Editorial Review

"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's Read more

Reviews (701)

Excellent book that describes how to create a trend
I was fascinated by the original perspective in this thought provoking book about the evolution of an idea into a trend.Using easy to understand examples, Malcolm Gladwell explains the mechanics of the process, and enlightens us about the the various people involved.I strongly recommend this book.I also recommend Robert Cialdini's book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.These books complement each other and should be read together.

The Tipping Point
Staff writer for The New York Post, Malcolm Gladwell, explains what causes a concept, idea or item to become an epidemic in The Tipping Point.Using case studies the reader will relate to (Sesame Street, Blues Clues, Crime in New York City in the 90's, Hush Puppies, Paul Revere's famous ride North), Gladwell discusses how and why people react the way they do in certain situations and to certain ideas/items.You'll look at your friends, co-workers and family in a different way as you consider who is a Connector, Maven or salesperson, you'll consider the context in which something happens as opposed to just the action, you'll think about everyday happenings in a different way after you read this book.
It had quite an unusual effect
I was looking for an original and valuable present for my boyfriend. I am very pleased with my decision to buy this book. It draws from several areas of knowledge and Malcolm Gladwell is a very skillful writer. He knows how to engage you from the first page till the last one and keeps you wondering what more you will learn from this incredible book. My boyfriend said that the tipping point and scientifically guaranteed male multiple orgasms and ultimate sex are the best, most valuable and eye-opening books he has ever received as a present. Well, I don't hear such compliment every day. It was such a small thing for me to give him a present and yet it turned so important for him. What better proof for Gladwell's thesis. I also agree that we all should start paying more attention to the small, small things and details from our daily lives and the result may astound us. It takes so little to even change someone's life for better. This is one of the books, which I definitely recommend. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Causation    3. Contagion (Social psychology)    4. Context effects (Psychology)    5. Marketing - General    6. Psychology    7. Social Psychology    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology   

Reviews (30)

This is practical money-making info, unlike most internet marketing BS...
I've spent thousands (ok probably tens of thousands) of dollars on information about how to make money online. If you're like me, you already know that 99% of the stuff out there is garbage.
One Thumb Up
This text was good in providing elementary facts of adsense. Most of the content is filler, though. It's published on cheap, thick paper. I implemented several things, though.

Very Few People Really Want to Tell you Their Adsense Secrets.
Hi Adster, ,
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. E-Commerce - Internet Marketing    6. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion    7. Business & Economics-E-Commerce - Internet Marketing    8. Business & Economics/E-Commerce - Internet Marketing   

Subjects:  1. Advertising    2. Advertising & Promotion    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion   

Reviews (11)

Confusing
I have been teaching second year university business students (4-year program) and for the past three semesters have been using this book (7the edition international). Hopefully, this will change soon. Although the examples are interesting and the illustrations are understandable, I found that it was very unhelpful of the text to keep writing things like "products and services" when I had just finsihed explaining that services are actually a type of product. Another similiar example was the use of "marketing and advertising".
Relatively good textbook
Kotler and Armstrong always produce lucid, succinct books on Marketing and Marketing Management. As a lecturer in the Business/Management area, I use these books in the course of my work.
You listed the wrong edition
The edition you sent me was the 6th edition, not the 7th. I think you need to clarify in the future on the exact edition, even if the SKU number is the same. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Marketing    6. Marketing - General    7. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    8. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (40)

Marketing Reference
This book is part of Executive MBA courses, I have to admit that, this book covers different areas and considered as one of the important Marketing references.
Rip off, no new material since edition 2
Kotler tries to sell college students new books every year, hence the 12th edition he is now marketing. There is no new information, and the information contained is no different from any $12 marketing book.Students, buy an old edition and save, teachers stop using books like this, more and better information is available for free over the net anyway. Just because they are expensive and shiny doesn't mean they are worthwhile.BTW this is also available in an international edition with the exact same content for 1/4 of the cost.

Marketing Bible
This book by Marketing Guru Philip Kotler is a Bible you must read before starting your career in Marketing. 'Marketing Management' mainly focuses on strategic decisions of a marketer, such as positioning, segmentation, startegies at different stages of product life cycle, brand building strategies, etc. It is better to finish 'Principles of Marketing' first to understand the strategies in marketing management.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Management    7. Management - General    8. Marketing    9. Marketing - General    10. Marketing Management    11. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    12. Sales & marketing management   

Reviews (12)

New Ways to Measure Marketing Effectiveness
The people who really started measuring marketing are the mail order folk. You run an ad or you mail out a few thousand catalogs and you can almost immediately measure the return on your investment. Then when computers became common place, they began to measure not only the immediate return but the acquisition cost vs. the lifetime value of a customer. That is, you may not have gotten as many customers from Ad B, but they bought more stuff down through the next months or years than the customers from Ad A.
Every executive who is responsible for the way their company competes should study the metrics in this book
Personally, I love these kinds of handbooks.Having a ready resource for these dozens of metrics can help any executive understand their business and think about ways to compete in the marketplace in new ways.Too often marketing is thought of in terms of advertising and sales, but it is so much more than that.Marketing is everything your company does or needs to do to choosing a marketplace, the products to compete with, how to promote and sell them, and how to better understand your market, your competition, and how it is changing over time.
Like the Kama Sutra...
Reading this book is a little like reading the Kama Sutra. Both books discuss fascinating subjects but readers are given far more information than they are ever likely to use in practice.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Applied    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Marketing    7. Marketing - Research    8. Marketing Research    9. Mathematical Models    10. Sales & Selling - Techniques    11. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    12. Market research    13. Sales & marketing    14. Sales & marketing management   

Reviews (5)

Good name, poor content
You'll have to look pretty hard to find the nuggets in this book.Rex Briggs (not his real name) spends a long time setting up the credentials of the authors. His company has been in existence for five years, they have a couple of dozen clients.They use a "gold standard" approach (huh?) to research, validated by a couple of organizations.Oh yes, he seems to think that he created expiremental design research.
Not groundbreaking but interesting facts about advertising
What Sticks is supposedly the definitive book on making advertising work. I did not come away with that impression. Briggs and Stuart are smart men and I am not questioning their knowledge; however after thoroughly studying advertising the past two semesters I did not see two many new items. The item that I will remember forever will be COP or Communication Optimization Process. This relates to the message, media mix, motivation, and maximization of the advertising campaign.
Not the information big agencies want to hear but exactly the information that will transform your marketing and advertising
Many people who read this book will hate it . . . because it will challenge everything that they believe to be true and yet, once they get past the fear it will be their roadmap for the rest of their career or business.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising    2. Advertising & Promotion    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Industries - Media & Communications Industries    7. Marketing    8. Marketing - Multilevel    9. Business & Economics / Industries / Media & Communications Industries   

Reviews (29)

Very good and pratical advice.

An Excellent Book Simplify TheComplex Sale Cycle
Invoke Solutions is one of my client companies.(www.invoke.com) Their offices are located next door to ours in Wellesley, MA.Because of some encouraging early success with their unique marketing research software and solution, Invoke's Board recently decided to staff up additional sales territories across North America.Ben Cesare, Invoke's Senior VP of Sales, retained me to help them to find Sales Executives for some of these new territories.Ben came to Invoke with more than 20 years of experience in leading sales teams, including a stint heading up Channel Sales in North America for Apple Computer.Ben understands the world of complex selling!
The title says it all
Rick couldn't pack anymore information into this well written book on selling. This is some of the best advice anyone could offer, hope really is not a strategy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Sales & Selling - General    6. Sales & Selling - Techniques    7. Sales Management    8. Selling    9. Business & Economics / Sales & Selling    10. Sales & marketing   

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Marketing    6. Marketing - General    7. Nonprofit Organizations & Charities    8. Nonprofit organizations    9. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    10. Non-profitmaking organizations    11. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (15)

Nice book, but too easy after reading SPIN Selling
I bought this book together with SPIN Selling. I read the Fieldbook after reading SPIN Selling. If you've already read SPIN Selling, this book is not going to tell you much new things.
Indispensable part of the salesman's library
This book is a practical guide for implementing the principles learned in the original book about 'Spin selling', however it is not necessary to have read the other book to make good use of this one. I think the SPIN methodology is a most valuable contribution from Mr. Rackham to the field of large sales and this book gives sound help to implement it.

Spin Selling Fieldbook
I use this book to train new salespeople on the SPIN selling method.I originally was trained on this years ago with Xerox.I like the fieldbook approach because the salespeople can focus on real world scenarios with our products and our customers.We break it up into 2-3 chapter segments and hold a working lunch to discuss the content and the assignments.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Marketing - General    7. Sales & Selling - General    8. Sales & Selling - Techniques    9. Sales Management    10. Sales promotion    11. Selling    12. Business & Economics / Sales & Selling    13. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (5)

Media Planning: A Pratical Guide
This book is filled with useful information about Media Planning.Every student of the Advertising Industry should have this book to use as a guide when starting out in the Advertising career path.

Ouch!
Jim Surmanek may know a great deal about media planning. However, most of the people who attempt to read this book will never discover that. Why? Jim does not know how to communicate effectively. I have not made it too far into this book, and every inch has been a struggle. What I have learned thus far could have been expressed in one, maybe two, paragraphs. Not Worth It
Contrary to what the previous reviewers have to say about this book, I was extremely unsatisfied. The author makes what is so simple into something that is confusing and frustrating. Earlier chapters talk about topics that aren't even explained until later in the book. It takes a paragraph of confusing examples to explain what could be easily said in a sentence. Equations are given without proper explanation of how things were achieved. This book shows the 5th step with the assumption that the reader figures out steps 1-4. To someone new to the media planning field, I would recommend you pass this one by. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising    2. Advertising & Promotion    3. Advertising media planning    4. Business & Economics    5. Business / Economics / Finance    6. Business/Economics    7. Marketing - General    8. Mass Communication    9. United States    10. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion    11. Business communication & presentation    12. Media studies   

Reviews (23)

Excellent Introduction But Too Consumer Focussed
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.
HighlyRecommended!
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.

Best book on account planning we've seen yet.
Another Outsource Marketing firm favorite! Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising    2. Advertising & Promotion    3. Advertising agencies    4. Advertising campaigns    5. Business & Economics    6. Business / Economics / Finance    7. Business/Economics    8. Customer services    9. Marketing    10. Planning    11. United States    12. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion    13. Sales & marketing management   

Reviews (10)

The One Source
If you only buy one Branding book this is the bible. Wow, the price on the second edition has gone way up.

Well Updated with Lot of Cases and Interesting Stuff
Brand building is important
The author gives out three main ways to build brand equity, and describes a new way of thinking about integrated marketing. Also, we can know whether than brand building is good or not. The branding strategy should be adjusted with change in place. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Brand name products    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Management    7. Marketing - General    8. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    9. Sales & marketing   

Editorial Review

The transformation from a manufacturing-based economy to one that's all about service has been well documented. Today it's estimated that nearly 75 percent of Americans work in the service sector. Instead of producing tangibles--automobiles, clothes, and tools--more and more of us are in the business of providing intangibles--health care, entertainment, tourism, legal services, and so on. However, according to Harry Beckwith, most of these intangibles are still being marketed like products were 20 years ago.Read more

Reviews (126)

Selling the Invisible: The Art of War
Harry Beckwith's Selling the Invisible reminds me of Sun Tzu's The Art of War in that it is not so much a manual on its subject as it is a primer on how to think about its subject. Knowing nothing of service marketing when I started to read it, I found many of its precepts counterintuitive (selling relationships?) but with the numerous examples aided by my own observation of the things Beckwith talks about, my eyes were opened in a way Sun Tzu's first readers must have been. Beckwith understands the core of service marketing is the service itself and focusing on the consumer's needs, not clever marketing designed to separate the customer from his cash or dazzle him with an empty sales pitch for unwanted products (take notice, Apple). This relationship to the customer and understanding his or her needs defines the successful business and indeed IS the successful business. Beckwith illustrates this with many practical strategies relevant to any service business.

Don't Buy This Book!
Terrible is all I can say.This author breaks every rule he suggests to you.The introduction is boring.It is small story chapters with a bold sentence or two at the end.These are the principles he is suggesting.You can read these bold sentences in less than 30 minutes.Don't bother to buy this book.

A must-have book for anyone involved in marketing and selling
This book is a real page-turner. (My copy is dog-eared with notes written in margins and post-it notes stuck on 11 different pages.)Harry Beckwith is a marketing genius. One quote I have used over and over again in presentations:"People who say, 'The businesses in our industry are basically alike' should recognize a human trait.People feel a need to justify their buying decisions, so they look for differences upon which to base their decisions. What does this mean to a company in an industry of lookalikes?It means that the more alike two products are, the more important each difference becomes."So very true.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Marketing    5. Marketing - General    6. Service industries    7. Business & Economics / Sales & Selling    8. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (2)

The best how-to book on storytelling
I have been through a number of the most popular books on corporate storytelling, and this is by far the most useful of them. While they all contain a number of case studies, this book goes one step further and actually provides the reader with clear step-by-step guidelines on how to start using storytelling within your own organisation. Budtz, Fog and Yakaboylu evidently have a lot of real-world experience with their subject matter.

Highly informative
It's rare that a European book on branding is endorsed by American gurus such as Philip Kotler, Kevin Kelly and Tom Peters - even marketing guru Seth Godin calls this book "one of the very best marketing books of the year".
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Brand name products    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Management - General    7. Marketing    8. Marketing - Product Management    9. Product management    10. Reference - General    11. Branding    12. Business & Economics / Management    13. Corporate Communication    14. Management    15. Sales & marketing    16. Storytelling   

Reviews (4)

Good intro to IMC
I am reading this book for a Marketing class and I love it. I have used other books by the authors and they are very good. It's a good read and not to boring. You can tell the authors make an attempt to keep the material relevant.

From a Marketing Student
One of my marketing classes is using this book. I have experienced so much PAIN reading this book that I have to give it a 3 star to release my frustration. The chapters are extremely long. The overall concept of the book is good. There are also interesting facts and exhibits, but sometimes the book keeps repeating itself. For example, in Chapter 16 Sales Promotion, the authors talk about consumer franchise-building promotions. The same concept appears later on in the chapter over and over as individual paragraphs. I understand that a lot of the marketing concepts are interrelated, but they can be expressed much more efficiently.

Extensive in theory but current and entertaining
This book is theoretical and full of examples of applied theories of advertising.It is presently being used at an AACSB accredited University in the Marketing department and students do enjoy it because of its currentcontent and entertaining format. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Business & Economics / Advertising & Promotion    5. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (62)

One of the Best Marketing Books read.
This is an excellent book for marketers to read. I'd even "position" this book as one of the best marketing books out there. Today, when there is so much "fluff" out there and things being repeated and re-sold in books, you come to realize how much you appreciate a fresh thought. This book gives you exactly that.
A great book for learning more about positioning on the American markets
It is a great book for learning the basics in positioning. It primarily focus on American companies and I would have prefered more examples from Europe, that is why I only give it 4 stars.

Great insights
The book is a real classic, giving great insights into what works in marketing and more importantly what does not work and why it doesn't work.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Business/Economics    5. Marketing - Product Management    6. Advertising    7. Business & Economics / Marketing / General    8. Business communication & presentation    9. Business strategy   

Reviews (8)

Good read, but too rudimentary
One thing is for sure - if you really intend to start your own retail business, Retail Business Kit for Dummies will not take you far. It is very rudimentary, to say the least. My real disappointment is because of the CD that came with the book, supposedly full of useful forms, reports etc. They looked as if they were written with a typewriter.Anyway, regardless of your profile, I do not think that this book will help you open or run a successful retail business, nor significantly compliment your existing knowledge.
A must read for the beginner
I could hardly put this book down after receiving it.I especially liked the section on writing a business plan.Lots of detail in this book.

Great for basics, too general for experienced marketers
I should preface this review by saying that I am probably not the typical reader the author had in mind when writing this book.As a marketing consultant, I was recently was engaged to develop retail feasibility study and project plan for an Internet retailer planning their first bricks and mortar store.Although I have retail marketing experience, I bought this book to make sure that I had all bases covered and to get some fresh ideas on visual merchandising, retail POS systems and operations for small retailers.Read more

Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Business & Economics    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Career/Job    5. Industries - Retailing    6. Interactive & Multimedia    7. Management    8. New business enterprises    9. Retail Management    10. Retail trade    11. Stores, Retail    12. Business & Economics / Retailing    13. Management & management techniques    14. Retail sector   

Reviews (8)

Great read
I loved this book. Fun & entertaining while providing meaningful, salient and actionable suggestions in (re)focusing one's activities and priorities in business development and management. I'm a recovering business executive just starting my own entrepreneurial business and this work has been enormously helpful. I can't recommend this enough. Get this book.