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Bookshelf: Five Must-Buy Marketing Reads

My office is piled high with books. Kind of unexpected for a woman who can't get through a single day of work without her delicious tags, RSS feeds and twitter archives. I get inspired online, but that's never slowed my appetite for books. Industry books, fiction books, culture books. I like the ones that go deep on how to think about an idea, that give a clear and fresh perspective.

There are a lot of new and old marketing tomes on my shelf (and more on my boss's shelf ... he's very sneaky with nabbing those things), but five really stand out this year:

The Next Evolution of Marketing.

This one was the reason I started this post. I've followed author Bob Gilbreath for years. He's the wicked smart chief strategist at Bridge Worldwide and he's written the MarketingWithMeaning.com blog since its inception.

Bob looks at how break-through brands are connecting with today's sophisticated customers. What he finds is that to really make an impact, the marketing itself has to add value to our lives. The case studies are all entirely repeatable (after all, why buy a business book if you can't quote it later and sound brilliant in a meeting??) and the insights are, well, meaningful.

Get a free chapter: I got a note from Amanda Hill asking that I pass on word that you can download a free chapter to preview the book today. They'll even make a donation to a good cause (ok, the cause is making more advertisers, but still) if you do. Get yours.

Four more faves:

   
 
Igniting the Brand
This skinny volume by Jonathan Cahill is full of ideas that worked. Quick sketches of marketing strategies that paid off big for large and small companies the world over.

Here Comes Everybody
Clay Shirky is a natural storyteller. His enthusiasm and curiosity come through in every story about how technology is changing our culture. The examples go deep on how our expectations are evolving and how that's changing the way we see the world - from where we spend our time to who we trust to what we shop for.

The Whuffie Factor
Tara Hunt makes one of my favorite arguments brilliantly - that the currency of the social web isn't revenue, it's reputation. Her native look at how people and brands use it concentrates on the basics of how to socialize your brand: authenticity, listening, engaging, and trusting.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Social media has changed no industry more than public relations. The last few years have represented nothing short of a revolution of the model. Brian Solis takes a thoughtful approach to what public relations means now, with lots of real-world examples on where communication and expectations are going.

Will texting be the Hotels.com of nonprofits?

This Hotels.com campaign is one of my favorite running right now. It elevates the power of peers. As its quirky characters take on the armchair reviewer role they were born for, we see a brand built not by experts, but by us. Weird, wonderful us.

I got a great text message this weekend that made me wonder if the same sort of “power of peers” change is afoot for non profits. A shift that will leverage the financial power of hundreds of thousands of small donors rather than relying on corporations and wealthy donors to foot the bill.

Here’s the text message:

[Presidential candidate] asks that you give to the Red Cross: give 5 dollars by texting GIVE to 24357 or give more by calling 1-800-435-7669 or at redcross.org/donate. Please fwd.

Pretty powerful stuff.

• A simple message.
• Sent at a time (just prior to the Gustav hit) when we were primed to care about the cause
• And closed with an almost ridiculously easy way to donate.

It’s difficult to get an individual to write a check for $100,000. Especially a fatigued donor who is asked again and again. But, with the right distribution list, how difficult is it to get 20,000 people to text $5? No billing information to fill out, no credit card number to type in. Just text.

Causes that inspire passion – whether it’s empathy or insurgency – are uniquely suited to the energy of the social Web – which, largely, extends to the community of texters. Campaigns like this are not only primed for action, they’re ready for pass-along.

When the Democrats were still fighting out the primary, I remember hearing news that more than $10 million (1/3) of Obama's second-quarter contributions were made online, and 90% of them were in increments of $100 or less.

What will a donor shift like that mean to decision making in a campaign or at a nonprofit? How will it change priorities and challenge assumptions?

I should know more on this topic soon. Later this month, Ologie (my home agency) is hosting Richard McPherson, the author of Digital Giving - a book about how technology is changing charity. I’ll tell you more about that soon, but for now – it’s interesting to think about the groundswell using technology to democratize giving. And fascinating to see just how easy we can make it to break down the barriers to giving.

Seducing the Boys Club: Nina DiSesa, SheSays

I'm excited to end this 'Advice for Newbies' week with a post for young women featuring an interview with Nina DiSesa, Chairman of McCann Erickson New York and Ale Lariu, "mother superior" of SheSays.

Last month, Ale, Associate Creative Director at AKQA NY (in addition to the whole mother superior bit), reached out to me about an event sponsored by SheSays in New York.

Ale explains the big idea behind SheSays this way: "The world is pretty much half men, half women. So why are there hardly any women in the creative department of most digital ad agencies? We decided to stop chatting about it and do something - like hold events where top women in the industry share their thoughts and help people to either get started or work their way up."

Last month, the event was keynoted by the enviable Nina DiSeso, a hands-on creative leader who worked her way up to the very top of "Madison Avenue" and just published a great book called Seducing the Boys Club.

The book is at once mentorship (on success and management) and the story of life lived in an ad agency. Nina has taken what she's learned from male behavior and her own missteps to create a guidebook for getting ahead. If you're just getting started, it's truly a sneak peek into every interaction you'll have for the next 40 years.

Talking with Nina:

Q: Even at this stage in my career, I've been in plenty of meetings where I'm the only woman in the room. I've been thanked for the refreshments and complimented on my shoes, but, generally still end up with the respect and the attention of the room by the end. Do you have any tips for people just starting out on how to win respect / attention in tough environments?

Nina: It’s always best to be needed and essential for something. Not for serving coffee or doing “women’s work” but needed in an indispensable way. This can be accomplished at any level. If you read the story about Harold in chapter seven of the book you will get a good idea of what I’m talking about. There are a lot of ways to get clout in an organization, find the ones that work for you.

Q: Writing a book like this and even speaking at SheSays seems very controversial for a women exec. Particularly one at an ad agency. How did you decide to go for it?

Nina: Actually, I was hoping I’d be retired by now, but it doesn’t look likely, at least for another year or two. It wasn’t much of a risk. My mission is to reach out to women of all ages and help them get in control of their lives, their careers and their own happiness. But this also applies to anyone who finds herself or himself in an environment where they are different from the majority and are having a tough time making progress to the top. McCann Erickson has been behind this from the start and they are proud of the book and me.

Q: How have your colleagues and clients responded?

Nina: With delight. Although the clients always want to sit next to me now so they can see how I am trying to “seduce and manipulate” them.

Q: What are your #1 pieces of "do" advice and "don't" advice for young women working in agencies that could fairly be called "boys' clubs"?

Nina: Well I wrote a whole book about this but to bring it down to the simplest terms: “do” whatever it takes to win, “don’t” resent the men or anyone else who appears to be unsupportive – learn from them. And always remember the most powerful question in the English language: “What’s in it for me?” This doesn’t mean what’s in it for YOU; it means you have to find a compelling tactic for the person who you want to influence. You want something from someone – what’s in it for them to help you?

Q: In Seducing the Boys Club, you talk about "How Men Listen." I love the part of the story where the two embattled ad guys bemoan your feedback with "That's the trouble with this agency..." Have you found any great ways to create more positive environments? Or, at least quell the "this agency sux" happy hours?

Nina: I have never tried to stop the whining and complaining of the creative people. They have to vent and it’s a natural part of the creative process when someone kills their “babies.” We all do it. We get angry, we vent, we believe the person who killed our work is a hack and doesn’t know a great idea from a lousy one, then we get over it and do something so much better it even shocks us. As long as better work develops from this process I don’t mind it and they always forgive the creative director who forced them to dig deeper and get better work. Creative people complain. It’s part of our nature. Allowing us to this and having a sense of humor about it is what makes for a more positive environment, strangely enough. Also winning helps. When we sell good work and win the respect of our peers it makes us happy. It’s a fleeting happiness, but it still feels good.

Q: Can I say - you look gorgeous? The stress doesn't seem to have gotten to you. Do you have any great tips for maintaining perspective?

Nina: Thank you for the compliment. Actually, I do look younger since I handed over the New York creative director responsibilities to Joyce King Thomas and she thinks that she’s starting to look older. (She’s not.) Once on the elevator she announced that she could actually see the stress traveling down my body, slithering across the floor, then climbing up her own body until it lands on her face. Stress does age us but the good news is that when the stress lessens our muscles relax and we look better. At least that’s what I think. You happened to catch me at an unstressed moment. Up until a month ago I was very stressed out and it showed.

Q: How did you get involved with SheSays? And, do you think it's a good idea for young women to join women peer groups in the workplace?

Nina: I was introduced to the group by Alessandra Lariu, who I met at McCann (we were trying to hire her, I believe). I was so captivated by her I decided to speak to her group. I do think it’s a good idea for women of all ages to join up because we often feel so isolated and it’s good to know that we are not alone. Also, women are bright and when we relax we can also be a lot of fun. This isn’t a bad characteristic to develop.

Talking with Ale:

Q: What is your best advice for women starting out in the industry?

Ale: Always have a goal, always work towards where you want to be and above all, take risks. I like to say I'm best at what I don't know...

Q: What about women in career transition?

Ale: I'd say the same thing as above. And perhaps you might need to take a pay cut but it's all about the bigger picture, your goals and where you want to be. It might be hard in the beginning but the experience in another career will help accelerate the race.

Q: What do you wish you knew when you were a rookie?

Ale: Not to waste so much time doing one thing    

Q: What's next for SheSays?

Ale: In the UK we've started to run free presentation courses. In the US, we'll continue free monthly meetings showcasing amazing women in digital/advertising. We'll also set up our mentorship program called 'Who's your momma'.

Last words: Don't forget to order the book.

Groundswell. A book about a movement.

I almost don't want to tell you about this book.

I laughed. I dog-eared a ridiculous number of pages. I found cause to clamor for a notebook to jot, nay, furiously scribble down an idea. I'm already retelling the stories.

It's almost too good to share.

I should back up...

In general, I think good marketers come from two basic camps. Statistics and experience. Or, how we can model and measure likely success vs. how we can learn from what's worked and hasn't worked in the past. Heady or intuitive.

Groundswell author's Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff are from Forrester Research. So, it was no surprise that they could write analytics well. Could  lay out an infinitely logical and actionable model for how to  do social media with your customer audience.

What was a surprise is what amazing storytellers they are and how willing they were to bluntly - sometimes harshly - tell it like it is.

Li and Bernoff start of by setting aside particular technologies and diving deep into the ways social media has changed us. Increasingly, they argue, we get what we need (news, reviews, shopping, etc.) from other people rather than from traditional institutions (like business or media).

Then, they systematically answer the questions a lot of digital immigrants ask in the meetings we've all sat in (over and over and over again):

• How does it work?
• Why do people spend their time on this?
• How is this going to impact - threaten / totally screw up / help - my business?

But, the best part is the back 2/3s of the book where Li and Bernoff dig into various strategies to tap into the groundswell with stories about the success and failure of brands brave enough to give it a try.

Some of them are parts of the story I never knew. Like the Mini marketing that we hold up all the time as so savvy and talky and in-the-tent started by listening to the (later named) groundswell online. Or how the awkwardness of the internal conversation become part of the impetus of P&G's broadly cited Beingagirl.com

And some reveal surprising results. Like how Blendtec's funny 'will it blend' videos (crunching up iPods and other odd things) popped sales of the absurdly expensive kitchen device 20%. Or just how much of Ernst & Young's recruiting is powered by Facebook.

And some were simply inspiring. Like the oft-told story of Best Buy's Blue Shirt Nation (btw - next time I talk about my home agency, let's remember - it's not self serving, I'm just an Orange Shirt) or the all-too-human ways execs at Avenue A / Razorfish connect with employees.

Every story is accompanied by the business plan behind it. Why it worked. What the ROI was. How to know if it's right for your audience.

You can probably guess which parts I dog-eared.

Creative Class: Come to Columbus, OH

If I were to guess what the two biggest drivers of immigration to Columbus are, I'd say:

Love
And, longing

Love of a boy or girl who you must be near. Or longing for the kind of place you experienced briefly once --€“ maybe you went to school here or had family here or even grew up here and later moved away.

I was wandering around Barnes and Noble this weekend, kind of spinning my wheels waiting for adver-boyfriend to sate his periodicals addiction when I came across Who'€™s Your City by Richard Florida.

He kicks off with the assertion that where we live is the most important decision we make in life:

Finding the right place is as important as - €”if not more important than -€” finding the right job or partner because it not only influences those choices but also determines how easy or hard it will be to correct mistakes made along the way. ...The place we choose to live affects every aspect of our being. It can determine the income we earn, the people we meet, the friends we make, the partners we choose, and the options available to our children and families. People are not equally happy everywhere...

Florida's aim is largely to defend the importance of a sense of place vs. the encroaching genericism of globalization. Where you live does matter and is part of who you are.

It took me back to the very logical approach I took to relocating from Chicago to --€“ it turns out  -- Columbus. Books with city ratings were purchased. Web sites were bookmarked. Conversations with employers were had. And, none of it even got close to telling me how happy I'd be here.

Florida has a list of his own. The top cities by various lifestage criteria.

Columbus doesn't make his list. (Although it made a ton of others).

So, in the spirit of our conversation economy, I'm bringing my message here by answering the key questions that Florida posed:

1. How do you like the place you'€™re living now?
   
   I love living here. Surrounded by smart creative people, great neighborhoods and a really progressive culture.
   
   Columbus is one of those places that draws you to it. It'€™s got the personality of that one guy who everyone likes -- who is kind of a mellow cool, is ok with just about any kind of person or lifestyle, and is comfortable having a beer on the patio or out at a gourmet dinner (well, as long as he can wear jeans with his jacket).


2. Is it somewhere you really want to be?
   
   Yes, I could live anywhere. And, have lived in Chicago, Pittsburgh and small-town Appalachia. I actively choose to live here.


3. Does it give you energy? When you walk out onto the street, €”or the country lane, in the morning, does it fill you with inspiration, or stress?
   
   It absolutely gives me energy. And, when I'm out walking the dogs on the cobblestoned streets of my historic neighborhood or shopping in the sophisticated Short North, I'm almost guaranteed to be smiling.


4. Does it allow you to be the person you really want to be? Are you achieving your personal goals?
   
   I feel like I can achieve all my personal goals here --€“ the affordable cost of living and healthy economy are an ideal foundation for a professional life. And, the generally accepting vibe makes any lifestyle comfortable.


5. Is it a place you would recommend to your relatives and friends?
   
   I'€™ve been trying to get my sister to move here for years.

Short story: Columbus is the best place for me. And, for the creative class. They just don't all know it yet.

Check us out for Volume 2, Richard.

Step into the Spotlight: Tsufit is Sark for Suits

What I love about business books is the anecdotes. The collections of a gratis illustrations from women who’ve been running the room for 20 years. The totally repeatable, wow I didn’t know that’s how they came up with that ideas. The insiders guides to the coolest trivia your industry has to offer.

Good business books are - quite simply - repeatable. And, particularly if you're new(er) to your career, can help you learn how to speak the shared language of industry and cultural metaphor.

So, I’ve enjoyed flipping through Tsufit's new book: Step into the Spotlight. It’s not exactly the kind of book you would sit down and read cover-to-cover, but more one that you keep handy for right after a painful conference call or one of those incredibly long networking events that seem to stretch as long as an average week. A quick flip will lead you to a little perspective, a fun anecdote or an exercise in figuring out, well, you.

And, all written in the chatty, playful voice of a woman who divides her career among executive coaching, book writing and stand-up comedy.

It’s incredibly reminiscent of what Sark did for everyday creativity. Her scribbly journals and stream-of-consciousness creative guides at once elevate playfulness and introspection, seeking to loose a little wild creativity.

Tsufit may be a bit more buttoned up, but you can quickly see that her message isn’t the words on the page, it’s what she wants to inspire in her reader. A little confident, sassy business savvy that feels like you found it yourself.

The Open Brand

With Adver-boyfriend off following his favorite NCAA team around the country this weekend, I had time to catch up on three industry books that have been tempting me from the bedside table. This week, I'll share perspectives on each of those, starting with:

By Kelly Mooney and Nita Rollins
Home agency: Resource Interactive

There are two schools of thought on the role of the 'expert' in consulting industries like ours: (1) it's our job to be the smartest guy in the room on our 'best at' subject or (2) it's our job to make our client feel like the smartest guy in the room.

Mooney/Rollins definitely fall in the latter. They've built a book that converges all the big ideas and groundswell of momentum around the social Web into a simple story on impact and action.

Kind of a Daring Book for Girls for CMOs

I say 'built a book' because it's the structure that agency wonks will be attracted to. A visual approach to the ideas and concepts we talk about every day (Come on, who among us hasn't taken a little real-work inspiration from one of Armano's quick sketches of clarity?), repeatable cases and solid frameworks.

For clients and newbies, it's all content.

A few of the ideas that got me scribbling notes in the margin:

After outlining the pitfalls of business-as-usual in a new medium, Mooney/Rollins lay out a New Relationship framework in simple Venn diagram fashion. The center is passion, overlapped on three sides by consumers, community and brand.

I love the idea that passion is the shared quality - the opportunity to build engagement (with people, with networks, with employees). At brunch this weekend, we were talking about the phenom coup Resource's PR team pulled off: Four paragraphs about The Open Brand in this month's cover story of Fast Company. When a friend - who, I should preface, knows everything about a million things I know nothing about - asked me what Fast Company is? And, to try to describe it now ... is, stalling. But, you probably remember when it launched, in the heydey of dot.com, when we were all rethinking work and what it means to find both delight and challenge in what we do every day, and essentially finding passion in work. I like to think that ethic has found its resurgence in the social Web.

The Open Brand also has a great information graphic on the motivations of iCitizenry, plotted on a continuum of everyday to elite:

• 74% are motivated by competence: "I can" (use Web tools for fun, learning and efficiency)
• 16% by collectivism: "I connect" (connect and share with people who have similar interests)
• 7% by culture change: "I am" (effect change that improves companies, products or the experience of others)
• 3% by celebrity: "I matter" (seek recognition or some degree of fame)

In a conversation (darn, I used THAT word) that has largely been shaped by the 1% Rule and other outcome-based frameworks, it's interesting to turn to the why instead of the what.

I digress. The framework is followed by a hall-of-fame of sorts of some of the loudest voices on the Web - from Kos to the diva of Amazon.com product reviews.

Someone I follow on Twitter - maybe Jaffe - asked (more eloquently than I am recreating here) is the Web creating more amateur professionals or is it simply giving us access to more true professionals. It's an interesting question for ad bloggers, but in the largest context of the social Web, it has another dimension: are there new 'careers,' new needs for voices and approaches (like the mega reviewers) that have essentially become the foundation of everything else?

That said, I think for most marketers, the challenge isn't in understanding the outlyers. They're relatively easy to learn about with various social aggregating tools and their own self promotion. Your agency can attack those (with some degree of grace or lumbering) the way they could any other opinion leader. The challenge is understanding the common person. What the key profiles of social behavior are and how those cross-index beyond age ... with a wider swath of loyalty and offline behavior.

I'm guessing the ethnographers at Resource save that level of detail for folks willing to spend a little more than $16.95...

It should always be...

This EASY to use a press room:

The media room for Andy Beal's Radically Transparent offers enough content to power six news articles, four custom reviews, a buying decision and an ongoing relationship.

All in one place. All super easy to navigate.

This FUN to watch a branded video:

AKQA and Cake really fundamentally get it. It being social media and brands. You have to be able to take liberties - with yourself, your culture and your customers. You have to be able to delight and entertain and be completely different than a 30 second spot.

Little escapes the snark of this video from Pot Noodle. A piece that 200,000 people have already watched this month.

This PERSONAL to watch a recruitment video:

When Molly posted this video on Twitter, I had to ask her if it was sanctioned or organic ... the very simple delivery is so brimming with personality and conversation that I couldn't imagine it making it through any agency's self-marketing process.

But, somehow it did.

And, the simplicity of it - from an agency that COULD do anything - might just make it even more compelling.

This SIMPLE to share information:

Speaking of Twitter, I've been logged on for the past two days reading some of your favorite bloggers cover Ad Age's Digital Marketing summit in real time.

The posts include verbatims, analysis and a little argument. It's addictive.

This OPTIMISTIC to profile an audience:

After it sat for months on my teetering bedside stack of good intentions, I've finally picked up RenGen and dug in. Definitely my favorite industry book of this year... as much for its optimism as its smarts and illustrative examples.

Martin connects the dots from our creative and intellectual selves to a theory of renaissance that will define a generation.

"I don't have to grow up" - gen

For every thoughtful discussion I've had about the cultural consumer, the green citizen, the attention economy, I've had a party / conversation / meeting completely derailed by a group of mainstream 30-somethings playing or talking-about-playing video games. Even as I type this, my copy of RenGen is sitting under my PS3 controller on the coffee table.

We - the fabled, if aging GenXers - are a damn playful bunch. Our marathons are as likely to be a Saturday of Project Runway reruns as 20-sweaty miles across the city. We've passed on scrapbooks for passing around digital cameras packed with thousands of hammed-up snaps. We can cook but would rather collect memories of childhood munchies - from an EasyBake oven to the Snoopy Sno Cone machine complete with grape syrup.

So, if I can put down my classic wooden yo-yo for just a minute, I'd like to congratulate three advertisers for really getting the spirit of grown-up play:

#1 Dominos pizza for the inventiveness of friends
#2 Toyota Tacoma for the joy of the game
#3 Tostitos for the creativity in every roll of duct tape (and best random :5 seconds of moose)

Here are the smile-out-loud spots:

Adland: A Global History of Advertising

Back in J-school, a design professor told us that a full 25% of readers read newspapers and magazines from back-to-front. (To which, our agency creative director would respond – did you know that 78% of statistics are made up on the spot!?)

Anyway, I’m happily in the 25%.

In fact, my magazines and even nonfiction books quickly become a choose-your-own-adventure, notes-all-over-the-index, dog-eared mess.

So, true to form, when I picked up Mark Tungate’s new ad history book, I flipped right to the chapter on Chicago, then to Consolidation Incorporated (did you know: ‘Almost everyone in advertising works for one of five different companies’) and onto Dotcom Boom and Bust before even flipping through the index.

I mention all of this because: I really recommend this book.

It’s advertising history with a nostalgic, cultural lens. And, it’s written in a way that rewards browsing and ‘digging in’ alike. A couple of not-to-miss sub-chapters:

• Blood, Sweaters and Tears – Remember the impact of Toscani’s Benetton photography? Ads and images that still define the brand
• Lowe and Beyond – Including Frank Lowe, the hero of passionate, strategic account guys
• An Onomatopoeic Agency – That’s the one dog-earred by the creative director who stole the book from me
• And, Cornflakes and Cowboys – The history of advertising as written by Marlboro and P&G

An ominously titled Sir Martin Sorrell (yes, of WPP), in a top-billing review on the book’s front cover, calls Adland ‘immensely readable.’

As always, it’s more difficult to write short than long, but, yeah – here-here, Sir.

See the AdAge review