Radical Marketing : From Harvard to Harley, Lessons From Ten That Broke the Rules and Made It Big [Hardcover]

Sam Hill (Author), Glenn Rifkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 1999

"Radical Marketing" is a fresh approach to marketing and strategy that has proven hugely successful for organizations ranging from Harley-Davidson to Harvard Business School. In this book, Sam Hill, cofounder of Helios Consulting and Glenn Rifkin, a veteran business writer for the "New York Times," identify the unconventional strategies that have enabled ten innovative companies to usurp valuable market share from traditional industry leaders. Just what do these organizations have in common? Each is in tune emotionally with their customer base - allowing them to glean superior marketing insight without spending millions of dollars on advertising or employing huge marketing departments. Each is focused more on the big picture - growth and expansionthan on short term profits. And, despite their current success, each started out with little more than a passion for their product, forcing them to do things more cheaply and creatively.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

So-called radical marketers stand out from the corporate crowd because they view the marketplace much differently from their more traditional peers. Not coincidentally, marketing consultant Sam Hill and business journalist Glenn Rifkin argue that the most advanced of these unorthodox companies--represented by diverse business ventures like Virgin Atlantic Airways, Iams pet food, Snap-on tools, and Samuel Adams beer--also tend to be wildly successful. In Radical Marketing, Hill and Rifkin examine these businesses and a half-dozen others with an eye toward the practices leading to their prosperity that could be adapted elsewhere. Some choices may raise eyebrows, such as the National Basketball Association (which lost half its 1998 to 1999 season to a contentious labor dispute) and the Grateful Dead rock band (long criticized for glorifying recreational drug use), but all nonetheless support the authors' hypotheses and reveal through detailed profiles and careful analyses precisely what their experiences offer other firms. Thankfully the authors end by explaining how such practices can be used also by mature companies in less freewheeling fields. --Howard Rothman

From Library Journal

Hill, a veteran marketing consultant, and Rifkin, a business writer for the New York Times, discuss how ten companies or entities (including Harley Davidson, The Grateful Dead, Harvard Business School, the Boston Beer Company, Iams Company, and Virgin Atlantic Airways) view the market differently than do traditional marketers with huge departments, big budgets, and standard techniques. In a very readable style, the authors define and compare traditional and radical marketing practices. This analysis is followed by ten informative case studies. The final chapter examines how some of these marketing innovations can be applied to traditional marketing, possibly turning some marketing professionals into "trad/rads." Marketing managers and business students alike will find many timely and thought-provoking ideas here. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1st edition (January 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887309054
• ISBN-13: 978-0887309052
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,019,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ten is *way* too many!, November 27, 1999

By 

Ami McElroy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Marketing : From Harvard to Harley, Lessons From Ten That Broke the Rules and Made It Big (Hardcover)

Ten companies that symbolize radical marketing - it's a great concept...

However, after reading the first three, you pretty much have a grasp of what the lessons are. Continuing on is only an exercise in reading the same story over and over, with different CEO names inserted and different products peddled.

You know how it goes... Company at the brink of bankruptcy, young leader-type without a business degree, creative solutions born out of financial constraints... Ta da! A great company emerges from the ashes.

It's just that this book doesn't make you think enough. It's a great story, but it's just too easy - not enough struggle, not enough of reality. I just can't believe that everything is so peachy at all these organizations. I want the truth - I can believe that radical marketing techniques work, but I can't believe they work absolutely. I mean, IAMS just sold out to P&G, but the book makes it sound like Clay Mathile (the former CEO) would never leave IAMS because he's so married to the brand.

It's a good airplane book, but it's a bit of a fairy tale.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Repetition for emphasis isn't always good, August 14, 2000

By 

William Davenport (Mont Vernon, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radical Marketing : From Harvard to Harley, Lessons From Ten That Broke the Rules and Made It Big (Hardcover)

I bought Radical Marketing because I needed some radical ideas to jump-start my company's marketing.

On the up-side the authors did package up some useful information for me and I got insights into how companies in widely varying markets can put the same radical ideas to use with the possibility of good success.

The book's wisdom though, is many times at odds with the situation of readers like me. For instance, the book admonishes readers not to fall into the traditional marketing trap which says just throw enough money at it and people will buy it. Of course, I'm not P&G or Quaker Oats (see the Snapple debacle recounted in the "Applying the Lessons" chapter) so I can't fall into that trap since I don't have that kind of money. And neither do, I suspect, most readers.

The 10 case studies could have easily been pared down since many of the companies profiled use the same tactics. After about the fourth case study I was really struggling to continue on, thinking it would just be more of the same with a different name. Basically, it was.

My advice to the authors for their sequel is to apply some of the radical advice they give and keep it to 100 pages. Less, many times, is more. And when you're forced to work with less your focus gets lots sharper.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong, simple message. Would have made a powerful article., August 31, 1999

By 

Bob McKee - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radical Marketing : From Harvard to Harley, Lessons From Ten That Broke the Rules and Made It Big (Hardcover)

The message is a positive one. Leaders without formal marketing training or piles of money can build successful businesses, given a strong connection with customers and a personal commitment to delivering a quality product.

Like many popular business books, Radical Marketing has a strong core concept that could have been expressed fully in 30 pages or so, but was extended to book length by endless examples and anecdotes.