Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination: A Personal Guide to Finding Your Niche, Conquering Your Market, and Taking Your Company to the Top [Hardcover]

Kenn Viselman (Author)

Book Description

The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company is a giant in the lucrative and competitive field of childrens' entertainment. In four years, under the leadership of Kenn Viselman, it has become a multi-billion dollar sensation. In this book, Viselman provides lessons drawn from his business successes, on what it takes to become a major industry player. His "eight giant steps" aim to show readers how they can apply his tactics and strategies to their own companies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Hollywood was stunned last summer when Kenn Viselman's Itsy Bits Entertainment Compan beat out several big studios for the merchandising and film rights to the Eloise books, the classic 1950's children's series about a cheeky little girl who lives in Manhattan's Plaza Hotel. Variety called it "not just an itsy bitsy surprise: it was a shock." But while Mr. Viselman loved Eloise's comic antics, it wasn't just the appeal of the character that turned his head. As the man behind the marketing of "Teletubbies, " Mr. Viselman saw in the Eloise books a long-term brand franchise that could be transformed into everything from dolls to a television series to a string of feature fimlms. "You can build a brand or you can build a movie franchise: a brand genrates a lot more money and a lot more exposure over time, " Mr. Viselman said. "A successful book will sell 100,000 copies. A hundred million is a successful movie, but a successful licensing progrma can do $1 billion in its first year."

From the Back Cover

"A Marketing Master¿" Entrepreneur Magazine

"Itsy bitsy has built up real momentum¿" Crain¿s New York Business

"The little business that could¿" Fortune Magazine

Since 1990, Kenn Viselman has been shaking up the licensing industry. In 1995, he boasted that his tiny startup, The itsy bitsy Entertainment Company, could go up against giants like Disney, Warner¿s and Nickelodeon and turn preschool entertainment into a merchandising bonanza. After successfully establishing the Teletubbies, itsy bitsy Entertainment has grown into a veritable children¿s entertainment empire with a string of phenomenal successes to its credit, including its recent victory over Fox, Columbia, Universal and Warner Bros., for the screen rights to the classic children¿s book character, Eloise.

In this book, marketing visionary Kenn Viselman, reveals the unique marketing strategies behind itsy bitsy Entertainment¿s extraordinary growth and provides powerful lessons for anyone who wants to succeed in business and gain control in this out of control business world.

"After a great deal of soul-searching and rewrites, I realized that despite my lack of fame, I have a great deal to say to the entrepreneur in everyone, whether you work in the mailroom at Morgan Stanley or in the president¿s office of your own multi-billion dollar conglomerate. I quite literally built a multimillion dollar entertainment company in five years from the ground up. I financed my company by maxing out my credit cards, while I worked out of my guest bedroom. I now recognize that my story may inspire others to take risks and believe in themselves.

I believe that EIGHT GIANT STEPS TO GLOBAL DOMINATION can offer some insight into marketing a company regardless of its size in today¿s ever shrinking, highly technological and wildly competitive world. If a person knows how to take advantage of these eight critical factors they can significantly impact the success or failure of a company." Kenn Viselman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 181 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (September 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007136241X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071362412
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,937,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Eight Steps" make great business sense for any industry!, January 15, 2001

By 

K. Miner "kminer" (CO, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination: A Personal Guide to Finding Your Niche, Conquering Your Market, and Taking Your Company to the Top (Hardcover)

This book was an exciting challenge for me, being completely new to the market of children's entertainment,.... However, I found in this book some homegrown business sense that is rare to find in all those "get-rich-quick" or gimmicky"business model of the week" books, which tend to be popular in retail bookstores. Kenn Viselman has a solid, experience-based understanding of the fundamentals of business, whether discussing international expansion or local marketing.

Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination is an enjoyable read, but also reinforces its core concepts with workshops at the end of each chapter. Kenn mainly talks about his experiences, then makes general business applications for them, then allows the reader to come up with his/her own personalized applications. For this reason, the book is more than just a story about one man and his entertainment company; it is about anyone who believes in a product or service, and is concerned with how to make their dreams into a reality. I strongly recommend this book to any student of business - it is insightful and relevant for the MBA student, interesting and entertaining to the undergrad student, and is a reminder of best practices and unorthodox solutions to the experienced businessperson.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A few itsy bitsy pieces of useful information, July 15, 2005

By 

Clint Steele (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination: A Personal Guide to Finding Your Niche, Conquering Your Market, and Taking Your Company to the Top (Hardcover)

I will have to start by saying that I am glad I read this book. No other has convinced me as much of the need to put serious effort into brand, image and advertising. However, I feel that much of this could be said in a single article. Much of the rest of the content can be found in other text. Perhaps the only exception is the extra effort that the author puts into to discussing the need to motivate those around you and to sell your idea, which I guess is still a part of brand, image and advertising.

The man certainly seems to have a talent for promotion and selling his ideas. Therefore, if you want to learn more on this specific topic, the book is a good buy; however, I still think an article in a business journal would be more concise and just as useful. If you are just starting to read up on different ways of running a business then this book would be a good buy. If you consider yourself well read on the topic of business management then this probably isn't for you.

On another note, if you are looking for examples of how the theorised phenomenon of American cultural imperialism works, this is a good book. Frequently the author mentions how the content of foreign programs must be changed to suit the American market while not once mentioning any effort to adjust his own products for markets outside of the US. When one considers the title, the book is almost ideal for this purpose.

In summary, I am glad that I read it but I feel I could have acquired the information I wanted more efficiently.

5.0 out of 5 stars Take on the world!, August 9, 2001

By 

Catherine Aliff (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination: A Personal Guide to Finding Your Niche, Conquering Your Market, and Taking Your Company to the Top (Hardcover)

This book was highlighted in a trade publication that I get at my office. After the series ended, I had to pick up the book and I am so glad that I did. It is excellent. It can be applied to so many different areas. Whether you are a stay at home parent to a small business owner to a corporate giant, this book applies to us all with great clarity. The writing style is easy to follow, the suggestions are helpful without being overpowering, and you will just be "on fire" to take on the world!