Customer Reviews

Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Let's get this out in the open now: this is a book about an ad campaign that's now over 10 years old. It wasn't a successful ad campaign that "changed the world" or is remembered all that fondly, so if you're looking for beach reading, this probably isn't it. Also, I found the style somewhat overwraught - the author had a tendency to lose the core narrative in order to provide lengthy asides, mini-history lessons, musings on the tao of advertising, and comprehensive lists when summaries would do (yes, yes, we know, you were THERE. That doesn't mean we need a word for word transcription!).

That said, this is still a brilliant book. By example, it shows what advertising can and cannot do. The real crux of the story is something most books of this ilk gloss over: the internal politics at the agency and struggle between pleasing themselves (and retaining their sanity) and pleasing a client that essentially could not be pleased; the conflict between a manufacturer and its foreign parent; the conflict between a manufacturer and its dealers. All this may be old, but it is still relevant, and quite compelling. It also is underscored throughout by the unresolved conflict between product-based selling (if you have the right product, will it sell itself?) and image-based selling (can advertising drive sales, or just reinforce them?) -- which is as timely as always.

The hardcover version I read desperately needs an updated Epilogue discussing the success of the Paul Hogan Outback campaign in relation to the failure of the SVX. Was it just a better product at a better point in the economic cycle? Did S.O.A. finally create products targeting broader U.S. consumer tastes? Or did the spokesman model work better than W&K's anti-advertising spin?

-avi

I remember it well: a dramatic image of a sleek black car, against a black background; a gruff world-weary voice dissing conventional auto advertising; an arresting multi-layered scroll of selected text over the fixed image, corresponding directly with the voiceover as the words were read... and remember thinking: "this is an amazing ad. This ad will be incredibly influential."

It was, too, insofar as it almost immediately spawned similar art direction for a host of other products. Only problem was: it didn't sell cars.

"Where the Suckers Moon" explains why. It explains every aspect of the businesses involved -- how car sales are based on image, not mechanics, and and how automobile advertising became the holy grail for agencies.

You learn all about Subaru, and how their corporate structure all but guaranteed failure. You learn about the hubris and arrogance of Weiden and Kennedy, the "hot shop" selected to create the doomed campaign. You learn about how cars have been sold in the past, and gain understanding into how they're sold today.

The lessons pointed out in "Where the Suckers Moon" are relevant for other businesses as well, because the book almost painfully explores the human dynamics of the company that created the product, the company chosen for promoting those sales, and the dramatic and catastrophic effects of a lack of alignment between the two parties. It can -- and does -- happen elsewhere. So don't imagine that you won't get anything out of it simply because you aren't directly dependent on cars or advertising for your bread and butter.

Failings? It's longer than it needs to be, and sometimes veers into philosophical discussions of advertising which clearly reveal the author's own biases. As such, it does somewhat undermine its own attempts at reportorial quality. This is a bit disappointing, because the research is spectacular -- the access that the author had to the entire process is stunning, and the candor of the participants would be enough to make most senior managers cringe.

Minor squabbles. All in all, this book is not only the most important book about advertising written in a long time -- it's also a genuninely entertaining read.

Footnote: Once you understand the mindset of Subaru management during the failed campaign, the shift to Subaru's current Paul Hogan/Crocodile Dundee campaign becomes even more remarkable. Sells cars too....

This is a detailed, on-the-ground tactical exploration of the Subaru ad campaigns of the mid-90s. Watch the idealist dreamer's of the agency's creative team collide with the cold, hard world of auto retailing.

To me, an entertaining business book is something that teaches you about a particular profession, industry, comapny or leader, and develops the story through a plot, inherent tension in the conflicts in the business, and a "what would you do in their shoes?" sensibility. Where the Suckers Moon has both, and is one of my top 15 business books as a result.

"The Nerd from the Back of the Class"'s criticisms of Rothenberg's excellent, meticulously researched "client's eye-view" book seem to be focused on three areas: Subaru isn't "sexy" enough, the book is four years old, and that Rothenberg's cool refuses to crack in order to glamorize the ad game or its participants. In fact, one can infer from "Nerd At the Back of the Class"'s review that Rothenberg's writerly sang-froid is a deterrent from a reader's enjoyment or even basic understanding of the book.

A question: What word in the English language didn't you understand, Nerd? This is as fine a primer on the processes and pressures relating to advertising as I have ever read. And I'm not a Joe Blow--and I doubt that "Nerd At the Back Of The Class" is either-- but, in fact, have made my living as an advertising copywriter for five years now. Rothenberg's cool detachment, his knowledge of his subject (ostensibly modern advertising agencies but, in fact, the history of advertising agencies themselves, and, in fact, Subaru and its parent company in Japan) his patience, his eye for detail, his recording of the filming of the Subaru commercials and the organized chaos that is The Creative Process, his willingness to hang around legendary hothead Joe Pytka for crying out loud--these things make the book what it is: a treatise that modern consumer culture and in fact modern corporate America are neither godlike, infallible or perfect. Rothenberg is Toto, pulling away the curtain to reveal the Wizard for who he is--a little fat guy with a lot of smoke and mirrors at his disposal, a man who loves power and flattery. (Think of the original owners of Subaru and their covered motorcycles, or the divisonal Subaru car salesman or Wieden & Kennedy for heaven's sake.)

And by the way, if anyone doubts Rothenberg's street creds please see his weekly column in Advertising Age, one of the industry's leading publications.

If "Where the Suckers Moon" strikes anyone as being recondite, then perhaps you need to eschew this book for something a little less thorough. Perhaps an ad for Apple with its sexy lines and pretty colors...pretty colors good...and sleight of hand. Me, I prefer to know that I'm not being suckered. And that Rothenberg isn't suckered either.

And as for the complaint that this book is four years old and out of touch...As someone in the book says, advertising is all about people and relationships and they don't change. This book is as much about the people as it is about their business.

If you're looking for sexy, they have plenty of Web sites for that sort of thing...sorry. Rothenberg can't help the fact that Subaru, try as they might, ain't sexy nor will they ever be. And frankly I'm glad he doesn't see the manufacturing nor selling of a car as sexy or feel that he ought to dress it up for the bored people at the back of the class. But, however, the auto industry is quite important to the U.S. economy, and so is the ad business. However, if you're looking for history, knowledge and detail--things that seem to be lacking in most advertising agencies--then this book has it in abundance.

The entire advertising world -- scratch that -- the entire world has changed immensely since this book was written. Many of the assumptions of this book, such as the overall business importance of network TV to an ad campaign, are simply no longer true. Technology changed it. Corporate buyouts have changed it. Energy and wars have changed it. Yes, the Internet changed it. And so on.

But guess what? ANY book about an ad campaign yesterday is old news the moment it's printed as far as that particular campaign is concerned. What's important is the processes that created, sold, and produced the campaign -- and the forces that can keep it going or kill it dead. If you don't learn those, after all, you won't learn advertising as a career.

This book delivers on several important things that ad agency people should still learn from, including:
* Insider, quote-by-quote looks at highly-regarded New York agencies making pitches...and mistakes.
* A Kirisawa-like view of people from two or more companies being in the same meeting, yet walking away believing it had two different outcomes.
* The importance of ego -- and managing it well -- whether you're on the agency side or the client side.
* The importance of always knowing who REALLY holds the decision-making power in what you're trying to achieve.
* Inside looks at the thinking of key corporate marketing personnel in the throes of an ad agency search.
* Reassurance that even multi-national corporations sometimes don't realize that it's better to emphasize your true strengths than to try to invent strengths no one believes exist.

It's also a great inside look at the car business as it's done in the US. At least how it used to be done. That, too, has changed a lot, but as long as their are human beings making a ton of money at power plays, it will change slowly.

Lastly, when you get to the chapter about the Japanese auto industry - skim. It's moderately interesting overall, but not very meaningful to the outcome, and Rothenberg doesn't tell it particularly well. It's the biggest snore in the book. Aside from that, this book is a great read and, again, if you are young in the ad industry -- take notes.

One the best books I have ever read with regards to the managing of advertising campaigns within a company. Few other books have provided such an insight into the realities of the pitch process, getting agencies on board, the client/agency relationship and the palava of producing an ad campaign.

But where this book truly strikes home is in the laying bare of the internal politics - Agency vs Marketing vs Sales vs Dealers vs Operations (production). Local company vs Off shore Parent. And even more enlightening/entertaining is the strife within each divisional silo.

It is set within the Automobile world but the actions and truths to be found are equally applicable to many businesses but especially to the Client/Agency interface. I squirmed when I recognised situations that I have faced as an FMCG marketeer and when things hit home that way you know you are reading a book with true insight.

_Where the Suckers Moon_ benefits from a well-crafted story with fascinating "characters" and relationships. The internal power struggles of Subaru of America, the tempestuous relationship between S.O.A. and Wieden & Kennedy, and the history of both agencies all combine in Rothenberg's capable hands into a book that's quite readable and very difficult to put down.

The one major flaw in the book is Rothenberg's contempt for the advertising industry. (If he doesn't feel contempt for the industry, he certainly mimics it well...) Rothenberg paints an unflattering portrait, but all-too-often it seems as though there are other ways to consider his subjects that he's resolutely not showing the reader.

In the penultimate chapter, for example, Rothenberg's language paints Wieden & Kennedy as whipped curs, not so much humbled by their experiences as cut off at the knees. Perhaps this is how things were, but even given the circumstances Rothenberg himself details in the novel, it's hard for me not to have more sympathy for W&K than Rothenberg evinces. That lack of sympathy, or empathy, keeps the book from greatness.

Still, quite worth the reading.

Simply the best, most sophisticated book ever written on advertising. At least that's the opinion of one guy who's read them all.

This book allows you to be a fly on the wall in the selection of an ad agency and the development of an advertising campaign for Subaru as the company was trying to develop an image and correctly position itself in the marketplace. If you are involved in marketing or advertising, this book is a must read.

If you follow marketing, if you like Subarus, if you enjoy corporate history, or if you just like offbeat non-fiction, settle in for an illuminating account of Subaru's efforts to pick an ad agency to launch their misunderstood SVX. Follow the agencies in the review from over their shoulders, sit in on Subaru's deliberations, and then watch how their plans and intentions fare against the actual world. It's a wonder that any advertising ever emerges from these labyrinths to wind up on our TVs, our magazine, and our billboards. You will never look at a car ad the same way.