| Whatcha' Reading? By Ron Wall Inspiration. At some time or another, we know we need it, but where do we go to find it? For me, it's in the voices of other writers and thinkers, poets and essayists, musicians and filmmakers. Here are excerpts and publisher blurbs from a few books that have been keeping me up way past my bedtime. You can purchase them from any fine bookstore or online from the usual suspects. A Whole New Mind Daniel H. Pink "Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. "...the argument at the heart of this book is simple. For nearly a century, western society in general and American society in particular, has been dominated by a form of thinking and an approach to life that is narrowly reductive and deeply analytical. Ours has been the age of the "knowledge worker," the well-educated manipulator of information and deployer of expertise. But that is changing. Thanks to an array of forces - material abundance that is deepening our nonmaterial yearnings, globalization that is shipping white-collar work overseas, and powerful technologies that are eliminating certain kinds of work altogether - we are entering a new age. It is an age animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life - one that prizes aptitudes that I call 'high concept' and 'high touch.' High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one's self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning." Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner "In Freakonomics, they [Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner] set out to explore the hidden side of well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan. "What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and - if the right questions are asked - is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter. "Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: if morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world." All Marketers are Liars Seth Godin "Successful marketers don't tell the truth. They don't talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. This is a book about doing what consumers demand - painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe. Every organization - from nonprofits to car companies, from political campaigns to wine glass blowers - must understand that the rules have changed again. In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories. "Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the iPod. Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse. Think of telemarketers and Marlboro. This is a powerful book for anyone who wants to sell things people truly want, as opposed to commodities that people merely need." Then We Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall-of-Fame Career in Advertising Phil Dusenberry, Former CEO of BBDO/NY "We Bring Good Things to Life. It's Not TV, It's HBO. Visa: It's Everywhere You Want to Be. These aren't just advertising slogans; they're game-changing insights. And according to ad industry legend Phil Dusenberry, whose team at BBDO created these and many other brilliant campaigns, one big insight is worth a thousand good ideas. An idea can lead to one clever commercial. But a true insight can define a brand for years to come and turn an entire industry upside down. "Dusenberry, who turned BBDO/NY into a creative powerhouse, shares his best advice and funniest stories in Then We Set His Hair on Fire. Read along as Phil:
And last but far from least...
"In this entertaining yet practical memoir, Dusenberry reveals what really works in the fiercely competitive game of trying to stick in the consumer's mind. And he shows how anyone can approach marketing problems from a unique angle and hit home runs, not just singles." Ron Wall, a writer for ADFARM in Calgary, AB, is editor of The ByLine and chair of The ByLine committee in 2005-2006. He can be reached at Ron.Wall@adfarmonline.com. |