This book produces the most compelling argument about marketing effectiveness while totally living up to its name. Brand growth is driven by physical and mental availability so that you attract more customers. It challenges lots of bogus marketing theories with facts and evidence. It helped ground me as a marketer.
Inspiration for Marketers
I consider the facts and insights in these books definitive sources of good Marketing practice. The movie shows how dangerously effective Marketing can be. In a world filled with marketing punditry, I believe there's good insight here.
This is a pretty heavy read, but it does a thorough job of explaining how people think: Fast, intuitive, and emotional (System 1), and theSlow, deliberate, and logical (System 2). Knowing how decision-making works has helped me figure out how to connect with people in all kinds of situations with the right stimulus at the right time.
There's a lot of inspiration in here about hacking into the digital ecosystem to quickly scale new businesses. I was blown away by how brands like Yelp, Etsy, Uber and other new economy stars leveraged data, technology and a singular focus on growth to creatively go from obscurity to salience. Some great ideas here.
This movie shows the manipulative tactics people use to spin ideas. The power of Marketing for unscrupulous pursuits. As a Marketer I've been faced with moral issues a lot, and have been conflicted by them every time. Stories like these give me a jolt, as I imagine how Marketing can be unleashed to do some good and improve the world.