Customer Reviews

Bang!: Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

After seeing a rating above 4 stars, I happily ordered the book expecting a treat. What a disappointement! This has been the first book I haven't finished. I got about one quarter of the way through and got rid of it.

Pros: Some good stories and ideas (but nothing that you couldn't find in any other marketing book of higher quality).

Cons: As another reviewer suggested, the author merely gives examples of successful ads and tries to explain how they worked because they went against the grain and got a lot of attention. Well, I could have told you that! The real problem lies in the author's conclusions. The underlying theme seems to be: "Do the opposite of whatever you think will work best." If you think an ad is tasteless, inappropriate, and irrelevant, then run it because it will be a great success. If the ad has nothing whatsoever to do with the product, then it is more likely to succeed. For example, one of her "bright" ideas is: "You must forget about what makes sense...illogical thinking means that when you're asked to promote a bottle of water, you realize that water is the last thing you should focus on."

Conclusion: I give this book a rating of 1.5 stars. Don't waste your time on this book.

Back in the last millennium I took my newly minted MBA and went to work for a huge advertising agency. Though those glamorous days are long behind me, I remain fascinated with the art and science of advertising, and am always on the lookout for a book that purports to divulge the secret. Bang! seemed perfect for a rainy winter evening.

I zipped through the book in record time, thanks to the witty and engaging writing of Kaplan Thaler and Koval (or, more likely, their ghost writer Delia Marshall). The picture on the back cover is practically worth the price of the book (and sets the tone for the motes of wisdom dispensed between the covers). And the authors end the book with the shortest chapter I've ever read, but one that is guaranteed to make you chuckle.

Great anecdotes, enthralling war stories, leavened by tales of minor foibles that remind us of the authors' humanity and humility. So why only three stars?

Simple: the book doesn't deliver the goods. If it had been subtitled "the stories behind a few memorable ads" I would have given it another star or two. But by promising to tell readers the secret of "getting your message heard in a noisy world" the subtitle establishes expectations that are beyond the scope of the content. The lessons that the authors derive are simplistic (be nice to people; keep your mind open to inspiration; take risks) but the authors fail to synthesize the material they've presented into a model that might prove useful to a reader.

Fun, fast, lively, and not a bad way to occupy 90 minutes of your reading time. Just don't set your expectations too high.

I bought Bang! and was thouroughly disappotinted. Which made me wonder why the book got the 4-star rating while a lot of newer reviews were negative.

Look towards the end of the reviewer list. You will find a number of glowing reviews all posted on Oct 21, 2003, mostly by a "reader in NY." Looks like somebody was trying to pump up the ratings.

In short, this book is a lot of self-promotion and not a lot of advise, apart from needing a $5+ mil budget to hire a hot creative agency (just like the author's). What a coincidence.

This book is absolutely no help. The autor describes only her own successes ... "We are so great". No advice you can use.

This is a quick read about happenin's at at happenin' ad agency, no more. If you are looking for books to help you better position your business, read:

(1) The Green Banana Papers by Chris Coleman (ISBN 1887617027) -- a book written by an agency person also, but with real focus on positioning and messaging and good practical advice

(2) The classical Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore (ISBN 0060517123) -- it has as excellent chapter on the prosess of positioning. A must-read for anyone in high-tech marketing!

Both are excellent choices.

If you still want to read Bang!, check it out at the library; don't waste you money and shelf space.

Within the first few pages of this book you gain the essence of what the authors are trying to sell...disruption. Sadly, they fail to cite the books "Disruption" and "Beyond Disruption" by Jean-Marie Dru.

I give the agency credit for the sucess it has achieved but if this book is their road map then the map was truly created by someone else.

Read the aforementioned books by Dru and cut to the chase.

The book was a disappointed (I bought it because it was featured in Fast Company magazine). The subhead "Getting your message heard in a noisy word" was misleading. The answer from the book -- "get a lot of very creative advertising, with controversial themes (such as allusions to sex - 'pen envy?') What a joke. This book will only be useful if you manage million dollar TV ad campaigns, which an average marketing person is very far from.
Also the tone -- Look how great and smart we are! -- was condescending.

In short, I did not get much from this book.

Well....

"In the World of Advertising anything less than $5 Million is considered chump change."

This quote from the books says it all. If you want to pick up this book to read a chatty story about how you won't be able to promote your business unless you have that advertising budget available, go ahead.

The book is funny though, I have to admit that - however - it leaves you with that empty feeling " Nice stuff, but how does this apply to MY business, ho do I implement it to increase MY bottom line in MY industry"

For the rest of us who pick up a program about marketing because we want to learn about specific tools to transform our bottom line, well, it is (money) spent in vain.

An article in the October issue of the Small Business Canada Magazine sums it up nicely:

"You are not General Motors, so do not advertise like them."

That article alone will increase your bottom line more than this book ever can. .......

This article makes it instantly evident why the guy who wrote it (Rich Harshaw) is the current most hated men in the advertising world.

He exposes these ad agencies that are after your money without accountability for your bottom line results.

The ad agencies motto is "If you outspend your competitors with our weird and creative message YOU WIN"

In case you still want to buy the book: It is a nice story on how they achieve only 25 % of the marketing equation. For the other 75%, well, you need take a look elsewhere.
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Despite the back of the book, this is not a great book for anybody and any company. There are much better ones out there if you are looking for idea production techniques.

But for someone interested in advertising (and you've already read "Eat the Big Fish" "Truth Lies & Advertising" "Disruption" and "Do It Yourself Lobotomy") then pick it up -- preferrably used.

Over all of the book mentioned above, this one is a great agency self-promotion piece. I'm surprised it didn't end with a New Business contact.

This book should have 2 star rating at most -- but why a 4-star average rating you ask?

Sort the reviews by Least Helpful -- all the glowing review (i.e. "Bang - Simple Genius!") will be in this category. They all read the same too. The authors run a PR/ad agency, I think they will know how to promote their own book.

In closing, stay away from this book -- you will get nothing apart from an self-congratulatory account of the authors' success.