Customer Reviews

The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from the Advertising Research Foundation

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The Online Advertising Playbook is an academic study of the online advertising. With countless examples and studies it removes much of the confusion in this emerging industry. Each chapter focuses on a unique property. First reviewing the technology and property itself, giving an overview of what it has to offer. It then provides clear examples and tips on how to use and measure them.

Business books, especially those concerning advertising, tend to be overviews of the industry. While they provide insight into the market they leave the reader confused about how to actually create successful campaigns. The Playbook in contrast is a guide. Showing how to get started with a new property or improving campaigns which already use them.

Since the Playbook is academic in nature it is not easily accessible. The writing style is similar to college textbooks. Most of the examples require an existing knowledge of the industry. Readers who are already working in advertising (both traditional and online) should be able to pick the book up without trouble. It could be a hard read for those who are just starting or looking to join the industry, though I would not discourage them from trying.

About the reviewer: Four years in the industry with a focus in search marketing. Currently employed by a top five global advertising agency that works in both the online and offline space.

PK

When I first received the book and skimmed it very quickly, I was initially disappointed. Too much text, lack of "punchlines", and seemed to cover only small number of facets of online advertising.

After reading the book carefully, though, I was impressed. Very detailed coverage of many topics, excellent citations and references to actual studies, and many cases that are discussed in detail.

The book would be an excellent textbook for a course on online advertising. It is not a "how-to" book, with lists of to-do items. Everything is substantiated by pointing to a related (academic or professional) research study. Many discussions reveal things that are not obvious even to seasoned professionals.

In short: Buy the book if you plan to invest the time to actually read the book, and you are interested in understanding in-depth many aspects of online advertising. If you just need a book that can be read quickly and you simply want to follow blindly its instructions, search for something else.

This book is clearly useful, but assumes that you at least have a dedicated marketing person and budget, more often a whole marketing department that manages actual campaigns. Assuming your company is of that size, then if you don't have much experience in online, or in managing campaigns in general, this is a great jumpstart. It can also be a handy reference to give the boss so he understands this "new thing" you're trying to do with online marketing, and why he/she should trust you to spend some money.

The book is highly credible, even though I wouldn't take the time to look up any of the referenced information myself. The information looks to validate assumptions with objective information, not just "this is cool, you should try it." It's not going to necessarily change anything about my online initiatives except the way I justify certain kinds of spending. It's also nice to know I'm not far from the mark where I have drawn my own previous conclusions about the online media.

This is one of the most useful and effective books I've acquired to advance our advertising strategy. I made an effort to log on here to write a review because I was extremely happy with the purchase. Not only is the info in the book useful, but the numerous studies and examples referenced in the book have also been extremely useful in presenting our business case for the strategy this book helped us create. I highly recommend it.

As for recommendation, I have purchased several copies which I have given to agencies I work with. Aside from covering facets of online, the surprise was a series of "futures" by a variety of specialists. Well-done.

There're books with titles that exaggerate for selling purpose, this is not such a book. The title objectively illustrates what the authors set out to achieve - concisely present 'proven strategies & tested tactics' based on extensive 'advertising research'. Key areas of digital marketing were well covered with good reference & citations, & also well selected case studies of how organizations achieved measurable business results thru the 'tested tactics'. The 'Futures' section is a nice surprise to wrap up the book, comprises of provocative views from both academia & industrial practitioners in how they see the field of online marketing will evolve. I look forward to reading the next version of the Playbook, with better coverage in the rapidly growing digital social media scene.

While working in behavioral targeting (BT), I decided to learn a bit more about online advertising (OA). I bought "The Online Advertising Playbook", and it was a really good choice. This book has been written by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) in 2007.

To break the suspense, the book is of excellent quality. It is well written and the concepts are clearly presented and structured in the book. The first and final chapters are particularly interesting. In the first chapter, you will learn anything you need to know about targeted online advertising. The different targeting approaches are explained: demographic, contextual, behavioral, geographic, daypart, etc. In the final chapter, experts of online advertising give their mind about the future of this field.

The book is closed by a comprehensive glossary about online advertising. It needs to be noted since it is more than 30 pages long. As a conclusion, I would recommend this book to anybody working in online advertising or behavioral targeting. It is a must have in your library if you're working in this field. Congratulations to the ARF team for this excellent book!

One might wonder how long a book having to do with online advertising strategy will last, considering the rapid pace of change in technology and online rules, but Joe Plummer, Steve Rappaport, Taddy Hall and Robert Barocci focus on strategies that are not particularly vulnerable to time or tech changes. They take online advertising in the direction of other sophisticated mass media advertising, including targeting specific markets precisely, and using multiple channels and other audience-oriented tactics. With this book's information and abundant real-life examples, marketing and brand managers can create winning plays. getAbstract thinks they will want this valuable tool on their desks so they can build their brands online and do it right.

I recommend this book if you require stats, facts and case studies to support trying a certain online advertising strategy. It will also help you with theories, strategies and tactics.

Obviously, the best way to improve your online advertising results is to learn from others who have had success while avoiding what has proven unsuccessful ... that's precisely what this book delivers. Chances are you'll uncover information that you hadn't counted on which may help you with your own campaign(s).

The Bottom Line: The "Online Advertising Playbook" provides a harmonious mixture of facts and how-to information. It's not exactly the type of book to read from cover to cover in a day because you'll want to take notes and map out to-do lists along the way.

I read this book to polish my own knowledge of different internet marketing tactics and strategies. I own my own business, Brew City Marketing, [...] and was looking to gain information that I could share with my own clients. I was pleased that there are many valuable resources in this book and think it is worth while to read if you are a business owner or a internet marketing company.