The Little Blue Book of Advertising and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Very Good See details
$3.92 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $0.52 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference
 
 
Start reading The Little Blue Book of Advertising on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

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

Steve Lance (Author), Jeff Woll (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

List Price: $19.95
Price: $17.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $1.97 (10%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Friday, May 18? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $17.98  

Book Description

July 6, 2006

These days, the fundamentals of advertising that truly build great brands are often overlooked. But Steve Lance and Jeff Woll are leading a back-to-what-works movement with The Little Blue Book of Advertising.

This is a short, fun-to-read, practical book designed to be read quickly and referred to again and again. Each of their fifty-two ideas relates to day-to-day problems with real examples, then provides an innovative, sometimes blunt solution. For instance:

  • #3 Read what your customer reads, watch what she watches
  • #10 Quality is the absence of nonquality signals
  • #15 Sell the benefit, the advantage, and the feature—in that order
  • #19 Get the no-bodies out of your approval process
  • #41 Know when and how to scream “sale”

Just as Jeffrey Gitomer’s hugely successful The Little Red Book of Selling became the gotta-have resource for salespeople, Steve Lance and Jeff Woll have written the perfect handbook for what does and doesn’t work in today’s advertising world.


Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Little Blue Book of Marketing: Build a Killer Plan in Less Than a Day $14.59

The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference + The Little Blue Book of Marketing: Build a Killer Plan in Less Than a Day
  • This item: The Little Blue Book of Advertising: 52 Small Ideas That Can Make a Big Difference

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Little Blue Book of Marketing: Build a Killer Plan in Less Than a Day

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details



Editorial Reviews

Review

Filled with those 'Why didn't I think of that?' truths that make it a must-read for everyone working in advertising. -- Jerry Della Femina

About the Author

Steve Lance and Jeff Woll are partners at Unconventional Wisdom, a creative resource group. Lance was formerly a creative director with Della Femina, Travisano & Partners and creative director of NBC. Woll was a twenty-year veteran of OgilvyWorldwide, including stints as COO of their Montreal office and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Partners in New York. Both authors have won numerous industry awards.


Jeff Woll and Steve Lance are partners at Unconventional Wisdom, a creative resource group. Lance was formerly a creative director with Della Femina, Travisano & Partners and creative director of NBC. Woll was a twenty-year veteran of OgilvyWorldwide, including stints as COO of their Montreal office and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Partners in New York. Both authors have won numerous industry awards.


Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (July 6, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1591841240
  • ISBN-13: 978-1591841241
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 6 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #885,965 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
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Rich in Reality July 19, 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Practical, Useful, and Concise
While some might pass over the common sense and common knowledge that fills a lot of this book (to marketing & advertising professionals) as junk to fill a word count, I call it a... Read more
Published on December 3, 2009 by Richard A. Brandano
Wonderful refresher
In this advertising how-to guide, ad agency partners Steve Lance and Jeff Woll advocate using tried-and-true marketing methods and, more important than doing things differently,... Read more
Published on June 18, 2008 by Rolf Dobelli
A little insight, a few things to remember.
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. Read more
Published on January 8, 2008 by R. Stewart
Good Book To Own
I am so glad I bought this book. I can look to it for inspiration when I want to advertise whatever I'm working on.
Published on September 22, 2007 by Christian With A Pen
Advertising by Numbers
This book is full of old advertising cliches that at best, provides insights to the reader on why so many ads appear to have been written from the same playbook. Read more
Published on February 21, 2007 by Toby
Great inside view of big agency life
I absolutely engulfed this book. I found it not to be so much of an "how to" book as much as a full-of-gems and insights book. A great deal of these tips are spot-on applicable. Read more
Published on December 21, 2006 by D. Sarmiento
lots of fluff
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. Read more
Published on November 12, 2006 by cthirteen
Little Blue Book of Adverstising - wise and funny
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. Read more
Published on November 6, 2006 by L. E. Ballinger
Great Information for Entrepreneurs
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,... Read more
Published on October 6, 2006 by MBA
Common sense isn't very common
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. Read more
Published on August 27, 2006 by E. M. Wolf
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
If you're over forty, that line might mean nothing to you. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
preproduction meeting, shooting board, great advertising, selling message
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Beautee Soap, David Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Wall Street
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


So You'd Like to...


Create a guide