Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World [Hardcover]

Lynn B. Upshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2007

When it comes to the most effective marketing, it's not a company's slick package or sexy message that will ultimately win customers. The real truth is that a company's success lies in its ability to convey its integrity. In "Truth", marketing expert Lynn Upshaw offers a systematic approach for building customer loyalty and increasing market share. Using real-world examples and engaging stories, he shows companies how they can capitalize on a new kind of competitive advantage in marketing through sincerity and likeability.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This refreshing yet flawed call to arms from a veteran business consultant and professor makes the case for integrity. "It is the business in which all marketers must now be engaged," argues Upshaw. Yet while his argument about the need for integrity in an age of information overload, corporate malfeasance and consumer cynicism rings true, his suggestions for assessing and improving corporate integrity fall flat. Upshaw draws decent lessons from the usual "masters of practical integrity," such as Patagonia and Herman Miller: be truthful, let great products speak for themselves, partner with customers and sell value rather than gimmicks. But he does not fulfill his promise to teach companies the practical, daily discipline of operating and marketing on the basis of truth. The middle sags under labored and commonsensical recommendations like "Promote Honestly, Not Just Legally" and "Be the One They Can Count On." Upshaw may also drive readers away with his "integritometer," a scorecard of integrity. Wouldn't the moral compass of any company that turns to such a device be suspect from the start? This would have been a terrific business article, but is greatly diminished by this book-length treatment. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“. . .relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits.” --Entrepreneur

"The strategies Upshaw presents are clear, interesting, stimulating. If you want to know more about the “new” basics of marketing and communications, you should read this book... This is not a one-sitting read. It’s a one-chapter-per-sitting read so that you can absorb Upshaw’s simple, stark advice. Very readable. It made me question my marketing fundamentals. I hope it does the same for you." --Counter Point Communications Newsletter

"Filled with examples, Upshaw's work demonstrates how a company can secure trust by instilling ‘practical integrity’ throughout the marketing mix..." --BusinessBookReview.com, Vol. 24, Issue 36

"This book is both a great read and a very useful tool for marketers in an increasingly skeptical age" --Choice

“Building reliable trust among consumers is crucial for business to be successful in today’s highly competitive market environment, but how can firms build such trust? [Truth]….provides us a very good solution... This book succeeds in expanding our understanding of how the approach of integrity provides key insights into marketing science, and it once more demonstrates the truth that honesty is the lifeline for all businesses. As such, the current reviewer thinks that this book has definite appeal to students and professors in marketing, as it aids understanding of the contextual underpinnings of marketing principles and strategies. Moreover, this book represents a useful 'how to' guide for both marketing practitioners and educational professionals on how to put into practice an integrity marketing approach. Clearly it represents a useful resource for anyone who looks to understand the significance of the integrity in marketing as well as for those who search for the practical values.” --Journal of Consumer Marketing

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (August 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814473768
• ISBN-13: 978-0814473764
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,417,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truth: It's in there, January 5, 2008

By 

Carol Jones "CJ87" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (Hardcover)

"In marketing, credibility is like air: You can't see it, taste it or touch it, but you'll find out very fast if you're running short," says Lynn Upshaw in Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (AMACOM, May 2007).

In Truth, company leaders and marketers alike are urged to build and market products from a foundation of integrity and ethics, ultimately gaining respect and trust from today's oh-so-skeptical consumer. With examples of leading companies taking the high road such as Patagonia, Trader Joe's, and Infosys, Upshaw demonstrates how companies can increase brand loyalty, employee satisfaction, and ultimately revenue streams through a principled approach to everything from leadership to product development. To bolster practical integrity at your company, Truth will show you how to analyze your "COMA" (Cost of Marketing Atrophy), build an integrity impact report and promote internal integrity through workshops and awards programs at all levels from leadership to product development - and of course, marketing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars George Washington Was Right, December 7, 2008

By 

Shel Horowitz "Shel Horowitz, author, Guerril... (Hadley, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (Hardcover)

Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World by Lynn Upshaw (Amacom, 2007) is one of the few books I've seen that really addresses ethics from a marketing point of view.

Upshaw argues convincingly that companies should be ethical, transparent, and engage in what he calls "practical integrity" (which in his view has more to do with product quality and service than with the "traditional" integrity issues). He repeatedly cites the same examples (among them Timberland, Trader Joe's, John Deere, Herman Miller and Patagonia)-and shows how these companies reap handsome rewards in the marketplace because of, not in spite of, this commitment. Unfortunately, with a pub date of 2007, the book was probably written in 2005-and a couple of his examples (Whole Foods, with its CEO sock puppeting, and Southwest, with its recent inspection issues) have been somewhat tarnished in the meantime. This is always a danger when writing about ethics; I've been burned a couple of times, as well, and I don't hold a grudge that the facts changed since Upshaw turned in his manuscript.

Upshaw makes many excellent points. Among my favorites:

* 6 characteristics of "integrity heavy-users"
* Quantification in dollars and other metrics of the consequences to Ford and Firestone of their stupidity in the Explorer rollover scandal
* The idea that great employees actively seek out great companies to work for (Upshaw doesn't elaborate, but to me, that means these companies have much lower recruiting expenses)
* A tarnished brand can, with effort, rehabilitate itself (example: a few years ago, Gap was widely condemned for its use of sweatshops and child labor; now, the company actually pits vendors against each other to show who has improved working conditions the most)
* In one of several appendices, a sample "integritomter" showing how a company can rank itself for promises kept, guarantees honored, and other factors.

A couple of minor negatives: I found some of the visuals and sidebars (particularly the invented conversations) distracting and irrelevant-and I found it deeply ironic that the cover flap (which I'm sure the author didn't write)-engages in exactly the same sort of unfounded claim that he chastises other companies for: "The first book of its kind, Truth takes a practical business-building approach to marketing with integrity.

While Upshaw is writing more for a corporate audience and less for the small entrepreneur, I covered much of the same ground in my own award-winning sixth book, Principled Profit: Marketing that Puts People First, published a full four years earlier. And in the nearly four years I've been writing this column, I've reviewed several others that also cover this territory.

Despite these minor flaws, this book is a rich collection of values/profit-oriented advice, and I definitely recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lynn Upshaw's "Truth", October 31, 2007

By 

Crystal Pyramid (San Francisco Bay Area, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (Hardcover)

Lynn Upshaw's "Truth" should be everyone's truth! This is the pragmatic marketing book with a soul. It isn't a book just for marketers, it's for the whole of organizations to read, from CEOs to CFOs to sales teams to HR departments and strategy groups. I can even think of two political parties that could benefit from its teachings... The perfect book at the right time.