Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business: The Cure for Death Wish Marketing [Paperback]

Kevin Clancy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

This guide considers accepted marketing principles and then debunks them. It discusses marketing truths and solutions and provides anecdotes and solutions from the authors' own experience and research.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starting with the position that American business sustained severe but avoidable losses during the 1980s, marketing consultants Clancy and Schulman provide an iconoclastic analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of marketing in this nation. Their methodology is controversial: they target 172 major myths that they believe are sapping the vitality of America's business enterprises, including the assumption that "most marketing programs work." The authors expose what they consider to be the faulty logic and managerial fallacies that undermined efforts in the 1980s to cope with planning, research, marketing channels, brand equity, gap analysis and sales force management. While the assessment of myths is engaging and the coverage of positioning and small business issues enlightening, the book frequently leaves the reader wanting more hard data to understand both the problems and the proposed solutions. Fortune Book Club dual main selection.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this work, Clancy and Shulman, the heads of a marketing strategy group, expose the fallacies of conventional marketing thought--or, as the case may be, the lack of thought. While its practitioners lead people to believe that marketing is high-level science, in actuality marketing today resembles medicine at the start of the 20th century--as many are being harmed as helped by its procedures. The authors cogently mix appropriate theory with practical examples. Parallels can be drawn between Marketing Myths and the writings of Theodore Levitt, Philip Kotler, Robert Townsend, Douglas McGregor, and Peter Drucker. Business is fraught with risk, but risk should be based on sound fundamentals. This work does a fine job in presenting these fundamentals, although a bibliography would have been helpful.
- Steven Silkunas, Southeastern Pennsylvania TA, Philadelphia
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070113610
• ISBN-13: 978-0070113619
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,149,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books written about marketing. A gem!, May 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business: The Cure for Death Wish Marketing (Paperback)

Not only is it easy to read, but it's shocking in its ability to zero in on what's wrong with the marketing business. A must read! For those who want more detail, try reading their first collaborative effort, The Marketing Revolution. Bottom line--if you buy no other marketing book, buy one of these two books. They are Marketing Bibles with enormous power. Why? Because they lay out in excrutiating detail how marketeers have been relying on well-worn mths to conduct business--myths that have no basis in fact. Thus, is it any wonder that so many marketing efforts either don't work or when they do work can't be explained. I should know. Prior to reading these books, I fell for the same myths. Not any more, thanks to authors Clancy and Shulman. Gene Pinder Director of Marketing U.S. SPACE CAMP

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless D'uh type points..., November 22, 2005

By 

Eiad Kassif (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business: The Cure for Death Wish Marketing (Paperback)

Perhaps this book was good 10 years ago but not in 2005. I read the first few chapters and after several hours of going through the so-called "myths" I just had enough...
Most points they call "myths" are common knowledge to anyone in business or marketing fields (At least NOW).
Again, I am not sure how the situation was 10 years ago but now it is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Many better books are out there so don't waste your time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A straight forward and useful marketing resource, September 16, 1999

By 

Adam Lefton (Schaumburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Myths That Are Killing Business: The Cure for Death Wish Marketing (Paperback)

As a business consultant, one of the most important things I can do for my clients is to help them overcome their "time honored traditions". While you might think that the need to call in outside consultants is indicative of management's recognition that the current way of doing things isn't working any more, quite often the opposite is true. Organizational inertia, especially in the area of marketing, is often difficult to overcome. This book has helped me countless times in assisting organizations in overcoming "old thinking" and in moving their marketing strategies forward. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me - [e-mail].