Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves (Hardcover)

~ Alex Bogusky (Author), (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The old way of selling was to create safe, ordinary products and combine them with mass marketing. The new way is to create truly innovative products and build the marketing right in. But how does a brand make the transition from old to new? According to advertising gurus Alex Bogusky and John Winsor, it starts with the realization that the message is not the product, the product is the message. In Baked-In, they offer a step-by-step guide on how brands can adapt and thrive in this brave new world. Using these tools, Bogusky and Winsor have successfully marketed some of today’s most important brands, including Google, Nike, Microsoft, Patagonia, Toyota, and Burger King. They reveal how, through tools at hand — product design, brand history, internal collaboration — and the new tools of digital technology — YouTube and the web in general — companies can succeed in the 21st-century marketplace.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Agate B2 (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932841466
• ISBN-13: 978-1932841466
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,858 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #49 in

  Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Advertising

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare Blend of Practical and Brilliant Thinking, October 9, 2009

By	Anibal A. Casso "www.accidentalthinking.com" (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I loved this book. Game-changing, impressive... By far one of the best I've had read in a long time.

John and Alex did a great job at using simple, yet powerful, storytelling to remind us the need to eliminate the barriers between marketing and product design and how by baking in marketing into our products we can build better brands. Now, what's even more interesting about it is that per se it is not a marketing book. Instead it is an experience that starts on paper - perhaps - but that never ends. One that starts with theory - rooted on vast experience - but that extends into practice via social media and blogging.

I'll tell you something... If you are in the mood to read something that will make you see things differently you should definitely read this book and start baking something.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The old way of marketing doesn't cut it anymore, October 9, 2009

By	Edward Boches "Edward" (ma, usa) - See all my reviews

OK, so there's some stuff that you probably know, as there is with almost any marketing or business book. But what Bogusky and Winsor have done is taken a stand as two marketers and reminded us that the old way of marketing -- finding a story we can create to talk about a product -- is dead and that the new way begins with inventing and creating products in which the story is baked in. Examples would be Starbucks and Mini Cooper which they mention. Or add your own (mine would be the Flip Mino or the Dyson Blade hand dryer). This book is a reminder that there is new way to market and that there are behavior and rules that will help you, from re-thinking design, to valuing silo jumpers, to trying to put yourself out of business. (Yes, that can be a strategy for marketing and growth.) In all likelihood you will read this book and say to yourself, "Gee, I know that." But what you'll take away is the focus and energy to actually put some of it to use. Finally, if you're at all imaginative (and you probably are more than you know) you'll admire two "ad" guys for being anything but. Alex and John are thinkers first, entrepreneurs second, visionaries third (they have both transformed the businesses in which they work, advertising and publishing respectively) and now, in the age of social media, creators of content that can help all who devour it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that sells itself, October 9, 2009

By	Rye Clifton (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The beauty of the book is that it is so simple. So simple, in fact, that the content almost seems obvious. But this is great news. It illustrates how great ideas can transform products and have astounding results.

But the best part of the book is that it is more than a book. It is a hub for conversation. At the end of the first chapter, it instructs you to get online and join the conversation. Share ideas. And inspire others.

After that, each section is given a #tag. So that conversations can be tracked on twitter. They actually created a product that markets and sells itself... which may sound nefarious, but actually proves every point they make in the book.