Digital Connections

Timeless Marketing Classics: Will Humphrey

Firstly, thank you to all whose planners and marketers who have contributed to the series. There are only a finite number of books that are true "Timeless Marketing Classics" and it makes sense to draw the search to a close before somebody suggests Peter Drucker.

So as we sign off for 2009, the final Timeless Marketing Classic comes from Will Humphrey.

"So then. My planning and strategy book for the ages. What would it be? Well, the easiest thing in the world would be to say ‘Truth Lies & Advertising’, and just be done with it.

But I’m not going to. Shocker.

No, this is a bit of a left field recommendation, but then, it’s easily the best book I’ve read on strategy and thinking in my career. And, guess what? It’s not even an advertising book. It’s a book about baseball.

Called ‘Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game’ by Michael Lewis, it documents the playing and management career of a forward thinking baseball coach, Billy Beane, as he attempts to guide the Oakland As to success.

Simon Kendrick (a proper baseball fan, unlike yours truly – and a much better writer than me) has produced an excellent write up of Moneyball here. He pretty thoroughly reviews the book, so I won’t add much more to that.

But what I will attempt to answer is why I think the book’s so good. Especially as I’m not a baseball fan, really. Nor that much of a data fan. Well, I think it’s because the book does such an excellent job of humanising data. Allow me to explain what I mean by that, and why I think it’s important.

What I mean is that data, to me, means nothing unless I can map it onto something. That piece of data about yellow fat users means the square root of fuck all unless you can map it onto just what people say, and how they react to things. Reading Moneyball, I began to get a sense of the sort of people the A’s employed, and just why they were there – simultaneously seeing them as instruments for victory, and not just people, or vice-versa…people who were uniquely gifted at doing what they were employed for, just with character traits which sometimes blinded you as to what they were really there for.

It’s so important for planning/strategy types – you need to know that sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, that occasionally, data can’t give you all the answers, but when it’s coupled with how people behave and a sense of where things are going, it’s invaluable. No other conventional ‘planning’ or ‘strategy’ book has yet done this for me.

It was relevant then because it was able to reduce baseball to a series of plays and data, and it continues to be relevant because – at its heart, it’s about more than baseball. It’s about analysis, about doing your homework, and about trusting your instinct. And other people’s. Which, I think, is all we can do as strategy people."

Timeless Marketing Classics: Laurence Borel

The latest thinker to contribute on Timeless Marketing Classics is Laurence Borel, Social Media Strategist, Blogger, Digital Junkie and "Frenchie in London", her words not mine!

And Lolly's picked a very interesting book -  I've seen many people credit this book and incorporate its charts and concepts into presentations, yet rather strangely it hasn't been selected as a Timeless Marketing Classic ... until now ....

"I’ve been thinking about which book should be included in this wonderful list over the past couple of weeks, and have finally settled for THE social media bible, Groundswell.

Right now your customers are blogging about you, creating spoofs on YouTube,  complaining about you on Twitter, and hating you on Facebook. As a Brand Manager you can either a) get scared and quit your job, or b) turn social media into an opportunity. I choose the latter…

Companies are increasingly turning to PR agencies (thank you for keeping me employed!) to help them with their online WOM, and this book should be on every bookshelf across the country world. With Google soon to index Twitter updates, Social Media is something that can no longer be ignored. Groundswell explains how organizations need to adjust to remain relevant to consumers, and how can they actually benefit from this trend.

Although the platforms we use may change in the years to come, web 2.0 marks an important shift in the way we use the Internet, and communicate in our daily lives.

The search continues – what’s your Marketing Timeless Classic? Let me know in the comments alternatively write a blog post linking back to Blog till you Drop."

Timeless Marketing Classics: Katy Lindemann

.... after a 6 month hiatus the search continues for our Timeless Marketing Classics. Not content with a handful of classic books, I'm looking to compile a truly definitive list.

If this is all a bit alien to you and you're wondering what on earth Timeless Marketing Classics is all about then try here -----> Timeless Marketing Classics

In the meantime, Katy has very kindly picked up the baton.....The Search Continues 

Katy Lindemann: Senior Strategist at Naked Communications, Perceptive blogger, Interesting Tweeter and she digs Robots too 

"My pick is actually a reasonably new publication, having been first published in 2008, so not sure if longevity is a pre requisite for being a 'timeless' classic, but I think it's an absolutely essential read for any planner, or indeed anyone who wants to understand more about people.

If you're in the business of trying to engage people through your communications, then understanding human behaviour, and what makes us tick, is absolutely crucial.

I personally don't think you can get this from any one book, nor indeed from books alone, but if I had to pick one must-read book, Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational would be up there.   Behavioural economics is the latest buzzword, but really it's just a new way of describing the science and art of human behaviour, and in "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions", Dan Ariely uses a wealth of scientific experiments and fascinating anecdotes to illustrate how we aren't the rational creatures we would like to think we are.

Marketing may change, brand communication may change, but human behaviour remains startingly constant over time. As human animals we are by our very nature consistent in our irrationality - and the patterns within this are such that in many ways we're predictably irrational. Have been, are, and likely will continue to be. Hence unless the human condition changes dramatically, I'd bet that Ariely's book will be relevant for many years to come."

www.predictablyirrational.com

 

Timeless Marketing Classics: The Search Continues

A recent post by Charles Frith and a conversation over a pint with Will Humphrey, reminded me of a blog project that I started earlier this year, namely "Timeless Marketing Classics".

Inspired by James Webb Young's "A technique for producing ideas" and a blog post by Neil Perkin, I set out to identify which books were perceived by modern day marketers as true "Timeless Marketing Classics".

Timeless Marketing Classics: Books that have survived the test of time; haven't aged, and are just as relevant today, if not even more so, than when they were first written.

 

Image: Weeping Willow (Flickr)

Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people" has always been relevant in the workplace, and in a digital world where Twitter followers and Google Page Rank contribute to determining influence, its value is definitely retained. On many occasions I've found that James Webb Young's 50 year old masterpiece can more often than not provide the catalyst for an idea. Other titles such as Eating the Big Fish, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and Truth Lies & Advertising were all written over 10 years ago and their core insights are still influential and relevant a decade later.

Back in April, I knocked on the door of several authors, bloggers and planners, (namely Seth Godin, Jon Steel, Chris Anderson, Russell Davies, Adam Richardson, Helge Tenno, Neil Perkin, Eaon Pritchard and Charles Frith), and asked them, 3 simple questions:

-     What you consider to be a Timeless Marketing Classic
-     Why was it relevant then?
-     Why is it relevant now?

Their responses were varied, interesting and in many ways surprising. Jon Steel, a man who has written two outstanding marketing books, explained his preference to gain inspiration elsewhere - "I prefer to spend my time reading novels, quality newspapers and good magazines like the New Yorker. I've learned more about planning from that than I ever would have done reading most of the books written by advertising people", a view shared by Charles Frith. Although Jon did go on to name Ogilvy on Advertising and The Book of Gossage as the only books he would ever recommend.

Overall the project threw up a hugely varied selection of titles, only books by Seth Godin, Clay Shirky and Jon Steel received more than one nomination and it was hard to identify any real trends. I was surprised to see Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" named as a timeless, after all the book is only a couple of years old - surely that's akin to naming The Dark Knight as one of the greatest films ever made? Russell Davies had a couple of interesting selections in Britain by Mass Observation and Dorothy Sayers (Murder must Advertise), whilst Seth Godin's selections were all totally unknown to me.

Six months on and I still don't feel that I've identified a solid group of "Timeless Marketing Classics".

So in the pursuit of identifying a definite list, I've decided to throw the question back out to a wider audience, and to also encourage an open source response - so please feel welcome to blog, tweet or comment with your own suggestions to enhance or add to the list.

Hopefully in a months time I'll be able to reveal a fairly conclusive list.... or at the very worst a Christmas present list for that planner in your life!

Timeless Marketing Classics: Jon Steel

Jon Steel: Planner at WPP & author of Truth, Lies and Advertising, and Perfect Pitch.

As this project comes to close to an end, I'm starting to finalise my own list of Timeless Marketing Classics, and Jon Steel will definitely have one if not two books on the list.

Readers of Perfect Pitch and Russell Davies blog (Interview between RD & JS) will know that Jon doesn't read business books. Could this be true, in an attempt to find out I posed the question "Jon, which books are your timeless marketing classics?” 

"I don't often read business books. I've written two myself, but if I hadn't written them I sincerely doubt that I would have read them.
 
I prefer to spend my time reading novels, quality newspapers and good magazines like the New Yorker. I've learned more about planning from that than I ever would have done reading most of the books written by advertising people.
 
The only books I would ever recommend are Ogilvy on Advertising and The Book of Gossage. Both David and Howard were writing a long time ago, but what they have to say is as relevant today (maybe even more so?) as it was then."

Timeless Marketing Classics: Eaon Pritchard

Eaon Pritchard: Head of Digital Strategy at Geronimo

Seth Godin: Purple Cow

I first encountered Seth Godin’s ‘Purple Cow’ around 2004, I think it had been out for a year or so. At the time I was working as Creative Director with an online gaming firm, I had a gut feeling that we were approaching both the design the marketing of our product from the wrong angle.

I was under pressure to conform the look and feel of our games to look similar to the other casinos and gaming sites and the press ads, online ads etc were just not delivering the traffic.

I knew we had to do something but was not sure what.

I was pointed to ‘Purple Cow’ by the manager of one of the local branches of a well know book retailer. He was a convert and had used the principles of Purple Cow to turn around the fortunes of his store the previous year.  He had been voted store manager of the year at the company’s conference and also went on to receive industry wide recognition at the national book awards as bookseller of the year.

I’ll have some of that, I thought.

In a nutshell, Seth describes ‘Purple Cow’ as:

 ‘a manifesto for marketers who want to make a difference at their company by helping create products and services that are worth marketing in the first place. It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. ..Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable."

Some say that Seth Godin can be too simplistic (the advertising plannersphere may look down it’s nose at him) I prefer to call him accessible.

Anyone can pick up this book and get something out of it., and it gives you a framework for judging the worth of an idea -  simply ask yourself  ‘why is this idea totally remarkable? Why would anyone bother to tell anyone else about it?  Where is the ‘purple cow’ in this idea?

I’d like to be able to finish off the story by saying I used the cow to transform the gaming company from also-rans to world beaters. No such luck.

But reading this book was the first step for me in realising that it was not enough to just make pretty pictures, I had to get interested in the ‘reasons why’.  I also realised that this was not going to happen in the job I was in so I quickly left (see another essential Seth title ‘The Dip’).

Timeless Marketing Classics: Neil Perkin

Neil Perkin: Director of Marketing & Strategy for the commercial functions of IPC Media

Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" & Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" are a couple of the more recent ones I'd pick, simply because  I think they have each moved the debate on significantly.

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However Mark Earls' Herd is one of those books that I keep going back to again and again.

A connected world dictates new thinking about the way in which ideas spread, but HERD touches on some truths about the way humans behave, and our intrinsic herd-driven nature, that are so fundamental that the ideas at the heart of the book seem almost simplistic. But they challenge some of the most basic assumptions that are common in the business of communications.

I like it because it was, and remains, fresh, different and inspiring.

Timeless Marketing Classics: Russell Davies

Russell Davies: Open Intelligence Agency, planner and really interesting chap, writer for Campaign and Wired Magazine.

Thanks to Russell for his interesting selection, Britain by Mass Observation is a great choice - I haven't looked through that book for years ... and now want to find a copy.

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"Great idea, good stories, splendidly-written. A good way to think about brands."
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"As above. This and Eating The Big Fish is all you need to know about how to do advertising planning."

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"A ripping yarn and a clear illustration that nothing ever changes in adland."
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"They actually paid attention to the world around them."

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"Does what it says on the tin."
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Timeless Marketing Classics: Adam Richardson

Adam Richardson: Creative Director at frog design & writer for Cnet on the Matter/Anti-Matter blog.

I just finished reading Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, and if you are in the business of having to present ideas to others and get them acted on, then you need to read this book.

Authors/brothers Chip and Dan Heath have put together one of the most succinct and valuable resources for helping communicate ideas effectively and inspiring others to action. They have a simple mnemonic to help remember the vital elements (and they admit it’s a bit corny): SUCCESs:

Simple: Strip away all the cruft and get at the core idea. Easy to say, hard to do. What often gets in the way here is what they call “The Curse of Knowledge” - knowledge that is in the head of the person trying to communicate the idea. This tends to make people add to much detail, but also leave out the basic underlying message which for them is a given (but is non-obvious to someone unfamiliar with the idea).
Unexpected: Shake people out of their expected conventions of thinking. This doesn’t have to be earth shattering, but crafting of the message in such a way that the problem you are trying to solve becomes more stark is important
Concrete: Engage the emotional as well as the rational when communicating by making the problem tangible: use props, scenarios, prototypes, familiar examples. Make it personal.
Credible: Through appropriate use of details you bring credibility to an idea so that it can stand on its own and be repeatable to others. The ideas should punctuate the broader idea, but your story can’t just be a collection of details. Outside experts can provide credibility and details, or the details may come from personal experience.
Emotional: Understand how people’s emotions induce or inhibit them from action, whether it be because of self-interest or altruism
Stories: Stories have an amazing power to inspire and galvanize people into action, more than seems rationally possible. Including stories as part of your message makes it more engaging, lively, and ultimately more impactful. Keep the stories short, like parables (the Good Samaritan parable for example), as these are easily memorized durable and portable nuggets that can be passed from person to person. People are very good at abstracting principles out of stories, so they are an efficient communication tool.

I have to admit I was skeptical going into this book as I’m not usually a fan of business/pop-psychology writing that strings together a bunch of anecdotes as it often misses an analytical framework that helps you abstract it to your particular situation. But the Heaths do a good job of providing that framework, and the many, many anecdotes that they have serve that. Not all the chapters are as good as the others - the ones on credibility and emotion are not quite as strong - but you come out at the end of it with a sense that you have really learned how to communicate complex ideas more effectively.

[Thanks to Adam for allowing the reproduction of the text - original is here]

Timeless Marketing Classics: Helge Tennø

Helge Tennø: Strategic Director and Digital Planner at digital agency Screenplay in Oslo, Norway.

Helge gives us a review of the book which introduced him to planning and to this day still provides him with great value.

Jon Steel: Truth, Lies and Advertising (1998)

When I was given the opportunity to work as a planner I was the first one in the agency and had no senior planning department or planner showing me the ropes.

It was a clean start, having to jump in and self teach myself the subject and produce an understanding of what I wanted this role to be and do for my agency. I had to start building processes, models, tools and generate ideas. In other words, I needed to learn a great deal in a short time. The book started my exploration through several excellent resources introducing a very complex subject.

Truth, Lies and Advertising gives a magnificent overview and introduction to the field in a non-complex language which is easy to understand for people with a different first-language than English. At the same time I didn't want to copy or fall into a too narrow definition of what planning is, and I felt that Jon Steel's introduction was broad enough to allow for personal interpretations and ideas along the way.

The book still provides valuable insights and works as a resources I routinely check for quotes and ideas. Finding it includes the best introduction and quick understanding of the daily routine and work I do as a planner.