Book Description
As founder of Beckwith Advertising and Marketing, HarryBeckwith learned early on in his career that no matter what product isbeing sold, the most important component of the sale is you. Here Beckwithteams up with his wife, motivational speaker and former sales executiveChristine Clifford Beckwith, to provide tips, anecdotes, and insights basedon their 30 years of selling experience. Written in a traditional homespunstyle, the Beckwiths offer doses of humor and practical knowledge to anyonewho wants to learn how to seal the deal and thrive in business.
Customer Reviews:
You, Inc.: The Art of Selling More of the Same.......2007-10-16
Please, save yourself the money! You, Inc. is an OK book that covers a lot of basic information for people completely new to sales or a profession/career that does not deal routinely with people. I found the writing style no better than eight grade level. If you want a light read, and one with more humor that you can reference easily, I recommend Jeffrey Gitomer's books over this brochure by Beckwith. Thin self-help books like Beckwith's validate that money can be made by copying every other book on the market, slapping a 'sticky' title on the cover, and adding to the authors growing fortune. Please don't add to his already significant pile.
Not bad, but not great.......2007-10-11
The book wasn't a waste of time. There were keen insights shared. My problem was that you had to turn too many pages to read them. As opposed to books such as Blink, or Made to Stick, this book seemed "cheap." Honestly, I felt like I was reading motivational literature.
kris.......2007-09-22
Good book, with lots of wisdom and forgotten common sense. I enjoyed reading the book - very easy style and got pumped up with energy after reading. Brings to light lots of obvious things in life and business, which we tend to easily forget.
Brilliant!.......2007-09-22
Like Beckwith's other books (I've read them all), I really enjoyed it. For me, each book has built on the previous one. I also find Beckwith's books easy to read. It's as if they are written in "bite-size" pieces to be easily digested. :-) Once I get started, I have a hard time putting them down. I read You, Inc. in two sittings. My brain feels like it "ate too much!"
You, Inc. is another book I will highly recommend to my dental colleagues. Well, I've recommended ALL of Beckwith's books to my dentist friends! I think You, Inc. and What Clients Love are particularly well-suited for dentists. Both of them are "chock-full" of pearls. Both are books that should be read multiple times. And, I've used many of Beckwith's concepts in my website and my business.
Between my wife and me, our copy of You, Inc. has virtually doubled in thickness because of all the dog-eared pages. It won't even close normally!
You, Inc. was an outstanding read, and I know I'll be putting some of the ideas to work starting tomorrow!
So so.......2007-09-15
Sorry everybody but I didn't think this book was all that great. There really wasn't anything new in here that I haven't read or heard before. It seems like all books like this have the same ideas but put in someone else's words or through their own stories.
Book Description
"Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating advertising that truly connects with consumers. While many in the industry are still dissecting consumer behavior, extrapolating demographic trends, developing complex behavioral models, and measuring Pavlovian salivary responses, Steel advocates an approach to consumer research that is based on simplicity, common sense, and creativity--an approach that gains access to consumers' hearts and minds, develops ongoing relationships with them, and, most important, embraces them as partners in the process of developing and advertising.
A witty, erudite raconteur and teacher, Steel describes how successful account planners work in partnership with clients, consumer, and agency creatives. He criticizes research practices that, far from creating relationships, drive a wedge between agencies and the people they aim to persuade; he suggests new ways of approaching research to cut through the BS and get people to show their true selves; and he shows how the right research, when translated into a motivating and inspiring brief, can be the catalyst for great creative ideas. He draws upon his own experiences and those of colleagues in the United States and abroad to illustrate those points, and includes examples of some of the most successful campaigns in recent years, including Polaroid, Norwegian Cruise Line, Porsche, Isuzu, "got milk?" and others.
The message of this book is that well-thought-out account planning results in better, more effective marketing and advertising for both agencies and clients. And also makes an evening in front of the television easier to bear for the population at large."
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book, concise and insightful........2007-02-15
Really, I suppose, the type of book a planner should write.
It is a great introduction to what a planner is and does. A good textbook for anyone involved in advertising or dealing with ad agencies. A brilliant "manual" for planners.
The best planning book I've read to date.......2007-01-12
There is a huge shortage of good account planning books. This effort by Jon Steele makes up for it. He is a man passionate about advertising (that's evident throughout the book) and very good at it too.
Jon covers the theoretical and practical aspects of account planning thoroughly and provides insights and advice for planners at all levels, account management staff, creative staff and clients.
Reading this book will show you how to improve the quality of your advertising product. It has certainly helped me do that at the agency I work for in New Zealand. One of the best buys I've made on Amazon.
Perfect.......2006-11-15
Perfect! The book is absolutely AWESOME! A nice way of teaching a lesson about advertising!
Excellent Introduction But Too Consumer Focussed.......2005-01-07
Without a doubt, this is the difinitive book on the art of account planning. Having been an account planner myself, I can assure you that no other book comes close in terms of providing 1) an overview of the discipline 2) a realistic account of how planning functions in everday situations within the agency 3) is done in an extremely readable and clear format unlike many other advertising strategy/research books which are more strategic textbook. Steel's book reads like a biography which is a testiment to his skill as a writer and as a planner.
However, I do have a few issues with this book in that it places too much emphasis on the power of the consumer in the planning process. I have known many non-planners who have read this book and come away with the idea that everything the consumer says and does is the word of God and planning is nothing more than a glorified consumer tape recorder. This in turn makes the planner's job more difficult in some respects as they in turn must justify all of their work with,"the consumer said this." Often, agency personal new to planning desperately want to strictly classify this multi-faceted discipline and often put it in in a smaller box (consumer) than it is suited for (incidentally, this often says something about the quality or lack thereof of those who you are working with).
The reality (for me anyway) is that account planning encompases many different skills and functions of which listening and interpreting what the consumer says is just one. Consumers are only a rear view mirror in that they can tell you what happened in the past but cannot predict the future. They are also extremely literal and what they say is not always what they mean or feel which is why instinct (a dirty word in many advertising circles) is so essential. Many great brands and briefs utliize a strong point of view rather than direct and literal consumer insight which is counter to the case studies that Steel uses to explain the 'planning process.'
Overall, this is an excellent 'introduction' into account planning. In a sense, the dilema that this book creates though, is also why planning is such a wonderful discipline. A planner's job cannot be easily classified in a sentence because there are so many diverse skills required of a first-rate planner.
HighlyRecommended!.......2004-06-04
Successful ad campaigns are not linear developments where a business need meshes straightforwardly with an effective creative approach and actually produces successful tangible results. Instead, building memorable, provocative advertising campaigns is such a complex, political task, both rational and emotional, that a successful campaign is a wonder. Veteran advertising expert Jon Steel contends that building a good campaign is the common sense responsibility of the account planner - the new nexus of the consumer, agency creative staff, client and researchers. Steel shows the pitfalls of misguided research and creative arrogance as he explains that a good business-oriented account planner can help produce wonderfully effective, often simple, ad campaigns. His witty, erudite book concludes with its best case study: a look inside the successful "Got Milk" campaign for the California milk industry. We recommend this book to those who buy and sell advertising and to anyone working at an ad agency.
Book Description
They've been called "visionary" by both Newsweek and Time, hailed as "the ad world's most talked-about agency" by USA Today, and dubbed "the next big thing" by Business 2.0. They launched the Mini car craze in America, took on Big Tobacco in the controversial Truth campaign, sexed up Virgin Airlines, and made Burger King sizzle once again. And they did it with bold publicity stunts, infectious viral marketing strategies, funny masks, folding paper, outrageous Internet hoaxes, and a weird, garter belt-wearing chicken who became a cultural sensation. And this random madness has a very sound method to it: Hoopla. In Hoopla, the secret inner workings of this freewheeling, break-the-mold idea factory are revealed for the first time. Veteran journalist Warren Berger, who has tracked and reported on the CP+B phenomenon over the past decade, fully examines and deconstructs the methods that lie behind the agency's seeming madness, while the striking images throughout the book (captioned by the CP+B creative team) provide insights into the logic, intuition, mischief, and passion that leads to the creation of Hoopla. The result is a fascinating journey into a realm of unbridled creativity. See the madness. Read the method. Hoopla. Hoopla also includes practical, step-by-step advice on how to find and promote big ideas (even on a shoestring budget), and how to generate excitement and hype in today's cluttered, noisy communications landscape. If you're a marketer, a communicator of any type, or anyone who needs to get out a message and generate some buzz, Hoopla will change the way you think about the art of communication.
Customer Reviews:
Recent Order.......2007-10-05
I placed the order on 5 September and is expected to recieve the book on or before 1 October. However, the book hasn't been arrived yet. This is quite unusual as it is not the usual practice of your delivery schedule.
Look forward to receiving the book soon!
Emily
Hooplariffic!.......2007-09-28
This book is awesome and depressing at the same time... As I read page after page of the ground breaking creative ideas that have come out of that shop, I am continously reminded of my insignificance in the ad world. Nevertheless, this is still a cool book and a great read, full of inspiration and motivation. And... it's sandpaper cover has really come in handy removing some of the unsightly rust spots from my VW.
Crispin, Porter, and Bogusky's Hoopla leaves room for improvement.......2007-07-08
A well intentioned book meant to profile one of America's leading advertising agencies ends up leading the reader on a confused journey lacking clarity, consistency, and organization. What could have been a prolific view into the creative process behind some of the most successful advertising campaigns eventually leaves the reader scratching their head wondering what the hell the point of the book was. Although the book graces some of the insights and strategies that were leveraged to develop the creative idea, most of the narrative hinges on a self indulgent and narcissistic viewpoint of how great CP&B thinks they are.
Advertising.......2007-06-13
if you like advertising, this is a great book from one of the most powerfull ad vertising agencies in th US, very nice design
Excelente Libro.......2007-05-12
El Hoopla es un libro muy interesante que muestra cómo hacen las cosas en Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Lo interesante del libro es entender que las cosas en publicidad si se pueden hacer de manera diferente y que hay más medios por explorar. Lo recomiendo 100%.
Book Description
This commonsense guide lets you develop your brand with the same techniques and technologies as the big players—but without all the cost. You’ll learn to master the same three-step plan the big advertisers use and discover the secret to brand continuity from product to product. This valuable resource will help you connect your products with your customers, no matter how small your brand.
Customer Reviews:
Marketing 101 from your crazy uncle.......2007-09-22
Mack has some very interesting and relevant content in this book, but wasn't too impressed overall. I felt like an experienced, drunk uncle was talking to me about marketing while reading this book. I think Mack would agree that that the ideas in the book aren't new or revolutionary, but I think he does a good job of condensing marketing to a few points. Since this book is primarily for small business owners, that's a good thing. I'd like the book more if he had stayed away from the rum.
Plenty of useful brain food.......2007-05-21
Ben Mack has taken the concept of branding and made it accessible to even small business owners. He demystifies just what branding is (hint: it's not just about the logo), and takes it from being a dirty word to something useful. Rather than placing it at the polar opposite of direct marketing, he instead shows that it can be used by those who also use DM advertising, and that you don't necessarily have to be limited to one or the other.
Mack shows the value of the brand--what your company stands for, what it offers--and most importantly, the relationship with the customer. He outlines the various stages the customer goes through, from initial contact with your product, through interest and consideration, all the way to purchase--and beyond. He then gives further advice on improving your brand, mixed with anecdotes from his own experience, as well as that of others.
What I got mostly out of this book was a series of exercises and thought processes that helped me to really think about how I and the small businesses I am a part of/owner of are presented to the public, and what that entails. People often take that for granted, especially once you start hitting microbusinesses--but the concepts are useful regardless.
Unless you're working in corporate marketing, you probably won't have a use for everything in this book. But take from it what you can get. Mack's writing style is excellent and he explains concepts with clarity, humor, and occasional subcultural references (RAW, anyone?).
Think Two Products Ahead.......2007-05-06
I have so much interest in read this book for comments. Unfortunate Amazon don't delivery my purchase until today (50 days after).
It will make you rethink how you market everything.......2007-05-01
Think Two Products is an excellent book that will have you not only rethinking how you brand your products, but will even get you to reconsider how you brand and market yourself. I found this book to be informative, intriguing and highly useful for getting me to really think carefully about how I market and promote my products. The exercises were especially helpful for demonstrating the practice behind the theory.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who runs a business, big or small, because you really will be thinking two products ahead by the end of reading it!
You have a brand whether you think you do or not..........2007-04-16
It's relatively easy to get someone to make a single purchase from you. But how do you instill that long-term loyalty and love that causes people to refuse to buy from anyone else? Ben Mack talks about that and many other branding issues in the book Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't Want You to Know and How to Use Them for Bigger Profits. It's an unconventional book that doesn't mince words...
Contents:
Pool Hall Wisdom; Brand Misinformation versus Back-End Thinking; The Common Thread and Thinking Two Products Ahead; Branding? Be Good to Your Gander; Branding Processes Are Strikingly Similar; What's a Brand Essence?; Legendary Branding; Extracting a Brand Essence; The Kama Sutra of Marketing - Five Basic Positions; Framing to the Right Target Audience; Structured Creativity - Framing Tools; Creativity on Demand - Why Ad Agencies Can't Brainstorm; Feed Their Passions; Plan to Have Many Conversations; Everything Communicates; Storytelling - Letting the Genie Out of the Bottle; Branding and Thinking Two Products Ahead; Myth, Magic, and Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way; AKS; Jeff Lloyd's Secret to Commercial Residential Real Estate Sales; How to Turn Every First Sale into a Residual Stream of Income; Direct Response Branding; Acknowledgements; Index
Mack states that successful branding comes when you start thinking two products ahead of the current sale. In other words, you need to be thinking about the overall story and impression that your company and product leaves with a customer. This collection of legends and perceptions defines your brand, not the cute logo or corporate colors you stick on your products. What that means is that you *have* a brand whether you think you do or not. You need to bring your customer into the "marketing funnel", which is a four stage process: intrigue, consider, interested, and buy. When you get them to buy, then the "two products ahead" mindset turns them from one-off buyers to loyal customers. It's all a matter of managing your brand... the story that your customers tell about your company and product.
This book started off as an e-book that the author marketed himself (for a much higher price). His style of writing and communication is frank and blunt, with no room for dancing around an issue. As such, it's a lot of fun to read. Since I don't have a marketing background, I found it a little difficult to keep the finer points of marketing vs. branding vs. selling straight at times. But overall, I got the message that your brand is a priceless asset, and it's important to do everything you can to make sure that brand says the right thing to your customer.
A valuable read for any business, but especially for the small business owner who doesn't think he has a brand... he does.
Book Description
They advertised soft drinks on fruit and underwear on sidewalks. They employed Ed Koch to bring Snapple to the American heartland. They even used Imelda Marcos to sell Kenneth Cole shoes. Advertising innovators Jon Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum have come up with more outrageously clever ways to get past consumers' detectors than anyone else in advertising today. And now, they're finally ready to reveal their methods.
In Under the Radar, Kirshenbaum and Bond chronicle their meteoric rise from a one-room, two-man Lower East Side stringer operation to Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, one of today's hottest agencies. They share the lessons they learned along the way and describe the evolution of their unique "under-the-radar" approach to grabbing and holding the attention of today's "been there, done that" consumers.
Under the Radar offers advertising and marketing professionals a deeply probing and instructive look at the nature of advertising and marketing in an age of information overload. Kirshenbaum and Bond provide a cogent analysis of how the world has changed since David Ogilvy laid down his ironclad rules for successful advertising. And, using in-depth critiques of many of today's best (and worst) ad campaigns, they describe what it takes to break through the defensive screens of a population bombarded by 1,500 ad messages each day.
You'll learn all about cutting-edge research techniques KB&P and other front-running agencies have developed for getting inside the heads and hearts of real people, and, just as important, how to use that knowledge to get ad-weary consumers to tune in rather than zone out. You'll also learn about the latest trends in integrated marketing, media planning, and guerrilla marketing, as well as new ways of structuring an agency in order to stimulate "under-the-radar" thinking.
Offering valuable lessons from the founders of one of today's most innovative and successful advertising firms, Under the Radar is essential reading for absolutely anyone involved in selling to consumers, from self-employed copywriters to marketing VPs at Fortune 500 companies.
"Under the Radar: Talking to Today's Cynical Consumer is a valuable and important new tool for the advertising industry from two pros at one of the hottest shops in town. Jonathan Bond and Richard Kirshenbaum offer valuable insights and creative solutions on how to break through the clutter to make sure the consumer gets the message." âO. Burtch Drake, President and CEO American Association of Advertising Agencies.
"Kirshenbaum and Bond's genius is their capacity to cut through informational clutter and reach the grass roots. In the war to save New York's drinking water, Kirshenbaum and Bond showed us how to speak truth to powerâand be heard!" âRobert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"This book is the next best thing to actually working with Bond and Kirshenbaum. They are good! They know when to listen and when to argue with a client. They're not just smart and creative, they are serious strategic thinkers." âRoger Ailes, Chairman and CEO, Fox News.
"If you want to understand how ad executives create smart, innovative advertising, Richard and Jon's book is a must read." âValerie Salembier Publisher, Esquire magazine
"Any book that helps a company deal with our over-communicated world is worth reading. Under the Radar is definitely one of those books." âJack Trout, Trout & Partners Ltd. author of The New Positioning: The Latest on the World's #1 Business Strategy.
Customer Reviews:
Poorly written self promotion devoid of substance........2007-09-09
If I had to write a college paper to fill 200 pages about how smart I was this book is exactly what I would probably write. The problem is the authors are so convinced their advertising campaigns are so much better than all other ad campaigns that they just had to write a book to congratulate themselves and berate almost everyone else in advertising for being unimaginative. Yet they were unable to conjure up a single marketing or advertising concept in here except when they quote Ogilvy or Reis.
I bought this book to get a different perspective on marketing. After 3 pages I knew I might have made a mistake but read through this book anyway because I could not believe someone could possibly write a whole book without a single new thought or concept, so I kept reading. Luckily it was a quick read because their complete lack of substance meant I didn't have to stop to think about anything. Not once.
The classic books on advertising and marketing remain the magnificent Positioning books from Trout & Reis.
Dont waste money on this self promotion disguised as a book.
It is a manifesto for the today's marketing communications.......2003-09-25
It is a great book. I really enjoyed it and I recommended it to some of my fellow co-workers.
Although one of the obvious reasons to be written is to self-promote their agency, B & K have done tremendous job providing so much insight into how to talk and more importantly how to entice today's consumers. There are (or were) many agency theories and practices on integrated marketing communications such as "360 degree coomunications" of O&M or the "The Whole Egg" of Y&R but the really convincing and what is more important, working one is the approach of these two guys. I really like it and the fact that I feel like reading the book again is enough to rate it with five stars.
Who are these...?.......2002-12-02
If the level of writing and thinking is any indicator of the brains behind this agency, they should close within six months.
Shallow, insubstantial fluff from case studies of quite inconsequential and mostly invisible clients.
Most case studies in this book were entirely under everyone's radar.
Who the hell are Kirschenbaum and Bond anyway?
A book by nobodies about advertising? If they'd done something of note, maybe a book would be in order. Noteably, AdWeek published this vanity piece- no one outside of a very small circle of advertising people could possibly care what's in this book.
Pretty good book for the consumer........2002-07-27
I borrowed this book from a friend in the ad business. It's pretty good in that it shows how 'they' try to influence 'our' buying decisions. Now when I shop, I think twice before I purchase something. Thanks!
I'm not sure..........2000-06-02
I'm really not sure how I felt about this book. They did a great job of detailing the process of composing effective ads. They also developed some really good examples of advertising that gets results. I guess what bothers me is how shameless the writers are. First of all, this book might as well be a brochure for their agency...since all they do is brag about how creative their ideas are. Second of all, it seems as if they are guiltless about the seductive powers of advertising. But like I said...this book swings both ways. People who are cynical about the business will hate this book. People who are shameless will treasure it. And then there's people like me who can't figure out which end is up. So I did the best thing I could think of...I gave the book away. Good luck.
Book Description
When the first edition of Herbert Gardner's The Advertising Agency Business was published, it was heralded as the most comprehensive management guide to this dynamic, fast-changing business. The second edition established the book as the standard work on the subject. This newly revised edition by Eugene Hameroff continues that tradition. In twenty-eight short, easy-to-read chapters, you will find out how to:
- Start an agency
- Manage your agency profitably with key financial insights, including expert guidance on determining income and profit; allocating gross income, developing solid billing procedures; identifying key operating figures; developing timely, reliable financial reports for your agency and for your clients
- Evaluate an agency
- Structure ownership
- Manage, develop, and evaluate personnel
- Develop mutually beneficial relationships with clients and suppliers
- Generate new business through aggressive lead generation knowledgeable assessment of client personnel blockbuster presentations
Drawing on more than a half century of experience in agency administration, finance, and general management, this all-new edition is the indispensable guide for every advertising professional and for anyone who wants to know more about successful advertising business practice.
Customer Reviews:
very useful.......2006-01-10
I bought this book when I was marcoms manager on the side of agency's largest client. I wanted to get an insight into how an agency operates, and this book was only partly useful. If I was managing director of an ad agency I would probably find it more directly usable. It gives a lot on the financial side of running an agency. I dont think the MD of my former agency has got one :)
Reality Check.......2004-01-17
I read this and thought: what a reality check! Tons of people filter through agencies on their way to some other gig. But some people are staying in the agency world for good, in some capacity or another. They should all read this book.
There's not always one right answer as to how to run your agency, but there are, thankfully, some standard business practices and parameters, which are plainly described in this book.
I think it makes for a more balanced and effective agency.
The price is right. There's a lot of truly useful information you can share. It helps to demystify and guide. Even if you're not in a position to control the business side of your company, having this book sitting on your desk is kind of empowering. I'm glad I bought it.
Not For Everyone.......2003-11-20
This book was not written recently and many parts of it reflect that fact. It's pretty dated. It speaks mostly of the big agency world. If your already in that world, you might find the attention to accounting details helpful, as the author is clearly experienced and pays attention to dollar details. If your planning to start a small agency, (bootstrapping) you could do better than this book. If you're ready to seek funding then hire a big staff and go after Johnson and Johnson, this might have some info you could use.
Disappointing.......2002-08-12
If you're looking for ways to make a profit out of an existing operation, this book might interest you. But don't look for pointers on creative and production management, or on client-agency relationships, for example. It's a slick business book, with number crunching and capitalist views. Helpful, yes, in a limited way.
The Advertising Agency Business:.......2001-07-30
"The Advertising Agency Business" was an extremly insightful and logical read. The author focus on the basics of the industry but elaborates very well with examples. This book is a must read if you own, managage or operate an ad agency. I wish I had read this book before I started my agency!
Average customer rating:
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Life and Health Insurance Law , Loma Edition
Muriel L Crawford
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Life and Health Insurance (13th Edition)
ASIN: 0256166994 |
Book Description
This text presents the major principles of life and health insurance law in a manner that will allow students without legal training to readily understand them. The purpose of this text is to educate students to recognize legal problems so that they can seek advice from legal counsel. The LOMA edition will be the only version of Crawford that we offer. If universities are interested in using this version, we will need to work with the Custom Publishing Department to have the cover of the text altered. The textual information can be utilized as it is. New material concerns court oversight of lawyers, market conduct, the new NAIC Life Insurance Illustrations Model Regulation, genetic information, the constitutionality of punitive damages, state statutes limiting punitive damages, the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, minimum premium plans, self-funded plans, stop-loss contracts, managed care organizations, utilization review, case management, health care fraud, the NAIC Model Variable Contract Law, qualified assignments of liability, Internet advertising, race discrimination, and age discrimination. Discussions of laws that have been repealed, reversed, or overruled, have, of course, been deleted from this edition.
Customer Reviews:
Easy Reading.......2001-07-08
This book is the third level (not including ACS) in obtaining your FLMI designation. Of the LOMA books I have studied, this has been the easiest reading. The case studies in the book were easy to understand. This book is well written and very interesting. If studied/read all the way through, you will receive a vast knowledge of insurance and how federal/state laws play a part in the insurance world.
Customer Reviews:
Take a Stand for Yourself!.......2007-05-30
Advertising and Brand Building Agencies generally sell branding strategies to their clients but most of them have no clue about their own brands. I really enjoy this book because it is specifically about Agency Brands and how to brand them. I really believe as an agency owner that we should build our own brands before we even consider selling ideas to other brands. I always saw myself as the brand manager of my own company. Leading by example is great strategy, first build your own brand than sell advice to others.
Tim Williams takes us in a very helpful journey about how to brand agencies. He raises very important questions and defines a clear path for branding agencies. I took a lot of notes while reading this title and thought it was well worth the time.
I reccomend this book to agency owners, leaders and anyone who is in a related business.
A timely reminder.......2006-10-14
If readers are only able to apply 20% of the excellent advice and guidance in this book then reading it would be time very well spent. Agencies do this stuff all the time for their clients - but are often hopeless at it themselves, Tim reminds them how.
Reviews from Industry Leaders.......2006-02-07
As the author, I've received several comments and reviews about "Take a Stand for Your Brand," which are posted below.
TIM WILLIAMS
"The shoemaker story about holes in their shoes applies to ad agencies as well. `Take a Stand for Your Brand' inspires the people who market for a living to market themselves."
JONATHAN BOND, KIRSHENBAUM AND BOND
"Pull up a chair with Tim Williams and some of the best minds in the business as they take a moment to show you how the creative skills you use to make brands famous can be deployed on yourself."
JIM MOUNTJOY, LOEFFLER KETCHUM MOUNTJOY
"We in the advertising business are our own worst clients. This book helps agency principals look inward and do for their own brand what they do for their clients' brands. It stands out from the glut of `How to Succeed in Business' books by focusing on how to succeed in the advertising business."
STEVE LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN-CONSTABLE
"This is a handbook for any agency that wants to set itself apart from the pack. Tim Williams has distilled much of the best thinking ever done about brands and applied it single-mindedly to the agency business model. It ought to be mandatory reading for serious students of the business."
ROBERT F. LAUTERBORN, JAMES L. KNIGHT PROFESSOR OF ADVERTISING, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
"Tim Williams has the best grasp on agency brand positioning I have ever seen. It deserves as wide an audience as possible within our industry."
CINDY GALLOP, FORMER CHAIRMAN, BARTLE BOGLE HEAGARY (NEW YORK)
Amazon.com
Disruption: Overturning Conventions and Shaking Up the Marketplace is veteran advertising industry executive Jean-Marie Dru's iconoclastic proposal for replacing business-as-usual advertising and marketing philosophies with radical new thinking. He contends that this shift in thought will better position new and established products, brands, and services for the competitive battles to come. Dozens of laudable examples--from Oil of Olay and FedEx to TAG Heuer and Saturn--are fully examined, and suggestions for successfully employing their techniques are offered.
Book Description
Disruption? It's nothing new. Just look at any of the breakthrough business ideas of the last thirty years-from Federal Express overnight delivery to Saturn's fixed sticker price-and you'll see a perfect example of the principle of disruption in action.
Still, do you really understand what makes these ideas great? On an intuitive level, maybe, but can you articulate it clearly, reproduce it to create your own business breakthroughs, and make it an integral part of how your company operates? Probably not-unless, of course, you're already familiar with the principles and practices spelled out in Disruption, the groundbreaking new book by global advertising and marketing authority Jean-Marie Dru.
To put it simply, disruption is about uncovering the culturally embedded biases and conventions that shape standard approaches to business thinking and get in the way of clear, creative thinking. It's about shattering those biases and conventions and setting creativity free to forge a radical new vision of a product, brand, or service. It's about spearheading change rather than reacting to it.
In Disruption, Dru shows you how to harness the enormous potential of this concept. He introduces innovative strategies for breaking down creative barriers and shows you how to analyze traditional approaches from new perspectives. Next, he provides valuable tools for identifying and cataloging conventions, including "what if," "multicultural analysis," and the "disruption bank." He then demonstrates-with the help of dozens of galvanizing examples from around the world-how to apply this knowledge systematically to create innovative competitive strategies, marketing campaigns, and operations plans that can revitalize your company or department.
Disruption is must reading for all advertising and marketing professionals, as well as business people who understand the value of creativity.
Praise for Disruption
"Dru offers not just a convincing context but a successful methodology for breaking out of creative ruts. There's nothing like stirring up a little turbulence to get new thoughts flying. In this book, Dru tells how to pump new energy into brands, with fresh, even revolutionary thinking." -Aldo Papone Senior Advisor, American Express Company
"Dru's advertising theories in Disruption are nontraditional, which is exactly what you need to regain the interest and trust of today's consumers." -Scott Bedbury Senior Vice President, Marketing, Starbucks Coffee Company
"Disruption is all about risk-taking, trusting your intuition, and rejecting the way things are supposed to be. Disruption goes way beyond advertising, it forces you to think about where you want your brand to go and how to get there." -Richard Branson Founder and Chairman of Virgin Group of Companies.
"I read Disruption with admiration and recognition. The neat marketing premise of disruption, as articulated, is brilliant. The case studies are compelling . . . making this an unusually easy read." -Owen J. Lipstein Editor-in-Chief, Psychology Today, Spy, Mother Earth News.
"I enjoyed reading Jean-Marie Dru's book and found myself nodding my head rather than nodding off. It's a timely and well-argued reminder of the need to be different." -David Abbott Chairman, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Ltd.
"Dru offers a truly absorbing compendium of the what, how, and why of creating advertising that takes consumers by surprise-advertising that is different but effective. He offers a distinctive approach to discovering unconventional but sensible ideas for brands and for the advertising that supports them -in print, TV, or the Internet." -Stephen A. Greyser Professor of Marketing/Communications, Harvard Business School.
"Disruption is a catalyst of the imagination, an invaluable guide for rejecting conventionality, ideas which have always been at the heart of MTV." -Bill Roedy CEO, MTV International
Customer Reviews:
Good theory, worth an article than a book .......2005-05-08
The author has come up with a great thought but this thought isn't profound enough to write a book. This is why the book is full of examples and lacks thought provoking insights.
A Interesting and Inspiring Book to Read.......2003-10-24
This book is very well to dress for the concept ¡§Disruption¡¨ and how does it works. There are many examples, a lot of are from the author¡¦s own company BDDP, which are very useful for explain the concepts. Also he attaches the pictures of the related advertisement, which makes it easy to understand. And the author introduces step by step, from the basic knowledge of the real advertising world, background knowledge, and then gets into the Disruption. Even in the practice chapter, he integrates the Management skills (Planner), Knowledge Management (Disruption World Bank) which is very useful and clear for readers to apply the strategy.
It even talks about how to use Disruption in the Information Age, which creative department can take advantage from advance technology to interact, communicate and provoke inspiration. Also it would help to store, present ideas, for instance, CD-Rom. But somehow, it is kind of burdensome to make it to a whole chapter.
However, some of the concepts are too similar and vague that they seems only created for the book. And some examples are used to explain different concepts, which may result some confusion. For example, Starbucks Coffee was used to explain Additions of Business Discontinuities, but also used to explain Viewpoint in the Vision chapter, which are different concepts. I think it is becuase this concept of Disruption only came from 2 articles printed on Wall Street Journal and La Fegaro, and the effort to expand it into a book centainly decreased its power.
But over all, this book is well written and very interesting to read, you couldn¡¦t put it down after you started it. I had already purchased the sequel of it, "Beyond Disruption", I hope there will be some latest view points and maybe solutions for some problems occered in the market after this book.
All Time Must-Read.......2003-07-28
If you ask me, this book belongs right up there with "Positioning" as one of the all time must-reads, not only for marketers and advertising people, but really for anyone in business. And while it was published in the mid-90s, it couldn't be more relevant today. At heart, what Mr. Dru says (and then supports with many examples) is that the only path to genuine business success is to fly in the face of conventional thinking.
Mr. Dru's background is as the leader of a large advertising agency; so many of his examples come from this area. However, as he points out, taking the safe route in almost any business endeavor-product development, business process design or marketing communications-is often the most dangerous course. Because any business activity that fails to disrupt, i.e. break with the norm, is unlikely to attract much attention (or business). Which, at a time when revenue and earnings growth is stagnant for most firms, and the tools of financial engineering all but exhausted, would seem to point to this new "best practice". Read this book and then inject a massive amount of disruption into the thinking that powers your enterprise.
A little disruption........2003-04-16
There are a few great truths here spread out among a good bit of superfluous material, but the truths are worthy of a read. The essential gem of the book is properly communicated in the title. If you want to make an omelette, you have to break some eggs. The trick is knowing when to take a risk and then managing that risk to achieve a desirable outcome. That is the heart of the book.
Dru often digresses into lengthy asides and stories that don't always illustrate or relate to her point. For example, I now know more than I care to know about her views on the differences between the American and European consumer. (Frankly she contradicts herself here.) Naturally there are cultural nuances that must be taken into account with most any marketing assignment, but having said that, she should have moved on and made that the subject of another book.
The important thing, in marketing and in business, is to sell product. No one cares much about winning awards, except for the creative and art directors. In the end, the consumer votes with his dollar, yen, peso or euro. That's the award that really counts, and toward that end, a little 'disruption' is a good thing!
What the advertising business is supposed to be about.......2002-11-14
This is a classic which should be in the library of anyone serious about our craft - or business, if that's the way you see it. J-M Dru sets out to break the rules - systematically. Its a little like how Edward de Bono approaches thinking: he gives you random and therefore unusual starting points so your journey will be a different one. Disruption is challenging stuff. In fact, I'm not convinced that every ad can or should be disruptive. But I do believe we should be asking the question of ourselves every time and saying "yes" a whole lot more often. Some of the tools he includes can be put into practice easily and they work well. I recommend them to young people in our agency. You never stop learning in the ad game. Buy this book or [...].
Book Description
"This is the book I wish I had written. Andy Law has redefined the agency for the twenty-first century. It will be interesting to see how many agencies follow his lead." - Jay Chiat, Founder, Chiat/Day
"Passion. Rebellion. Guts. Glory. This book has the breathy pace of a thriller. The story of how St. Lukes takes on the advertising establishment is a merger of the ballad of Robin Hoods merry band and the story of David and Goliath. In fact, its a parable not just for the advertising business, but for all business today and tomorrow. St. Lukes is definitely on to something." - Marty Cooke, Executive Creative Director, M&C Saatchi
"Andy Law is one of the few creative executives who has learned by doing, not just telling. So its exciting to have him chronicle all that learning for us. Having watched him build St. Lukes from the start, it feels like watching Neil Armstrong take his first step on the moons surface. He is truly pioneering how companies will have to be run in the twenty-first century." - Geraldine B. Laybourne, Chairman and CEO Oxygen Media
"Creative Company is an intriguing story that captures the soul of the new economy. It is a must-read for managers who want to bring out exceptional performance in their team-or for anyone who wants insight into the future of business." - Deborah Kenny, Group Publisher, Sesame Street magazines
"Its a big book. It needs to be." - Dan Wieden Founder, Wieden and Kennedy
Why does Fast Company magazine call St. Lukes "the ad agency to end all ad agencies"? How can a company function, let alone thrive, when it has "eschewed conventional hierarchy in favor of the flattest possible organizational layout and the craziest ever decision-making process"? And why on earth would some of the most talented and sought-after minds in the advertising world forsake the fabulous perks available to senior managers and risk everything for a company where no one has even a desk to call his or her own?
In Creative Company, the chairman and cofounder of St. Lukes answers these questions and many more. Andy Law writes candidly and enthusiastically about breaking the agency mold and organizing a company in a completely different way.
St. Lukes is nothing if not different-to many, the agency described in this remarkable and challenging book may hardly sound like a business at all. In 1995, a small band of highly creative people who loved the work but hated the workplace established a company designed not only to get the most out of them, but to give the most back-a company in which creativity, curiosity, versatility, and a sense of fun are assets to be celebrated, not encumbrances to be left outside the door. Law recounts how many St. Lukes employee/owners discovered new sources of satisfaction, hidden talents, and even entirely new careers as they encouraged each other to experiment, learn, and grow. Meanwhile, the agencys annual billings soared to more than $90 million in three memorable years.
Complete with revealing tales of advertising legends such as Jay Chiat, Bill Tragos, Frank Lowe, and the Omnicom chieftains, Creative Company offers a fascinating, warts-and-all tour of the advertising industry. It also fires the opening volley of a revolution that aims to do nothing less than alter the "DNA" of business itself and, in Laws words, "furiously seeks a new, better, more fulfilling, and fairer role for business in the lives of its employees."
The St. Lukes story will challenge your preconceptions, stimulate your imagination, and may even change your mind.
Customer Reviews:
At least a new practice based on a true story.......2006-07-31
This book will delight all those with an interest in the redefinition of the advertising trade in general. If you have already experienced the dinosaurs labelling themselves with new fancy names and changing nothing to their operations, this one is for you.
It might not be a model for all but it shows that the account / creative split invented by Bill Bernbach has at least one sustainable alternative.
It is not a collection of principles but rather a series of attempts at cracking the challenge. Sometimes they fail, most of the times, they succeed (hey, this is still a marketing tool...) but there is always something to learn and there are great inspirational chapters.
To top it all, it is written in a language that even the most illiterate French marketer can understand (and holistic and world changing ideas are NOT the most used words).
Establishing and Then Nourishing a Landscape of Creativity.......2004-02-19
According to Law, business "can treat you as well or as badly as it chooses, yet we devote our lives unthinkingly to it and donate almost all of our knowledge and learning and creativity and sweat without any regard to its true value." On first blush, this comment seems cynical (or so it did to me when I first read it) and yet I agree with the implication that the unspoken but primary objective of most organizations is to protect their own status quo. As a result, "we have achieved only a small percentage of the innovation we could achieve." In this book, Law discusses St. Luke's, "the ad agency to end all ad agencies," in which he and his associates keep on developing new ideas. Their perpetual vision is to open minds. "And because [St. Luke's] has opened its own and the minds of those who have come to know it, I hope this book contributes to the pursuit of that vision and that you, the reader, husband, wife, employer, human are changed by it in some way."
At this point, I hasten to add that Law does not then provide a series of checklists of key points, what to do and not do, etc. His is what I guess could be called a personal memoir whose focus is on a truly unique workplace, the St. Luke's advertising agency in London. It would be foolish -- however -- for any of his readers to use St. Luke's as a model. Worse yet, to attempt to transform their own organizations into clones of St. Luke's. Rather, if I understand Law's objectives in this book (which I may not), he challenges and encourages his readers to think differently about what they do and how they do it, to think differently about the organization in which they do it, and -- in ways and to the extent appropriate -- to redevelop the "landscape" of their working lives.
There are several reasons why I have such a high regard for this book. Here are three. First, Law shares a number of profound insights concerning quality of life in the workplace. To summarize them in this brief commentary (out of context) would, however, trivialize them. Suffice to say that believing in the value of what you do to earn a living and feeling appreciated by others with whom you do it are two of the most important values within a workplace. Second, much can be done to create a physical environment within which to nourish creative thinking. With meticulous care, Law explains how he and his associates at St. Luke's did so. Finally, Law makes an eloquent as well as convincing argument to support his belief that creative ideas about the process of creative thinking are at least as important (if not more so) as the results of that process. Stated another way, creative thinking requires both new "wine" AND new "bottles."
Law insists that this is not just a business book. "It's also a kind of fairytale I guess because at times I still can't believe it all happened the way it did." In addition to being an entertaining raconteur, Law also offers a number of excellent insights as to how almost any human community can become a "creative company." It remains for each reader to answer various "soul-searching questions" which Law poses. Efforts to formulate those responses as well as the responses themselves will largely determine the value of this book.
A human being first, a businessman second........2002-10-19
Don't let the blurb fool you. Andy Law has not written a how-to book about manging creative businesses. If you pick up some tips about how to do so, that's bonus.
Rather, the author poses some fundamental questions about the role of work, and the interplay of one's economic, intellectual and emotional lives. A subject which ought to exercise us more than it does.
I personally wouldn't like to work in the St. Luke's style. But that a company looks first at its role in the community of its stakeholders, and second at how it might make money, makes it an example for companies far beyond the creative sphere.
Unfortunately, I have heard rumours that St. Lukes has actually had to, er, let people go. Not easy in a co-operative. Does some better-informed reader know if it's true? Sad, if it is. And it doesn't discredit Law's philosophical arguments, nor diminish their importance.
BTW, Andy Law writes beautifully.
They did it and it works !.......2001-07-23
This is a great book for at least 2 key reasons :
1) they did it and it works ! They created a SUCCESFUL agency with an 100% ownership equally allocated between every employees ! Whatever are the next step of the story (we enter in recession, and their model will be tested) they had the courage to do it and it worked both one "our" terms (money, growth, ...) and theirs (fun, creativity, ...). I seriously doubt you can export the model beyond the "professional services" sector given the "agency cost" (not ad agency, but "Jensen annd meckling" agency problem) and even but forget theories : this book is about practice and St luke will remain in the history of "organisation design" beyond the agency. Anyway, they did it and it score 1 - 0 for them versus the rest of us.
2) The other point is that the book is very well written and that is not so common to find corporate history with such good writing skills combines
All done, a very good book where you learn as much about business that about "how ready you are to do it" (being myself an entrepreuneur)
Excellent.......2001-06-17
I just completed this book last week, and it really made me think about my business, where I wanted to go (I don't want my employees to be employees... so this opened up new ideas on how to work on projects, with clients, and run an business).
This book does give information about how salary's were done, vacation time, benefits, and even how shares are allotted, etc. It is a very personal testimony of a life ambition.
What this book is not: it is not a book about how a one person business became like St. Lukes. It is about how a merger happened, and a group of people joined together to keep the big-name clients they already had and make a new company. You won't find tips on how to take a 1 person shop to a 5 person shop, but the book will certainly make you think about how to organize your business, how you will work with clients, and give you a glimpse of a company that runs very well.
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