4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Here is my advice for free...pass on this book., June 16, 2009
This review is from: The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference (Hardcover)
This book is divided into 52 ideas that supposedly can make a difference in the advertising that you execute for your product or service. Here is the problem with books that try and create a list, and the list has to contain a certain number of ideas (52, 365, top 12 monthly ideas, etc.) When you start to run out of ideas, but you still have numbers on the list that you must fill, you start to make stuff up that is simplistic or meaningless.
That is what I think happened with the authors of this book. Some of what they offer is worth rewarding, and will be helpful to companies who are looking to understand advertising just a bit better. But don't look for any real deep thinking here. Here are some of the 52 ideas:
o Don't Hide Your Brand Name
o Learn New Tricks
o Share Information
I'm not sure I need to spend $20.00 for this great advice. Here is my advice for free...pass on this book. There is not a lot of new information in this one.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich in Reality, July 19, 2006
This review is from: The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference (Hardcover)
The authors are obviously battle-scarred veterans of the big agency ad wars. Every sentence of this how-to guide oozes with common sense and experience. Their tips range from the prosaic to the provocative: for example, they suggest Underpromise and Overdeliver (duh!); and at the other extreme, Quality Is the Absence of Non-Quality Signals (huh?).
Still, I can't fault the authors for stating the obvious, because in the real world, the obvious is what companies neglect to do, over and over and over. In fact, the obvious, paying attention to tried-and-true methods, thinking inside the box, is one of their major themes. Some others:
1. Your brand is BY FAR your most valuable asset.
2. You can't manage what you can't measure.
3. Marketing, creative, and research must work together to create great advertising.
4. Stress benefits (sounds easy, but rarely done).
Beyond its value as a guide for advertisers, the book will help any executive in any department who wants to improve his management skills. The authors focus on leading and building teams, handling personalities, navigating corporate politics, and executing projects. Nice job!
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Might be the best little ad book ever, July 7, 2006
This review is from: The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference (Hardcover)
I recently retired as marketing director for a major international firm. Too bad this book wasn't written 40 years ago when I was in college. It's better than any course I took. Also too bad it wasn't written 20 years ago when I became director of marketing. It would have saved me from making costly mistakes. Good thing it's available now. Could make a big difference to a one-person business that needs to get in front of the public or the marketing director of a major corporation. This one is really good, as if you couldn't tell.
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