It’s no secret we are fond of business books at Brand Autopsy. The reasons why are simple and aplenty. But primarily, we appreciate the opportunity to learn from others who share their knowledge and passion through their business books. These experts-turned-authors have helped us become smarter marketers.
With that in mind, we are proud to share the Brand Autopsy blog with some knowledgeable and passionate authors this week.
For the next five days you’ll read from five authors about their fine works. We selected these authors because they selected us. Each of the featured authors sent us a copy of their book to add to our library. We have asked them to share why they wrote their book and what you can expect to learn from it.
First up is Chuck Nyren, expert-turned-author of ADVERTISING TO BABY BOOMERS.
Author: Chuck Nyren
Book Title: Advertising to Baby Boomers (Paramount Books)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Paramount Books
Website: www.nyrenagency.com
Blogsite: Advertising to Baby Boomers
Sample Reading: Tables of Contents and Introducton (pdf)
THE GIST [concept/purpose of the book]
CHUCK NYREN (CN): Baby Boomers are sophisticated consumers of advertising, having grown up the heyday of mass marketing. Companies not understanding this sophistication are doomed. Yet many rely on advertising agencies that believe the baby boom market is passé and not worth pursuing. The real story may be that most agencies are ill-prepared for tackling the 50+ consumer, but don't want you to know it.
THE AUDIENCE [marketers who’ll benefit from the book]
CN: Unlike most books about advertising, this one is written for "the client" -- anyone with a product or service for Baby Boomers, from general consumer goods to high-tech electronics to planned communities to health care. Some simple demands of your agency, a bit of vigilance, and you could change things around – getting much more than you are paying for.
My egalitarian approach to advertising and the creation of campaigns is all-inclusive. A large section of the book is dedicated to helping Baby Boomer entrepreneurs get their marketing and advertising up and running.
THE AUTHOR [author’s qualifications]
CN: I’m qualified, but not uniquely qualified. I’m just the first person to write a book about advertising to this unwieldy demographic. Most of the other books deal mainly or exclusively with marketing.
THE KNOWLEDGE [takeaway value of the book]
CN: What questions should you ask when interviewing or being "pitched" by an agency? How do you help develop a baby boomer-targeted campaign with your agency? When should you trust your advertising agency, and when should you question its judgments? When do you leave them alone? How do you critique a campaign? These are some of the questions answered in Advertising to Baby Boomers.
What the book really is: a catalyst for creative thinking. If you are a businessperson you know that creative thinking doesn't begin and end inside an advertising agency. (Meaning, my book should make me about as welcomed in ad agencies as Michael Moore was at the Republican Convention.)
DOWATCHALIKE [author’s free space to riff]
CN: As all readers here know, anything that is put ‘out there’ – books, movies, music, TV Shows, art of any kind, certainly products and ad campaigns – end up (for better or for worse) taking on lives of their own. While my book has only been out for a month or so, already there are “I never imagined” surprises for me:
AEF (The Advertising Educational Foundation) selecting Advertising to Baby Boomers as a Classroom Resource floored me. Only two-dozen titles have been chosen over the last six years. Pretty heady company I’m keeping.
While there is a tongue-in-cheek chapter for baby boomer creatives, I never would have guessed that a few are brandishing the book, declaring it some sort of ‘activist pamphlet.’ (Tom Paine is probably rolling over in his grave.)
Whenever I read a review or receive an email about the book (positive or negative), or whenever I hang up the phone after an interview – I look over at my copy and say to myself, “…That’s what that book is? Did I write that book?” It’s all very interesting. At least to me.
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Thanks Chuck for participating in Authors as Hawkers on Brand Autopsy!
"We selected them, because they selected us." Now, that is my kind of selection process. Congratulations on another excellent project.
Posted by: Troy Worman | July 11, 2005 at 05:46 PM