Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage [Hardcover]

Pat Fallon (Author), Fred Senn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1591399270 | ISBN-13: 978-1591399278 | Publication Date: July 18, 2006 | Edition: 1

Too many companies think creativity means throwing money into marketing efforts and giving lip service to "out of the box" thinking. But such efforts rarely have a positive impact on the bottom line. Pat Fallon and Fred Senn argue that leaders have more creativity within their organizations than they realize - but they inadvertently stifle it or channel it in ineffective ways. "Juicing the Orange" outlines a disciplined approach to building creativity actively into the organizational culture and leveraging that creativity into campaigns that deliver measurable results. Drawing from 25 years of successful marketing and acclaimed, award-winning work, the authors show that bankable, creative ideas come from zeroing in on the one key business problem that must be solved and then rigorously unearthing insights that will lead to a spectacular solution.Behind-the-scenes stories of successful and failed campaigns for companies in diverse industries reveal the core secrets of training for creativity: develop a proprietary brand emotion, offer big ideas without a big budget, and get customers to seek out your message. Illustrating the link between creativity and profits, "Juicing the Orange" helps industry players measure their success at the cash register.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a vivid look at some of the most creative and successful ad campaigns of the last 25 years, the founders of Fallon Worldwide chronicle the ways that "creative leverage"-the "daily practice of making creativity actionable and accountable for changing consumer behavior"-to bear in high-stakes, enterprise-critical situations. In doing so themselves, Fallon and Senn have helped clients capture markets, redefine consumer perceptions, and recover from disaster-all while generating enormous revenue. Citibank's "life is more than just money" aphorisms, United Airlines' animated vignettes, Holiday Inn's campy one liner, and Lee Jean's ironic hipster mascot, Buddy, demonstrate how fearless commitment to the creative approach finds the market sweet spot others missed. Each chapter treats a single campaign in depth, building as it progresses toward a complete working definition of creative leverage. The self-promotion of the introduction may put some readers off, but it is short-lived; the rest of the book drops the bragging and allows the campaigns to speak for themselves. Specialists in marketing and advertising will find the book appealing, and professionals of all stripes should find it useful. But general readers interested in going behind the scenes of these memorable campaigns-or of ad work in general-will find much to enjoy here.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Since 1984, Harvard Business School Press has been dedicated to publishing the most contemporary management thinking, written by authors and practitioners who are leading the way. Whether readers are seeking big-picture strategic thinking or tactical problem solving, advice in managing global corporations or for developing personal careers, HBS Press helps fuel the fire of innovative thought. HBS Press has earned a reputation as the springboard of thought for both established and emerging business leaders.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (July 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591399270
• ISBN-13: 978-1591399278
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #36 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to outsmart, not outspend your competition. Solid arguments that transcend the "agency manifesto" inherent in agency books., July 6, 2006

By 

D. Stuart "Researcher at Kudos" (Auckland NZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage (Hardcover)

There's always a whiff of Agency Manifesto hanging around any book that emanates from Madison Avenue - a sense of self-justification perhaps. But where Kevin Roberts' self-delusional SiSoMo smacks of Saatchis agenda to repackage the concept of moving pictures in the cyber age, Pat Fallon's "Juicing the Orange" is a much more laid-back affair, recounting some big stories from the last 25 years of his agency's work. The central argument is that in the current media environment, the winning strategy is not going to be about media tonnage (how much you can spend) but on the creative leverage you can attain through a truly hot idea.

Is this really a new idea? I don't think it is, but the stories, well told, show great examples of creative thinking in the services of winning against the tendency for brands to commoditize, of reaching customers when there is very little media budget (BMW's internet camapign) of rescuing a laughable brand from extinction (Skoda, a Euro car brand the equivalent of American Motors' Gremlin, became sexy again through great creative and solid product development from VW).

What gives this book extra clout, and puts it on the "deserves to be read" category is its call to management of companies to unleash the creative potential within their own organisations. Each of the stories may reflect a good campaign, sure, but the kernel of each campaign comes from the creative essence of the client.

This calls for the ability to attain truly deep insights about the organisation, its culture and its marketing challenge. In the end, the story isn't just about a hot agency - it is about visionary, sometimes risk taking management, and incisive truly effect market research.

In the end the authors transcend the 'agency manifesto' syndrome, and issue an important challenge to business people. The timing is good, the message is right on.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one tasty orange, July 22, 2006

By 

Michael P. Maslanka (dallas, texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage (Hardcover)

True or false: is advertising obsolete? Fallon and Senn say true---unless it changes. And they go about showing how it must change in recounting their best campaigns(with some intellectual honesty in mentioning their losers). The Big Ideas: don't steal a competitor's emotion, find your own; ads must bear an A to B connection in more revenue generation; take risks to survive because incremental change will kill you. The chapter on Lee Jeans is one of the best: trust the focus groups when they have passion(here, teenagers want to feel indestructible in their jeans); don't ape the competition(the strong desire to be sexy like levi's); don't be afraid to go to your roots(here, bring back a doll icon from the compnay's past); and know, above all else, that emotions drive decisions---the reason is tacked on later. They also talk about how they run their shop---fire prima dona employees or unreasonable clients; understand what is worth fighting over; undertstand that creativity is team driven; believe in a few core idea and push them over and again.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Juicy Congratulations to Fred Senn and Pat Fallon, July 13, 2006

By 

Jenna Magidson (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage (Hardcover)

I found this book as enlightening and delightful as sitting and having a drink with a great leader in advertising. Personally, it has reinvigorated my own perspective as an agency Account Manager and I'm excited and motivated all over again about the accomplishments and contributions we can all make in marketing.