An entertaining, no-nonsense guide for connecting with consumers.
Coleman urges advertisers to up their game with ads that tell compelling stories in this primer.
The author, a radio creative production director and advertising professional, surveys the contemporary advertising landscape, in which consumers are constantly bombarded with information; commercials have about five seconds, he estimates, to make an impression before they’re skipped over and forgotten. Coleman advises advertisers to eschew the polished, empty verbiage of traditional adspeak and to avoid frenetic overselling. “[B]ad ads,” he observes, “use a glut of laser beam sound effects, explosions… processed phrases from filtered and equalized voices, flashing lights, and pretty faces to distract us, ramming as much information down our throats as possible.” Instead, the author suggests that companies connect with audiences through emotionally resonant, open-ended dialogues, like the classic ice-breaker pitch, “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” Drawing on his radio background, Coleman emphasizes “audio optometry,” meaning sound design that evokes visual images—a sizzle that conjures steaks on a grill, for example. He continues with a soup-to-nuts discussion of advertising principles, including fundamentals (an ad’s most important task is hammering home the company’s name, so consumers remember it); proper ad targeting (no lip gloss commercials on football broadcasts); the nuances of copywriting (he explains why “unique” sounds better than “different” and “guarantee” sounds better than “promise”); and the loftiest of marketing philosophies (he enjoins corporate branding strategists to ask the question, “Why does your company exist?”) Coleman contextualizes all of this material with interesting dives into neurology and language processing and proffers practical advice on even the most abstruse topics—he asserts that funny ads should have “a comedic rise in tension building to a compelling surprise”—all conveyed in tart, punchy prose (running an incompetent ad is like “writing your brand name on a tennis ball, then hurling it at people’s heads as they walk by”). Marketing managers and advertising agencies will find wonderfully readable insights into their trade here.
An entertaining, no-nonsense guide for connecting with consumers.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 979-8987054901
Page Count: 252
Publisher: multi-SENSE
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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