Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense [Hardcover]

Kevin J. Clancy (Author), Peter C. Krieg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 2000

More and more companies are discovering that while it is possible to increase profits by cutting costs, it is not possible to downsize a business and still grow. Convinced tht marketing new and existing goods or servicesis the least risky way for any company to expand, Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg, who head COPERNICUS, one of the world's leading research and consulting organisations, gives managers both the theoretical framework for a strategically intergrated marketing approach and the tools they will need to build marketing plans that work. In COUNTERINTUITIVE MARKETING Clancy and Krieg explain why it is essential to forge a vital link between strategic planning and marketing, as well as revealing how technological advances can make a critical difference in targeting, positioning, advertising, new product development, and pricing. This book also provides a two-page marketing questionnaire that every marketing department can use to keep on track.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In one of the most thoughtful marketing books of the year, Clancy (coauthor of The Marketing Revolution, etc.) and Krieg hammer home the point that nothing is more important to a business's success than marketing. They maintain that, at a time when most corporate growth has resulted from mergers and acquisitions, many companies use fuzzy qualitative research to make quick, uncontested "gut" decisions. The result is marketing campaigns with a dismal return of one to four percent, say Clancy (former chairman of the respected Yankelovich, Clancy and Shulman research/polling firm) and Krieg (cofounder with Clancy of Copernicus, a marketing research firm). In subsequent sections, they parse traditional marketing strategies for everything from positioning to new product development, pinpointing flawed practices (e.g., studying habits of heavy buyers) and offering alternatives (e.g., segmentation studies). They conclude with advice for shoring up implementation of a well-designed marketing plan, including test marketing on the Internet. Throughout, Clancy and Krieg follow up their clearly presented insights with questions for self-assessment. While they admit that solid marketing (such as that executed by British Airways, Dell, Harley-Davidson and Pepsi) is hard to do well, they believe that it's the only means for long-term success, since "the purpose of a business is to create customers, not to reward stockholders, not make a quarterly dividend." More theoretical and less hip than Sergio Zyman's Building Brandwidth (Forecasts, Oct. 16), Clancy and Krieg's book is a valuable tool for those willing to invest the time to extract their insights. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The authors are the founders of Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research, a marketing research firm. In addition, Clancy, formerly with Yankelovich Clancey & Schulman, coauthored The Marketing Revolution and Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business. In this new book, the authors question whether downsizing, a business technique for increasing profits by cutting costs, allows for growth and, if not, is thus self-defeating. They instead recommend marketing existing as well as new goods and services as the way to expand. Links between strategic planning and marketing are stressed, along with the advisability of taking advantage of technological advances. The authors discuss the differences between marketing plans based on tradition and those based on science and pose 100 questions for business leaders to consider when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their firm's marketing efforts. This important book should be considered by everyone studying or making marketing decisions and should be included in all libraries that serve business.DLittleton M. Maxwell, Univ. of Richmond, VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1st edition (December 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684855550
• ISBN-13: 978-0684855554
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The secret to great marketing is LESS common sense, December 4, 2000

By 

C. M. Flanagan (Providence, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense (Hardcover)

If anyone out there relies upon common sense to implement their marketing programs [and who doesn't?], this book is a must read. Why? The authors, Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg, contend that the fundamental problem with today's marketing efforts is that managers rely way too much on common sense. That - and a whole lot of testosterone-driven decision making - are contributing to sluggish growth, declining profits and the downward spiral of once great American brands.

The symptoms of testosterone marketing, according to the authors, are commonplace in most companies. Testosterone-driven decision-makers are "the guys who assemble complex toys on Christmas Eve without reading directions, book without a recipe, make business decisions without research." Testosterone marketing is easy to spot. Symptoms include: decisions made too quickly because there's no time to do it right; top management demands short-term results; real customer needs are unknown or ignored; too few alternatives for each decision are evaluated; marketing managers are promoted prematurely; and market plans are sloppily implemented.

So what's the cure? Clancy and Krieg believe that quantifiable research is the elixir for developing strategies, creative approaches and tactical plans that can aggressively grow a company's market share, revenue and profitability, and coincidentally, launch and rebuild great brands.

The book provides insights for creating strategies that prevent "over-and-over-again" marketing, as well as practical advice about how to actually implement successful marketing programs. Unlike so many business books that are either about strategy or some tactical aspect of marketing, Counterintuitive Marketing provides both and does so with real world company examples and amusing anecdotes from the authors' consulting and teaching experiences.

One of the best parts of this book is its Appendix: Marketing in a Nutshell: the 100 Questions Every CEO Needs to Answer. It's a fantastic reference guide to the most important elements of strategic and marketing planning, targeting and positioning, product and pricing strategy, mass media advertising, direct marketing, customer satisfaction and retention, e-commerce, marketing planning, test marketing, and implementation. When in doubt - turn to page 323!

I still contend that there's a big need for more common sense in the marketing organization, but the idea that the best ideas are often those that we don't yet know is very compelling. A great read for anyone involved with marketing.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do you have millions for marketing?, August 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense (Hardcover)

Clancy & Krieg have done an outstanding job at illuminating the many fallacies that take hold in today's marketing world. More importantly, they tell you why these same fallacies cause millions to be flushed down the sink and how you can, hopefully, avoid making the same mistakes. There are valuable and non-intuitive insights here that you'd pay lots of money for from marketing consultants. These insights are given in quantitative and qualitative forms in many cases, which is a satisfying blend in my opinion.

This book is aimed at marketing professionals, MBA/marketing students in intermediate-advanced courses, and CMOs who want a kick in the pants. Those looking for a "how to" guide or hands-o, jargon-free approach will be disappointed.

If I have one criticism of this book it's that it makes two big, bold assumptions: (1) you work for a large, multinational corporation with established products or services and (2) you have millions of dollars for marketing research. If, like me, you are launching a startup, then at best this book will give you some hope that some day you'll have the money to actually DO some of the things they propose.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Call to (Re) Discover Effective Marketing, January 18, 2002

By 

Serge J. Van Steenkiste (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense (Hardcover)

In Counter-intuitive Marketing, Kevin J. Clancy and Peter C. Krieg capitalize on the experience gained in their consulting assignments to lambaste "testosterone-driven, death-wish marketing" that emphasizes speed, relies on little research, and privileges short-term results. The outcome of poorly crafted marketing strategy and tactics is often predictable: High failure rate in launching new products, dismal advertising, sub-optimal promotion, premature commoditization of brands, and poor financial results. Clancy and Krieg constantly urge their audience to go back to basics such as research-driven targeting and positioning. Clancy and Krieg also remind readers that good implementation may be more important than great strategy. The appendix in the book "Marketing in a Nutshell: The 100 Questions Every CEO Needs to Answer" is on its own a gold mine. Counter-intuitive Marketing is ultimately a call to use more (real) common sense in turning a company, product, service into a success story. Smart marketers beware.