Customer Reviews

Ice to the Eskimos: How to Market a Product Nobody Wants

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I run a small company with almost 100 employees. My background is finance so you can think of my surprise when I received this book as a gift. I've always thought that marketing was part voodoo and part bull. But, I decided to read just one chapter of this book. That led to another chapter, then another. Then I started to SEE and UNDERSTAND marketing. We initiated some of Spoelstra's ideas to fit our company and we received almost immediate big results. I see... Spoelstra has another book coming out next year. I personally will try to be the first one to buy it.

Eskimos have all the ice they need and presumably don't perceive the need to get any more, let alone buy it. Joe Spoelestra illustrates how to take that ice and turn it into something desirable (a Slurpee) for example, or bundle it with something that makes it desirable - a sled and a lift to create an experience to sell.

Joe details his experiences, primarily in sports marketing. They are especially applicable to those in the entertainment and service industries but can be applied in virtually any industry. The book is full of new ideas, fresh insights, and ways to repackage that which nobody wants in such a way as to change the customers' perception of value and create a compelling value proposition.

The book is much better than this review. :-) Pick it up, read it, enjoy it and act on it. "Ice to the Eskimos" will give you fast easy ideas that can be used to jump start your business!

The author starts with damaged goods, typically a sports franchise that is not winning. He then applies great thinking and action to turn around their sales.

The author tells you lots of stories of his successes and then describes the techniques that he used. There's lots of practical advice here.

He has just released another book, "Market Outrageously", in 2001. I have just finished reading the new one, and read this older one when it came out about 3 years ago. In some ways this older, original book has more material. However, the newer book adds to this information and has enough new material to make the purchase worthwhile. If you are a marketing professional, or a business owner, you should buy both.

Or, buy the newer book first, then if you like the style and information, then buy this older book to supplement the first.

You can also see my review comments for "Marketing Outrageously" in that book's review section.

Both books are fun and easy to read. In both books you'll be totally absorbed in the material.

The author has strong opinions and has produced strong results. So I rank this book as "highly recommended."

John Dunbar

Jon Spoelstra has written the best marketing I have found. Aside from the wonderful real-life examples, Jon's explanations and analysis MAKE SENSE! While reading the book, I found myself nodding in agreement -- the techniques he explains work on me when I purchase a product! His examples were like a huge light bulb going off and I am implementing his recommendations immediately.

Unlike books which are written from the Ivory Tower or from the Executive Office, Ice to Eskimos is written from the minds and the wallets of customers! If you want customers, get this book!

Spoelstra's sub-title, "How to Market a Product Nobody Wants," is a bit of a misnomer. For me, that conjers up the negative stereotype of the salesman/marketer tricking you into buying something you don't want. Inside the book, Spoelstra's concept clearly is the polar opposite of that. He should have called the book, "Making Your Product into Something People Really do Want: a Broader Definition of Marketing."

Once you're inside the book, Spoelstra presents a litiny of ideas that are obvious once presented to you, but often seem counter-inuitive without some assistance seeing them. As a marketer in a larger firm, I've run into a lot of the same resistance as Spoelstra and have found that if you can break down the resistance, his ideas really do work.

Overall this is a practical guide, not just for marketers, but for anyone who runs a business. Highly recommended.

It is an excellent book. If you are new to marketing technique, you'd have a very good lesson by reading this. If you have been working in marketing for years, still, READ IT coz the author not only shares his real-life experience with you, but also REMIND you with something you have missed and not thinked of.

Marketing, Employee mentoring, Management...you can find everything from this book...

I would recommend this book to ALL people. Because it is helpful if one day, you were the product that needs jump-start marketing technique. (I am applying them to my job profile now)

trust me...this book is a MUST for everyone.

This author has done a great job in explaining in detail how to market something that not everyone wants. He explains that a sales force is not needed if the product was in full demand.

I especially like at the end of his chapters he has "A Simple Test You Can Take". This question and answer area can then be applied to all aspects of your current business.

What I liked best about this book is that it wasn't filled with jargon and theory. It was straight-from-the-hip on how to market things, even things that weren't the best in their field. By the fourth chapter, I had already implemented a great marketing idea that produced results before I got to Chapter Five

I got some great applications for my business from the innovative marketing ideas in this book. Lots of business books bore you on philosophy or theories. This book is easy to read, easy to apply the ideas, and has humorous stories to help make the point. In fact, there were times I laughed out loud. Even if you don't enjoy sports, the ideas here are universal

I had to read this book for a sports management class and I found it super interesting and that the principles in the book can be applied to anything, not just sports. A must read for any business student.