Customer Reviews

The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

watch videos and go to the movies together, become an expert on the consumer, do quantitative research, seperate your brand from the competitor... these are some of the 52 ideas. lots of fluff, no guts. i was looking for more detail. how should i conduct research? how have other companies done it? what worked in the past? what didnt?

this is a book for an executive of a large corporation who has lost touch. not for someone who wants to start a business...

"The Little Blue Book of Adveritsing" isn't about advertising theory, it's about maximizing adveritsing creativity and results. It's a must read no matter how much or how little you spend on advertising.

I was happy that I bought this book, as I read through the first few pages I was reassured I had bought a useful book.

Simple but effective ideas, yes some ideas are so simple that you already know them - but this book reminded me that they are much more than ideas to pass over and assume everyone knows. It helped me to establish my personal criteria/review list that includes some of the key points mentioned in the book that at times need to be repeated and that can help guide teams and your reviews of their work.

In my mind it was worth the money and I'm happy to recommend it, small and cute enough to read on the bus in the morning, a good way to start the day.

Though the title suggests this book is about advertising, you'll quickly discover that this book is a must-read for anyone interested in developing a product, starting a business, or growing a business. The authors' views on many topics, such as the appreciation of branding and importance of quality is universally applicable but obviously not universally understood or implemented by many in business. Maybe marketing types already know this stuff, but entrepreneurs - even successful ones - can use the ideas in the book to improve their businesses substantially.

This isn't a bad tome of this type. A little on the wordy side, however I didn't find it dull. All of the information presented is very basic, common sense ideas. If you've been working in advertising for any amount of time you'll have run across 90% of this. But even if you have that additional 10% may mean the difference between sale or no sale.

This handy little book boils down a lifetime of experience into a highly readable set of tips and truisms. Someone new to advertising will find a goal-mine in here, and someone who's been in the business will be re-focused on the essentials of what makes good advertising and marketing sense. It's one of those books you read and then say, "Why didn't I think of that?!" As a former owner of an ad agency, I wish I'd had The Little Blue Book of Advertising to give to all my clients and employees. It would have made my life a whole lot easier!

This is an extremely readable book, like taking an advertising / marketing crash course from the pros. It is chock full of solid advice, with direct and funny delivery. I bought copies for friends.