Wednesday, July 10, 2002

eKetchum Summer Reading List - Book 2

Just thinking about other good marketing-centric books to put on the 'ole summer reading list. I have another one:

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

The premise of this book is that, at a certain point, some societal changes "happen" and some don't. It doesn't take much, it doesn't take a multitude of people for a change to hit "the point." This book takes the old "butterfly flaps it wings in Maine and it begins raining in California" idea to another level, and provides some very interesting case studies of events and their respective "tipping point."

Some of the studies discuss healthcare epidemics and their "tipping point" cause, other studies are more marketing-centric, discussing how one or two influencers can make a fashion product take off. The whole idea that one or two twenty-somethings in the SoHo district of New York City unknowingly resurrected Hush Puppie shoes to cult status (and within a year back down) is truly facinating. The point is that identifying those chief influencers (and getting them to talk to their respective audiences) is critical to marketing - the only problem is that the book really doesn't discuss how to do this.

Overall, the book is an easy read, very entertaining and one that you'll probably want to read again in a few months. The author, Malcom Gladwell, hangs out with Seth Godin a lot and has co-writen a few books with the former Yahoo! marketing chief. Check out The Tipping Point on Amazon or check out Seth & Malcom's latest book at www.ideavirus.com.

Monday, July 08, 2002

eKetchum Summer Reading List - Book 1

Bought an interesting book last week. A book about branding. A book about shopping. A book about what compels us to do what we do...in a mall.

It's the Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping. It's about 800 pages, costs fifty bucks, weighs several pounds, and puts a lot of emphasis on book design and less emphasis on readability. It's a design-eee book with lots of color and "eye candy," but what you'll find inside is a pretty interesting history of the shopping mall, which, according to the Supreme Court is as much "Main Street USA" as we have here in the 21st century. (The Supreme Court determination is a pretty interesting story of its own - which stated that there are some freedom of speech rights for those who distribute pamphlets/literature inside of malls - even private ones.)

Learn how it was air conditioning that really created the shopping mall, why today's mall interiors are curved rather than straight (so that when you're walking from one store to another, your eyes are more likely on the merchandise in the next store than on the path in front of you), why stores strategically place merchandise where they do (purchase zone philosophy), and more. You'll even learn that our friends at Mrs. Fields Cookies have a precise schedule for when to bake their morsels - to ensure that the smell of the baking cookies hits us when we're at our most vulnerable.

As marketing professionals, we all need to understand what compels consumers to make that call to action - what makes us get up from the sofa and make a purchase. While some may argue that it's advertising (not public relations) that really instigates the call to action. I would disagree. I feel that it's our goal as PR professionals is to effect our audiences' attitudes and behaviors to make that call to action hit home.

Take a look at the book on Amazon.