Agents & Dealers - A Review

I liked this book although it had less about marketing theory than Brown's previous release, The Marketing Code.

In this one, the fiction gets even more fantastical (which I think is why there was less marketing theory; the author may be too caught up in the writing of the fiction part to include the marketing bits).

But as per The Marketing Code, he reiterates again the idea that marketing is not a science but more of an alchemy. And that word alone, evokes magic and fantasy which unsurprisingly does not sit well with the many marketing gurus out there who have made their millions in consultancy gigs and hawking those almost unreadable tomes on marketing theory filled with scientific formulas and statistical data.

The Erotic History of Advertising - A Review

Sex sells. This book is proof that it does.

It was entertaining but not very useful in terms of any learnings. It was at times, a laborious read simply because a lot of the ads were described, not shown.

But then again, if all the ads were shown, the book would have made an interesting coffee table book which would not have made the author (a college professor) any more credible.

Brand Sense - Sensory Secrets Behind The Stuff We Buy - A Review

I bought this book because it was endorsed by Philip Kotler and The Wall Street Journal. And the fact that Martin Lindstrom is a renowned marketing guru. The WSJ hailed it to be “one of the five best marketing books ever published”.  Was curious about this and I did some Googling.

Turns out that it was one of 5 books that Steve Cone (senior marketing executive at Citigroup and the author of "Steal These Ideas: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star" ) thought was the best. See the WSJ article here.

Ca$hvertising - A Review

This book is a gold mine! I made notes on almost every single page.

The best part I liked was on page 184 when he says,

"Advertising is not supposed to be entertainment! You may be entertained by it, but that's not its purpose. It's not a creativity contest. It's not meant to grace the walls of the Louvre in Paris. It's also not poetry, comedy, or a riddle to be figured out. Advertising is not about winning awards for being tricky, off-the-wall, or ingenious. Advertising - plain and simple - is about selling products and services. It's business communication with the goal to increase sales by interesting people enough in a product or service that they ultimately trade their money for it."

Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet - A Review

I had always thought the advertising scene overseas would be drastically different from here in Malaysia. Boy, was I wrong! In a way James Othmer shattered one of my long-kept dreams that the grass on the other side would be greener.

The book itself is divided into 3 parts. The first part for me, was a trip down memory lane which was basically a combination of dreamy and nightmare-like existence. The second part was about the changes currently going on in the industry. And the final part, what the future holds, somewhat.

The biggest thing aside from the advent of the Net as an advertising medium, are those little agencies that are going around saying that they’re not ad agencies.

Branding Only Works on Cattle: The New Way to Get Known (and drive your competitors crazy) - A Review

"Branding is based on an outdated and invalid desire to manipulate and control consumers' unconscious."

"It looks and feels good to the people who produce it but it has little to no effect on consumer behaviour. And if and when it does, there's no good reason why to know for sure"

"Brand success is wedded more to circumstance than to the inherent qualities of product or service."

"Brand continues to be the business corollary to buying a lottery ticket. It would be laughable if it wasn't such a colossal waste of money."

An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths - A Review

Interesting treatise on a growing social and economical trend. An empowering read for those who could not voice out their discontent before. Technology has now given them a loudspeaker.

Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters - A Review

Excellent read and yet disturbing on two aspects.

Increasingly, we are becoming too comfortable "bearing our souls" online whether through search engines, blogs etc. Whilst on our part, these activities are seemingly anonymous, we have on the other hand, marketers ever willing to exploit this new knowledge to peddle their wares. To take the analogy Tancer used in his book, it's like being in a confessional, and aside from the penance issued by the priest, he's also selling this bunch of other products that might help.

The other aspect is that the growing dependency on technology to answer our deepest questions, may cause us to isolate ourselves from others. We could get to comfortable getting our answers online as opposed to communication and lively discourse with others.

Buy-Ology: How Everything We Believe about Why We Buy Is Wrong - A Review

Thank goodness neuromarketing is still in its infancy. Despite Lindstrom's assertions that it's all for the good, that once marketers can make sense of what's in our heads, better products will get produced, it still sounds Orwellian...and the various methods deployed to play with our subconcious, persuading us to buy? Such technology in the hands of despots and dictators and unscrupulous marketers is enough to give me the willlies.

The Attractor Factor: 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out - A Review

This book is about clearly knowing what you want, ask for it from Infinite Intelligence/Universe/God and then, let it go. In a nutshell.

The part that I'm not entirely comfortable about is the clearly knowing part. I, for one, do not know for sure that what I want is really what I want. As humans, we have the unenviable ability to fool ourselves. We can have conversations with our inner selves until the cows come home, and we can still not arrive at a truthful outcome.

The book, while reading it, allows one to be filled with hope that the answers one is looking for are just in the next few pages. And that's how I felt.

Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom - A Review

An expanded version of Rich Dad Poor Dad, in my opinion. A lot of common sense.