Truth: The New Rules for Marketing in a Skeptical World (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: practical integrity, marketing integrity, credibility race, Trader Joe, Herman Miller, United States (more...)

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)
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Review

"Virtue, it seems, is not the only reward when it comes to marketing." -- Mark Henricks, Entrepreneur.com

"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

To win over consumers. it is necessary to build trust, to replace price emphasis with the promise of genuine/truthful value. -- La presse, Montreal's daily newspaper Sept 9, 2007

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (August 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814473768
• ISBN-13: 978-0814473764
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #977,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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	C. Romashko - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"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, Princip... (Hadley, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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	Jeanne A. Cox (San Francisco Bay Area, California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.