been meaning to read Long Walk To Freedom, Mandela's autobiography. The book has been staring at me from my bookshelf, no matter where in the world I have been residing. But I haven't gotten around to reading it. And then, last week, I saw the recorded CD version at the library, and thought it would be the perfect book to listen to during my trip to Barcelona. So I borrowed it and started listening, excited about finally "reading" it.

From living in South Africa, I know some of the different cultures and language fine tuning. Mandela is Xhosa, whose language contains three click sounds. He's also born and bred in a country where lots of words are influenced by Afrikaans (the "africanised" Dutch).

Then came the disappointment. The book was read by Danny Glover, the American actor. I have nothing against Danny – he makes a fine cop in Lethal Weapon and The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favourites. But I could bear only a couple of minutes of listening. This was not the Mandela I knew, and not the country which I call my other home. Listening to Glover trying to pronounce the Xhosa and Afrikaans words didn't turn me on at all. It was merely confusing.

The morals of this story? Most likely: any brand dissonance, even if it concerns a country or a person, is confusing, and thus creating frustration among the target audience. And: God is in the details, like the design guru said.

Or perhaps: Don't be a lazy ass. Read the book yourself.