Customer Reviews

Total Access

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

 

 

While I'm not one for too many business books, I took the recommendation of a respected friend and read the book.

I wear two hats in a web development and multimedia production company; owner and sales. The content of Total Access satisfied both brains. We provide our clients with communication tools that are focused at internal and external audiences. I found myself head nodding and matching many of our company and client experiences to concepts discussed in the book. The book helped me recognize (and hopefully capitalize on) patterns that we see occurring with our clients.

Regis may not see the future (cause it's already happening), but he may be the first reporting on it. I'd recommend Total Access if you are able to "apply" valuable insight and knowledge to your business life. Stick with Tom Peters if you just like to read.

The most valuable part of this book is in chapter 7 in which he provides the checkpoints for the marketing architecture. McKenna used the first six chapters to create the foundation from which he postulates the need for the marketing architecture -- which is chapter 7.

I bought into his reasons in the first chapter and as a result, I could have, should have gone directly to chapter 7.

While the book tends to go round and round a bit, its central theme (the evolution of branding to include all channels of access and the need for a new marketing discipline) is very thought provoking.

McKenna argues that many of the functions traditionally performed by marketers under the auspices of "brand" such as customer service, market intelligence, etc. are being performed by IT departments. He warns marketers that their jobs are being absorbed by the CTO and CIO.

His description of a new kind of "Marketing Architecture" is very interesting. The book manages to tie channels of access together with loyalty, brand awareness, globalization, and partnerships. I found that the book required me to wrench my brain to think about marketing and technology from a very different angle.

I suspect marketers will dislike its central premise. Nobody likes to hear that their job is going to be automated by the guys in the IT department!

Total Access presents some interesting ideas about how today's marketeers should approach their work. Their long-held beliefs in the mystery and art of branding need to be replaced with a deep knowledge of technology, logistics, distribution, and operations. Those of us in marketing will be forced to understand issues we've been able to avoid in the past. And some won't survive. On the flip side, executives from other departments will have to embrace and better understand marketing. No more working in a marketing silo.

I really liked this new definition of marketing: "Marketing is an integrated architecture that enables the continuous process of organizational learning, whereby the enterprise gains knowledge by continuously interacting with customers and the market place to learn, adapt, and respond creatively and competitively."

I bought this book as it certainly touches a new subject in business, that of how marketing is changing given rapid technological change. What a dissapointing book! First, there is a lot of repetitive information..."marketing is changing because x,y, and z" is found everywhere. Second, many of the examples are from the author's own experience, his wife's and basically from every member of his family. I wonder how representative they are of the US population? Third, the book doesn't have ANY single graph or chart, so it is plain boring as you can imagine. Being the authour a consultant, I was expecting many cool revealing charts/graphs...and finally, even if you get the bookm, by reading the first and last two chapters, you would save up yourself some great deal time. Hope this is helpful
-AV

when I bought this book. Completely worthless. First, this book seemed to be a commentary rather than a book filled with facts. No references were made about any of the facts...just the author's and his family's experiences. Kind of like the John Madden of marketing. If you score more points than the opposing team you have a good chance of winning the game....duh!

Here is a solid example of how brand equity and trust can be eroded. The HBS (Harvard Business School) Press brand, in this case, has forgotten that our time spent as readers is extremely valuable.

Total Access is repetitive and bloated, it meanders endlessly, and it is sprinkled irritatingly with tedious truisms.

The few "gems" in Total Access could have easily been condensed into a solid Harvard Business Review article. As a first step, all the non-value adding self-promotional quotations from the McKenna Group would have had to go.

As a committed learner, I suggest that time would be infinitely better invested in reading or re-reading McKenna's 1991 classic Relationship Marketing. Alternatively, look elsewhere.

The premise of this book is that the process and function of marketing are changing - in large part due to changes in technology. While it's hard to argue with that basic premise, you're likely to find yourself agreeing with some of the author's opinions about the implications of these changes and disagreeing with others. Whether you agree or disagree with McKenna's predictions for the future, you'll probably find them thought-provoking. The theme I found most compelling was that technology, along with a number of other factors, is likely to bring an end to the era in which branding dominates marketing thought.

Regis still has the touch. His new book looks at how technology has changed marketing forever, and what we marketers must do to win at this new game. Throw out what you thought you knew about marketing and grab hold of the new technology tools fast, before some IT person beats you to it -- and takes your job.

Typical puffed-up, self-promoting. How did this self-described "legend" manage to pull the wool over so many eyes? Remember - this is a PR guy! His advice on anything except self-promotion should be ignored. The book is circuitous and deadly dull.