Applying the golden rule – in particular with business tomes – of capturing your audience in 3 pages it was with some trepidation that I began. Thankfully, it is a far cry from the heavy, principle-laden preachy textbooks that attempt to instruct us how to be better marketers. This was actually an enjoyable read: a cunningly disguised marketing text book.
Essentially, it is a work of fiction spoofing the Da Vinci Code. The lead character runs around searching for the meaning behind a marketing conspiracy. The conspiracy claims popular contemporary authors such as Tom Clancy and Dan Brown do not write in the manner they do for literary purposes (shock horror) but for marketing purposes. The plot incorporates this and is very tongue in cheek, critiquing the branding approaches that most of us are painfully familiar with.
Brown capitalises on the happy circumstance of his surname in common with Dan Brown, and parodies his popular books masterfully to produce his third ‘Management Thriller’. This is an apt description, with just the right blend of humour and business parlance to sum up what the book offers: an injection of comedic value, but ultimately containing something to appeal to everyone in marketing and branding.
It is a fast-paced thriller, a la ‘Da Vinci’, but also a revealing marketing masterclass. Brown claims: “My series of spoofs reveal the commercial conspiracy behind Dan Brown’s book,” and as a reader I’d agree. It not only takes a swipe at the marketing of today’s modern bestselling goods, but offers wide-ranging views on the marketing profession and brands as varied as Belfast and U2. Brown holds a mirror up to our industry in a way that makes some of the possibly less palatable public observations acceptable.
Carlson’s mantra is that creative work either be: relevant, entertaining or useful. Preferably all three. The Lost Logo ticks all these boxes. My only problem was the assumed knowledge and carry-over from the previous instalments in the trilogy. However, this only made me want to remedy by ordering the previous two novels: The Marketing Code and Agents and Dealers. Now that’s effective marketing.
Reviewed by: John Hiney, MD, Carlson Marketing
[email protected]
Published by: Marshall Cavendish
