Archive for September, 2008:
The 700 billion bailout
The fact that this didn’t go through gives me some hope.
Really.
Those lying, shameless S.O.B.s who brought us in this situation should now be bailed out with 900 billion dollars?
I think you should bring them to court and put them in prison, take away they’re fancy mansions and private jets and get some justice in the system!
Yes – something NEEDS to be done. Even Warren Buffet, who has usually a very calm and laid-back style said if we don’t do something we’re headed towards “the biggest financial meltdown in American history” (yes, that means even bigger than the great depression last century).
But don’t give a man like Paulson – a man who IS PART OF THIS GROUP OF SHAMELESS PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT US IN THE TROUBLE THE FIRST PLACE – a 900 billion check and allow him to do what he wants, without ever having to justify or be responsible for how that money will be used.
Honest, hard-working americans don’t deserve to be treated this way. And I highly respect both the republicans and the democrats who voted against this bailout – but SPECIALLY the republicans, because they were under even more pressure from current President Bush and presidential nominee McCain to make this bailout happen. Yet, they voted against it. I highly respect them for that.
Now, there are of course problems too – U.S. stocks plummeted, losing $1.2 trillion in market value. The Dow Jones Industrial Average nosedived 778 points, the biggest point drop ever.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson should be put out of office if you ask me. And so should Pelosi, Cox and Bernanke.
Tags: 1.2 trillion, 700 billion bailout, 779 points, American History, Bailout, Bernanke, Billion Dollars, bush, cox, Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Financial Meltdown, Great Depression, Hank Paulson, Laid Back, Mansions, Mccain, pelosi, President Bush, Presidential Nominee, Private Jets, Republicans, Treasury Secretary, Trillion, Warren Buffet
Art Market Research A Guide to Methods and Sources
Art Market Research A Guide to Methods and Sources
Ever wonder if that painting gathering dust in the attic is a lost Rembrandt or a forgotten Van Gogh? Here, you’ll find a guide to all the resources you need to make that call. This work gives the reader a broad overview of the contemporary art world, focusing on the myriad factors that go into the valuation of an art work and the various resources available to both novice and expert investor.
From the gallery to the auction house, this book explores the major venues of art acquisition. This book is an equally useful tool for researching the value of hand- and factory-made decorative and utilitarian arts, including pottery, glass, porcelain, metal and other media. It introduces basic terminology for the art collector and covers the basics of artwork analysis and documentation, including a concise overview of database researching methods and online resources. Published sources such as artists’ catalogues raisonn
Superior Customer Value in the New Economy Concepts and Cases Second Edition
Superior Customer Value in the New Economy Concepts and Cases Second Edition
Great companies consistently meet and exceed customer desires. Superior Customer Value in the New Economy: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition offers a blueprint for responding effectively to customer demands and for creating the benchmarks common to world-class service companies. The Second Edition elaborates on the latest perspectives of the business and academic communities, exploring leading marketing and managing developments in the crucial area of customer value (CV). It delivers expert guidance on designing, implementing, and evaluating a CV strategy that benefits e-service and information-based organizations. Building upon concepts, cases, and in-chapter applications, the book addresses best practices, organizational responsiveness, market orientation, and the planning and strategy issues that result in high rates of customer satisfaction in e-service and information-based organizations. It concludes with 18 detailed, “hands-on” examples of companies attempting to create customer value. Each case study delivers an in-depth look at major CV themes such as responding to change, being customer oriented, customer loyalty, and more. Each of these real-world examples provides excellent learning opportunities to model effective customer value behavior and practices.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Superior Customer Value in the New Economy: Concepts and Cases, Second Edition
Very nice book 
5 Stars Excellent reference book for customer service and how this creates value
I purchased this book as a classroom requirement for my MBA program. I found this book extremely easy to read with a wealth of information. Offering many examples, it is easy to see how the companies listed incorporated different strategies and policies to improve customer service and ultimately add value for the customer, the company and other shareholders. I found myself using this book as a reference source for research papers written for other classes taken later on in the program. This book is an excellent resource for any future business manager.
Tags: Academic Communities, Benchmarks, Best Practices, Blueprint, Case Study, Customer Demands, Customer Desires, Customer Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Value, Cv, Expert Guidance, Market Orientation, Mba Program, New Economy, Organizational Responsiveness, Real World, Reference Book, Shareholders, Strategy Issues
Masters of Sales
Sold!
The magic word. The holy grail.
Why are some salespeople remarkably successful, while others make call after call with no results? How do some turn any no into a yes, while others can’t even get their foot in the door?
For the first time, more than 80 of the most successful salespeople in the world have come together to reveal their secrets to success. You’ll learn what makes these outstanding sellers true masters of their craft-and how you can adapt the masters’ tactics for your own.
- Learn Martha Stewart’s secrets to promoting yourself as an expert.
- Discover the 11 key questions to ask from Harvey McKay.
- Get Anthony Parinello’s advice on selling to CEOs.
- Be trained in guerrilla tactics for direct selling from Jay Conrad Levinson.
- Find out Brian Tracy’s secrets on the psychology of selling.
Bursting with valuable advice from Jack Canfield, Anthony Robbins, Keith Ferrazzi, Tom Hopkins, Al Lautenslager and more than 70 other masters of the art of selling, this exclusive compilation of the best sales strategies ever known puts you on the fast track to sales success.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Book everyone needs to read to learn from experts
It’s been said there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. Perhaps if would be fitting to amend this to include the fact that sales are an absolute certainty in this life. Who has not dreaded the purchase of a vehicle or trip to a retail store where a hoard of salespeople surround you looking to score the latest commission? A closer look at “sales,” however, indicates it is a fitting filter to understand many vocations.
Isn’t the minister actually a salesperson who is intent upon moving his parishioners ever closer to a “close?” What of the school teacher who daily sells the student on the need for an education so that they can live their dreams? Of course, those who actually sell goods are what are stereotypically imagined by the term sales.
Everyone can benefit from the refreshing book, Masters of Sales, a work full of practical ideas born out of the actual practice of modern “master sellers.” The work is skillfully divided into short vignettes grouped under a common theme, such as: The Buyer’s Perspective. Those who sell on a day-to-day basis will be inspired by sales legends: Zig Ziglar, Martha Stewart and Brian Tracy, just to name a few of the 73 who have corroborated on this work.
The vignette that resonated the most deeply with me was the one supplied by Jack Canfield, of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame. He elaborates how he and co-creator Mark Victor Hansen sought the advice of Ron Scolastico and utilized his Rule of 5. Every day, ask yourself, “What five things can I do that will move me closer to my goal that will make a quantum leap for my career?” Then do them. If everyone read and then put this vignette into play – the very nature of industry would be changed in a few months.
If your career even peripherally involves sales, then you would love this book. If I purchased only one book in 2007 – this book would be it, hands down. I inhaled this book and look forward to more books in this series.
Armchair Interviews says: Super book about sales that should be on your bookshelf.
5 Stars Change in Perspective
This book reinforces what you’ve been told over and over again – selling is about relationships and you must work to be good at it. Throughout this book however, are basic principles that should be reinforced and refreshed. Especially take note of page 239. Role playing is a no-brainer when preparing for any presentation, but how often do we do it with the client who we’ve already sold? This book truly has light bulb moments!
5 Stars If you sell , this book needs to be read and on your shelf beside the phone
Masters of Sales. Secrets from top sales professionals that will transform you into a world class salesman. Ivan R. Misner & Don Morgan. 2007. ISBN 1599181290. This book needs to be on every sales persons shelf beside the phone. Its been quite a while since I have found so many great sales ideas form so many to notch sales people in one volume. There is knowledge here that will benefit newbies right through to old sales dogs. Of course if you are content to not be among the top 10 % of producers among sales people who also are the most voracious readers, then you lose nothing by ignoring this book. Your loss is your competitors gain. Buy it, read it, use the advice and read it again. Yes I liked this book. Its everything that Google library says it is below:
Sold! The magic word. The holy grail. Why are some salespeople remarkably successful, while others make call after call with no results? How do some turn any no into a yes, while others can’t even get their foot in the door? For the first time, more than 80 of the most successful salespeople in the world have come together to reveal their secrets to success. You’ll learn what makes these outstanding sellers true masters of their craft-and how you can adapt the masters’ tactics for your own. Learn Martha Stewart’s secrets to promoting yourself as an expert. Discover the 11 key questions to ask from Harvey McKay. Get Anthony Parinello’s advice on selling to CEOs. Be trained in guerrilla tactics for direct selling from Jay Conrad Levinson. Find out Brian Tracy’s secrets on the psychology of selling. Bursting with valuable advice from Jack Canfield, Anthony Robbins, Keith Ferrazzi, Tom Hopkins, Al Lautenslager and more than 70 other masters of the art of selling, this exclusive compilation of the best sales strategies ever known puts you on the fast track to sales success.
5 Stars Invaluable advice from 73 sales mentors
Ivan R. Misner and Don Morgan have co-authored several books, including Masters of Success as well as this one in which 73 “masters of sales” share their secrets. What soon became obvious to me as I worked my way through this book is that I was exploring a paradox: peak performers in sales share much in common (persistence, rigorous preparation, a positive mental attitude, sharp focus, a high energy level, people skills, a thick skin, etc.) and yet each possesses a unique “something” that cannot be duplicated, or even quantified with any precision. Bill George calls it a person’s “true north, the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point – your fixed point in a spinning world – that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you in terms of your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership.”
The subtitle of this book at least implies that by learning various secrets from top sales professionals, the reader will be transformed into “a world class salesperson.” That is, of course, nonsense and Misner and Morgan presumably know better. What their book offers, rather, is a rare opportunity to share insights from dozens of successful people, conveniently assembled within in a single source and presented sequentially in eleven chapters, each of which assigned a central theme. For example, “The Master of Sales Attitude: Aligning Your Inner Self with Your Outside Personal Image” in the first chapter and “Closing the Customer: It’s in the WOW Factor” in the final chapter.
Most of the contributors were unfamiliar to me but I greatly appreciate what they shared. Of course, Misner and Morgan include essays by “the usual suspects” such as Jay Conrad Levinson, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Anthony Robbins, and Harvey Mackay. There are at least two reasons why all of them are generally considered “super stars” in sales: first, they sell lots of their own stuff (i.e. books, CDs and DVDs, seminars and workshops); also, they have successfully trained thousands of others (who bought their stuff) to sell whatever their respective companies offer. But again I wish to stress that Zig Ziglar, for example, does not clone himself. His objective is to inform but also to ignite those with whom he has contact, directly in person or indirectly via his books and tapes. He urges those in sales to master basic skills, of course, but constantly stresses the importance of formulating or adopting strategies and tactics that are most appropriate to their own needs and interests. In “Sales 101: What Every Sales Professional Needs to Know” (Pages 15-19), Ziglar makes several basic points of indisputable validity – citing ten highly desirable habits that he has found to be “extremely useful” in all aspects of his life — but this advice will be of little (if any value) unless and until another person grasps, indeed embraces its meaning and significance, then applies effectively what she or he has learned from Ziglar. The same is true of advice offered by other successful men and women who, like those who contributed to this book, share the lessons they have learned, especially from their failures.
My guess (only a guess) is that this book will be of greatest value if the Contents section is checked out first so that each reader can then determine which themes – and which selections clustered with each theme – are of greatest interest. (Caveat: It would be a mistake to ignore contributions by those who are unfamiliar.) I presume to suggest that there are three basic questions that each person in sales must be well-prepared to answer when in contact with a prospective buyer. The first two pose no significant challenges (or at least shouldn’t) but success or failure almost always depends on the response to the third. Here they are:
Explicit: Who are you?
Implicit: Are you honest? Do you know what you’re talking about? Have you made an effort to understand my business? Will you protect my best interests? Are you and your organization reliable? Can I trust you?
Explicit: What do you do?
Implicit: Which specific products and services do you offer that I need? Can you answer my questions? Can you help solve my problems? Will you “go the extra mile” when that is necessary?
Explicit: Why should I care?
Implicit: What differentiates you from other sales people? What differentiates your products and services from what competitors offer? What unique value-added benefits do you offer? Will doing business with you strengthen my own customer relationships?
Credit Misner and Morton with carefully selecting and then brilliantly presenting a wealth of material that can help to answer both explicit and implicit questions such as these.
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Masters of Success also co-edited by Misner and Morgan as well as two books by Tom Butler-Bowdon: 50 Success Classics and 50 Self-Help Classics.
5 Stars Use this book to Learn Real Sales Skill
With over 50 contributing Experts to this book you can’t go wrong.
There is so much to be learned it is incredible.
Each leason is short and easy to read. You could take each leason in the book and apply it immediately with out any added cost.
I also had the pleasure of interviewing over 30 of the authors from The Masters of Sales book and if you would like the mp3 audio’s for free Register at [...] and under the referred by section put MastersOfSales and we will email you the links to download the MP3′s
Thanks Ivan and Don for such a Masterful Book.
Tags: Absolute Certainty, Anthony Parinello, Book Masters, Brian Tracy, Certainties, Death And Taxes, Guerrilla Tactics, Harvey Mckay, Holy Grail, Hopkins Al, Jack Canfield, Jay Conrad Levinson, Keith Ferrazzi, Magic Word, Martha Stewart, Masters Of The Art, Refreshing Book, Sales Strategies, Tom Hopkins, True Masters
Net Market Technology Internet Hubs Drive Business Process Reengineering Market Forecast
Net Market Technology Internet Hubs Drive Business Process Reengineering Market Forecast
Electronic markets and process hubs will play a critical role in coordinating process functions between market participants. This dynamic will drive demand for technology that enables companies to either participate in or build these electronic value cha
The Sushi Economy Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy
The Sushi Economy Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy
From the sea to your plate, the first international tour of sushi
The Consumer Society Reader
“We live in what may be the most consumer-oriented society in history. . . .Once a purely utilitarian chore, shopping has been elevated to the status of a national passion.”–Juliet B. Schor, The Overworked American. A unique and definitive reader on our “national passion”–buying stuff–and its consequences for American society. We are citizens, owners and workers, believers and heathens, but today more than anything else we are consumers. How this came to be and its consequences for us all is the subject of this pioneering reader on the rise–and continued rise–of consumerism. The Consumer Society Reader features a range of key works on the nature and evolution of consumer society. It includes classics such as the Frankfurt School writers Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse on the Culture Industry; Thorstein Veblen’s oft-cited writings on “conspicuous consumption”; Betty Friedan on the housewife’s central role in consumer society; and John Kenneth Galbraith’s influential analysis of the “affluent society.” The book also includes much-discussed recent work by such leading critics as Pierre Bourdieu, Thomas Frank, bell hooks, Bill McKibben, and Janice Radway. A landmark in social criticism, The Consumer Society Reader is sure to become the standard book on the subject.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Horrible
For such an interesting topic, it’s just a bland and boring way to present it. I had to read this book for a graduate class, and it was like pulling teeth. I’ve read many books on similar topics that actually succeed at engaging the reader. This book is just odd, boring, and bland. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!
4 Stars May have bitten off more than I could chew =)
I have read numerous books regarding consumption, simplicity, etc. I have read all of Juliet Schor’s books also. This books is an excellent thought provoking book, HOWEVER, be sure that you have a clear mind and a good chunk of time on your hands. Yes, the book is long, but that’s not really the issue. It’s a compilation of essays, some quite old. They do offer a lot of insight, but it tends to be more economic insight. If you enjoy reading about environmental issues and voluntary simplicity, this does have some of that, but much of it is information about things like trends in buying, capitalism and advertising. While it’s an interesting read, I would advise checking it out of the library and reading the essays that interest you. Keeping this book in your library doesn’t serve much of a purpose. Not even for inspiration and motivation, which is a reason I keep many of the simplicity books that I enjoy. Bottom line… pretty good read, but borrow, don’t buy it.
Tags: Affluent Society, Bell Hooks, Betty Friedan, Bill Mckibben, Conspicuous Consumption, Culture Industry, Frank Bell, Frankfurt School, Graduate Class, Horkheimer, Janice Radway, John Kenneth Galbraith, Juliet Schor, Key Works, National Passion, Pierre Bourdieu, Pulling Teeth, School Writers, Social Criticism, Thorstein Veblen
The Way to Wealth in Action Building a Highly Profitable Business
The Way to Wealth in Action Building a Highly Profitable Business
An expert course in personal and financial success from renowned business expert Brian Tracy
In his groundbreaking series, The Way to Wealth, legendary business guru Brian Tracy reveals his secrets to plan, organize and execute powerful business strategies. In Part I, you learned how to develop the entrepreneurial mindset and gain the basic knowledge necessary for success. Now, in Part II, you learn specifically what to do in your own business to break through boundaries and achieve remarkable success. With advanced lessons on controlling every visual aspect of the business, determining every cost involved in bringing a product or service to market, pricing a product for maximum profitability, forming strategic alliances and more,Tracy condenses years of business experience into one powerful volume. Plus,Tracy lays out the 21 key skills for entrepreneurial success. It’s an advanced course to put you solidly on your way to wealth.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great Sequel
As a Business Coach I’m always looking for the best information to bring my clients. His first book ( the Way to Wealth, part 1) was fantastic. I had many of my clients read it and apply his simple, realistic principles.
This is his second Way to Wealth Book, and I’ve enjoyed it even more.His strategies are precise and any business owner can use them immediatley to build ther business. Great book.
5 Stars More Way To Wealth!
The first “Way to Wealth” was amazing and the follow up didn’t dissappoint! Execellent read!
Tags: Basic Knowledge, Brian Tracy, Business Coach, Business Experience, Business Expert, Business Guru, Business Owner, Business Strategies, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Entrepreneurial Success, Financial Success, Groundbreaking Series, Key Skills, Maximum Profitability, Profitable Business, Remarkable Success, Renowned Business, Strategic Alliances, Visual Aspect, Wealth Book
Stabilizing an Unstable Economy
Stabilizing an Unstable Economy
“Mr. Minsky long argued markets were crisis prone. His ‘moment’ has arrived.” -The Wall Street Journal
In his seminal work, Minsky presents his groundbreaking financial theory of investment, one that is startlingly relevant today. He explains why the American economy has experienced periods of debilitating inflation, rising unemployment, and marked slowdowns-and why the economy is now undergoing a credit crisis that he foresaw. Stabilizing an Unstable Economy covers:
- The natural inclination of complex, capitalist economies toward instability
- Booms and busts as unavoidable results of high-risk lending practices
- “Speculative finance” and its effect on investment and asset prices
- Government’s role in bolstering consumption during times of high unemployment
- The need to increase Federal Reserve oversight of banks
Henry Kaufman, president, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc., places Minsky’s prescient ideas in the context of today’s financial markets and institutions in a fascinating new preface. Two of Minsky’s colleagues, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Ph.D. and president, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and L. Randall Wray, Ph.D. and a senior scholar at the Institute, also weigh in on Minsky’s present relevance in today’s economic scene in a new introduction.
A surge of interest in and respect for Hyman Minsky’s ideas pervades Wall Street, as top economic thinkers and financial writers have started using the phrase “Minsky moment” to describe America’s turbulent economy. There has never been a more appropriate time to read this classic of economic theory.
Tags: American Economy, Asset Prices, Bard College, Capitalist Economies, Credit Crisis, Economic Scene, Economic Thinkers, Economics Institute, Financial Markets And Institutions, Financial Theory, Financial Writers, Henry Kaufman, Hyman Minsky, Kaufman Company, L Randall Wray, Mr Minsky, Natural Inclination, Papadimitriou, Stabilizing An Unstable Economy, Wall Street Journal
Married to the Brand Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life
Married to the Brand Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life
How does a brand–a company or one of its products–stand out in an ever-louder and more chaotic marketplace? Why do customers develop intense and lasting bonds with some products they consume, but not others? What do winning brands do better than their competitors? Generations of marketers have pondered these questions, and Married to the Brand offers thought-provoking answers.
Based on 60 years of research from the Gallup Organization, the book combines a thoughtful, data-driven approach with a playful metaphor. Author and Gallup researcher William McEwen sees customers’ interactions with brands as markedly similar to the in-depth, extended relationships we see in marriages. From his opening pages, McEwen draws parallels between customers’ feelings about brands and romantic relationships. For example, he points to the differences between “dating” and “long-term engagement”. He explains how both commercial and romantic relationships require trust to start and build, but passion to flourish and sustain. He describes situations in which people might fall in love, then later seek a “divorce”.
Like other recent classics about brand marketing, like Scott Bedbury’s A New Brand World and Al and Laura Ries’ The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, McEwen’s book makes good use of anecdotal personal examples. He uses stories about individual consumers’ interactions with the Starbucks (coffee) or Morton’s (salt) brands, for example, to illustrate one of his central points: that brands grow not just from products, but from an overall customer experience which may include the original advertising that first drew attention to the brand, personal memories tied to the product, interactions with sales staff, the appearance and location of the physical store in which the product was purchased, and so on. He summarizes by describing a framework of “5 P’s” that drive customers’ perceptions of brands: product, place, promotion, price, and people.
Taken as a whole, this book’s lessons provide a provocative and interesting rethinking of brand management for marketers in a wide variety of industries. As McEwen himself writes, emotions connected to brands “aren’t merely warm and fuzzy, nor should they be relegated to the world of greeting card poetry and Hollywood scripts. Emotions are both powerful and profitable, whether a company is marketing hamburgers or microprocessors.” McEwen challenges his readers to build their brands patiently, over time. He attacks the conventional wisdom behind most companies’ customer relationship management (CRM) or loyalty-marketing programs. Perhaps most importantly, he is realistic in stating from the book’s outset that even the best brands will engage only a minority of their customers in true “marriage”-like relationships. But for the readers willing to invest the effort, in this book and then in the brand building that follows, the payoff appears worthwhile. –Peter Han
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Chapters survey pride levels, common brand dilemmas, and more.
Why do some consumers bond to brand names for life? Sixty years of Gallup research into consumer habits and their psychology lend to MARRIED TO THE BRAND: WHY CONSUMERS BOND WITH SOME BRANDS FOR LIFE. Many marketers work on first impressions without considering the reasons why consumers will stick with a brand. MARRIED TO THE BRAND tells how the most successful marketer not only creates the bond, but strengthens it over the years so that consumers come to equate the brand with quality and value. Chapters survey pride levels, common brand dilemmas, and more.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
4 Stars Great understanding of a Brand
This book gives you a good insight about a brand and the marriage it has with its customers. Its very easy to read and enjoyable.
5 Stars Based on Sixty Years of Research
Dr. McEwen is a consultant with the Gallup polling people. For over sixty years they have researched brands and branding. In this book he analyzes and explains what he has discovered.
His comparison is that branding is a lot like marrying. It is a merger of company and customer and both have obligations to the other. The company has most of the responsibilities because they are the ones that have the power to change things that attract or drive away the customer. But like any marriage, the customer also has the obligation to buy the brand so long as it meets their needs.
And if brands are a marriage, he also talks about divorce. My family has always used Crest toothpaste. I go to the store, I want the same old Crest I used as a kid. Now there’s Gel Crest, Mint Crest, Crest with special this, and special that. New is a magic word in marketing, but I don’t want NEW, I want the same old stuff I had before. I honestly couldn’t tell which was the same old stuff. I bought Colgate.
Sears was a great brand, then they went all goofy. But the Craftsman brand of Sears tool has held it’s place. I bought some tools for Christmas presents. They were Craftsman — but it was the only thing I bought in the Sears store.
This is the best book on understanding brands and branding I’ve ever seen.
5 Stars About time
Disney has a brand loyalty that is the envy of Hollywood. (Ever hear anyone say, “Let’s go see the lastest Columbia movie?” But ask a dad on Saturday what he’s doing, and you may hear, “Taking the kids to the new Disney flic.”) How did they do it? And how can they keep it?
This book delves into the mystery of brand loyalty with interesting anecdotes and examples from the marketing kings: McDonalds in America, Coca Cola in Asia, and of course, Disney. But the author doesn’t pull punches. McDonalds marketing, once so effective, now reeks of 40 year olds in suits trying to sound “hip.” That’s where the book is well worth a read: the author’s discussion of how brand loyalty is built is carefully balanced with how it can be lost.
Fascinating reading for anyone–marketing pros or consumers who enjoy the ride.
5 Stars A Great Read For Anyone!
This book is a great read for market researchers and the general population alike. Dr. McEwen has put together a truly compelling “tale” of how certain brands entice followings, and how or why said followings are either maintained and groomed, or discarded. A fascinating cultural study, as well as a meticulous scientific one, this is a great present for anyone who’s ever wondered how Disney or Coca Cola has come to the prominence they enjoy today. To have put together so much information in such a fun, readable way is Dr. McEwen’s true gift, and he should be lauded for it. Bravo!
Tags: 22 Immutable Laws, Brand Marketing, Chaotic Marketplace, Customer Experience, Drive Customers, Gallup Organization, Laura Ries, Marketers, Metaphor, Original Advertising, Parallels, Personal Examples, Personal Memories, Researcher, Romantic Relationships, Sales Staff, Scott Bedbury, Starbucks, Starbucks Coffee, William Mcewen
