Customer Reviews

The Future of Men: The Rise of the Übersexual and What He Means for Marketing Today

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

 

 

This had potential, but ultimately doesn't deliver. The authors do a fairly good round-up of how men have been consistently portrayed as bumbling idiots in advertising, and how that isn't really flying that well with male consumers. (Wow, what a surprise!) Things are indeed changing. However, they drop the ball when they attempt to come up with the hip definition of the "new male," what they call the ubersexual. They spend only a paltry few pages on what they believe this new trend actually is, and clearly show they are out to lunch on the topic. Advice for the authors: talk to real men who don't work on Madison Avenue, and stop relying on yesterday's market surveys. Is this why advertisers still don't get it when it comes to men ages 18-34? Yes.

I worked with two of the authors at their former ad agency, Euro RSCG. Given the thousands of hours they have spent in consumer focus groups, I was amazed and ultimately annoyed by how stultifying obvious many of their "observations" are. If a marketer actually finds this book useful, his company is in a ton of trouble.

Why must we always have to re-define men and put them into a certain category? And what purpose does it have? This book, just like the whole idea of creating new words to define men such as "meterosexual" and "ubersexual", is pointless and a lame attempt for somebody to get money and coin a silly name that won't do much of anything to how men look at themselves in general.

This book examines trends, real and alleged, in male roles. Its main strengths are its numerous examples, interesting interviews and chapter summaries of key points, which make for easy reading. Marian Salzman, Ira Matathia and Ann O'Reilly discuss a wide range of contemporary celebrities and ideas. Readers who have been paying attention to the social changes of the past few decades won't be challenged to think more deeply, but others may find something of interest in this review of trends in the men's rights movement. Just watch out for glib generalizations based on a random list of sources that includes Web sites, small newspapers of unknown accuracy and the occasional scholarly journal. We cautiously recommend this book to popular culture vultures and to marketers who wish to track social trends.

This has to be the most disappointing book of its type. The authors seem to miss the point on men (18-34) all together & make some rather conflated claims. A year later & still no real sign of the Ubersexual, he doesn't exist, and much like Ms Salzman's study of the youth market - it seems she is well out of her reach here, not understanding in a sound & solid way what changes are actually occurring in the world today.

Further to this, as someone working in the interactive media realms, and advertising in a much more effective way to a key demographic the authors think they are defining - I agree with the Spotlight reviewer - if you are buying this as an aid, you & your agency are in trouble, if you are buying it to see the confabulated claims of "so-called" Populizer (sic - see her website) of Buzzwords and how traditional Madison Avenue misses the mark, unless you are buying it used at $1.13 - you're getting ripped off.

A friend gave this book to me because they knew that I had an interest in advertising and marketing. I had low expectations and thought that it would be the same tripe that all marketers feed to the masses. No big ideas, nothing really insightful or worth remembering...just claims that they know more than they rest of us. Thankfully, I was VERY wrong about the book and really enjoyed reading it.

It was smart, well written, and more importantly, it offers a new and useful perspective on a topic that I felt had been exhausted by the media. Men are typically stereotyped as sexist "bad boys", or pigeonholed as "metrosexuals". The rise of the "ubersexual", that these authors describe, is a welcome change from the media perspectives of the past decade.

book surprised me because i thought it would be fluff and it was anything but. A+ insights into the men's view of the world, and great for marketing to men.

Men is changing... we all know that. What is important to those in the marketing business is how they're changing and how we can reach the "new man." It is true that the book poses new stereotypes. But like it or not, stereotypes are helpful for marketers. With that said, the book is a good tool for those in sales and marketing business essentially male oriented or planning to start selling for men. It's a must read!

I found this a fun and interesting read. As someone who works in the media, I found the chapter on mass media, advertising and the modern man of particular interest. The authors illuminate how men have fallen into the beer-guzzling, skirt-chasing, stomach-scratching stereotypes in media. And it challenges us to come up with multi-layered portrayls. And if you're a George Clooney fan, you'll enjoy this read even more. They've dubbed him an 'ubersexual' ;)

I really enjoyed reading this book! It provides tons of background information on society's view of men and where are they heading. Apparently, metrosexuals are over and ubersexuals are in! I, for one, couldn't agree more!