Author: George Felton
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Reviewer: Hamish Pringle, strategic advisor, 23red
This is a good book on how to create consumer advertising. It has many examples and multiple illustrations, albeit largely US-derived, which bring the points alive. But there are just two pages out of 303 on business-to-business advertising, with just two examples. Only if the reader is prepared to do the work to make the links back to B2B are there lots of useful tips to be followed.
However, I must disagree with George Felton’s assertion that: “Bad business-to-business advertising wrongly assumes that there is a corporate mentality different from the human one.” In my experience the ‘corporate mentality’ is very much a reality. It’s essential to understand the inter-relationship between it and the mindset of the target decision-makers and influencers. If the company has a serious approach to doing business, but the CEO is known to enjoy a joke, this insight can create a great communications opportunity, if handled carefully.
The book is written by a professor of English at Columbus College of Art & Design and who addresses the Renaissance practitioner who does it all – research and analysis, business strategy, consumer insight, briefing and creating – i.e. as if the other job roles in an agency don’t exist. So it is best for the copywriter to read early in their career, and then keep for years of inspiration.
It’s also useful to the SME owner who can’t afford to employ an agency and takes a DIY approach to their advertising. For the marketing director in a bigger B2B company, its utility is to inform their critique of their agency’s proposals. What’s missing is the latest thinking on behaviour change and how brand activation can overcome the embedded attitudes B2B marketers often encounter.
Star Rating:
