Book Description
"The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes. From supermarket shelves to advertising agencies, the ability to offer vast choice is changing everything, and causing us to rethink where our markets lie and how to get to them. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it, from DVDs at Netflix to songs on iTunes to advertising on Google. However, this is not just a virtue of online marketplaces; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for business, one that is just beginning to show its power. After a century of obsessing over the few products at the head of the demand curve, the new economics of distribution allow us to turn our focus to the many more products in the tail, which collectively can create a new market as big as the one we already know. The Long Tail is really about the economics of abundance. New efficiencies in distribution, manufacturing, and marketing are essentially resetting the definition of whats commercially viable across the board. If the 20th century was about hits, the 21st will be equally about niches.
Customer Reviews:
Good article, stretched out to a padded book.......2007-09-26
This book started off as an article in Wired Magazine, and it was an excellent one. But Anderson must have decided to cash in, because the book doesn't add anything that wasn't covered in the article itself. It's not a complex concept.
Read the article on the Wired website. Then go spend your money on something from a tiny niche market.
One Trick Pony.......2007-09-09
This is one of those books that has one, keen insight and then takes one hundred + pages to say the same thing over and again. The keen point is indeed interesting. It just does not a complete book make. My $.02 !!
Good book for the startup entrepreneur in the 21-century .......2007-08-20
This is an insightful book into the today's world of retail business. Cool examples of how the Internet has leveled the playing field for many small businesses and artist.
Looking at it from the point of view of the producer and not the consumer or the retailer .......2007-08-16
I am not much of a business mind but I think I get the picture here. Instead of twenty percent of the product bringing in eighty percent of the revenue ninety- eight percent of the product is going to bring in all the revenue. Having so much available, and having ready access to it means sales no longer concentrate on a relatively few items. Freedom of choice abounds, niches multiply, Alvin Toffler is happy, future shock is no longer shocking, customization is here forever, and we all can have anything we want as long as we are able to pay for it.
Good. But I think of this in another way. Does this mean that 'value' also will not be centered as we ordinarily center it in the great works, the masterpeices, the few chosen ones? Does it mean our whole conception of valuing cultural goods will change, and a few big things will be less worshipped while many more appreciated? In other words will deTocqueville be happy here because 'equality' is in the saddle and mankind has many little good things, instead of the aristocracy only having a few?
And what does that mean for creators of culture? As a writer can I now happily post my unpublished writings with the thought that perhaps a few will read them, where before none did. In other words a moneyless long- tail is still a long- tail.
I don't know. But I do sense Anderson has hit on to a new truth here which will have all kinds of implications better business people than me will have to see.
Must read.......2007-08-14
The Long Tail is a must read for anyone wondering how the Internet works or how it's changing the world as we know it. In the book, Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, explains how one simple principle is behind so many of the social and economic changes we are seeing with the internet. The Internet makes it possible for many people to produce and publish cheaply and for many other people to find those "amateur" works easily. For example, until the Internet, the only music you had access to was the top 40 on the radio or maybe the top 500 albums at the music store and maybe a local band at the bar on weekends. Now you have access to hundreds of thousands of songs written and produced by anybody and everybody in the world. Not only that but they are easily searchable in many different ways. So a you don't have to listen to just hits anymore and you don't have to be a world wide hit to be successful. That's what is changing the world. Niche markets are growing (around all of these non-hit works) and at the same time the way we share and find these niche products is becoming easier and easier - creating new communities online.
Chris Anderson explains it much better than me and I highly recommend the book if you've noticed that the Internet is changing the world and wondered why.
Amazon.com
In an effort to determine why people buy, Paco Underhill and his detailed-oriented band of retail researchers have camped out in stores over the course of 20 years, dedicating their lives to the "science of shopping." Armed with an array of video equipment, store maps, and customer-profile sheets, Underhill and his consulting firm, Envirosell, have observed over 900 aspects of interaction between shopper and store. They've discovered that men who take jeans into fitting rooms are more likely to buy than females (65 percent vs. 25 percent). They've learned how the "butt-brush factor" (bumped from behind, shoppers become irritated and move elsewhere) makes women avoid narrow aisles. They've quantified the importance of shopping baskets; contact between employees and shoppers; the "transition zone" (the area just inside the store's entrance); and "circulation patterns" (how shoppers move throughout a store). And they've explored the relationship between a customer's amenability and profitability, learning how good stores capitalize on a shopper's unspoken inclinations and desires.
Underhill, whose clients include McDonald's, Starbucks, Estée Lauder, and Blockbuster, stocks Why We Buy with a wealth of retail insights, showing how men are beginning to shop like women, and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out. He also looks to the future, projecting massive retail opportunities with an aging baby-boom population and predicting how online retailing will affect shopping malls. This lighthearted look at shopping is highly recommended to anyone who buys or sells. --Rob McDonald
Book Description
Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control.
In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including:
- How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale
- What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet
- How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed
- How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging
- What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers
For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2007-09-22
Interesting and insightful with some good tips for people setting up an interactive environment like a shop or a library. It seemed more like an ad for his services and/or his other books but it was a good introduction to the principles behind his business.
Good Retail Intro..........2007-09-16
A good read if you are a marketing or advertising professional who wants to get some insight into the retail psychology and its operations. However, there is no magic formula or scientific methodology given in this book.
Besides making a lot of publicity for his company, Paco Underhill gives a lot of very interesting & practical examples of the consumer's shopping psychology and how it all translates in the retail environment. Paco will tell you why shoppers intuitively steer to the right upon entering a store and how retail managers can use that information to increase their revenues. Overall, not an extraordinary book by any means, but full of interesting examples and stories that could come in handy for any business professional.
Excellent Example of Observational Market Research.......2007-07-21
Not only is this book interesting to the lay reader, it is a must read for retailers, marketers, and market researchers. There are gems within the pages!
Why We Buy is a must buy for retailers........2007-05-24
This book gives you concrete suggestions for increasing sales.
Interesting Findings.......2007-05-14
It was a really easy book to read and it gives you insides on strategies to set a retailing space, having a lot of things in mind, that might seem obvious when you read it, but they really aren't. It was a great; I highly recommend it for people on the retiling industry.
Customer Reviews:
Carry This Book with You.......2007-10-01
If a marketer really wants to be a good business person, then they should carry this book with them. I dislike hearing recent graduates say "Buy One Get One Free" when asked for promotion ideas. If you understand the financial consequences of that type of promotion then it's OK to suggest it. But the point is this book helps you think about the many types of measurements. At one point in my career I had three Product Managers work for me. This book would have been one that I insisted they read.
Is it Really About Metrics..But There's More To it Than That.......2007-09-05
I think this book is an important tool in terms of measuring marketing and trying to ensure that you have the opportunity to understand your marketing outreach.
I also liked the newly released book, "Value Acceleration" by Mitchell Gooze and Ralph Mroz and think it should serve as a companion to this book in terms of truly identifying how marketing and sales can successfully work together and in terms of lean process, keeping the global competitive edge way beyond metrics.Value Acceleration: The Secrets to Building an Unbeatable Competitive Advantage
Looks great.......2007-07-05
It's still early to rate as I just got the book, but it's definitely valuable.
Whatever is most important can, indeed must be measured...accurately and consistently........2007-05-09
Obviously, it is highly desirable to measure what matters and that is especially true of marketing initiatives. Here's the challenge which many (most?) readers will face after they finish reading this volume: Which metrics are the most appropriate for their specific organization? Co-authors Paul W. Farris, Neil T. Bendle, Phillip E. Pfeifer, and David J. Reibstein offer 50+ and in an ideal business world, every executive can - and will - master all of them. That is possible but highly unlikely. Fortunately, the authors offer a wealth of information and observations that can guide and inform the selection of those metrics that will enable executives to "gather and analyze basic market data, measure the core factors that drive their business models, analyze the profitability of individual customer accounts, and optimize resource allocation among increasingly fragmented media.
To the authors' substantial credit, they make effective use of a number of reader-friendly devices which enliven what would be an otherwise dull textbook and they do without compromising the integrity of research-driven insights which so many books on marketing lack. These devices include definitions, formulas, and brief descriptions of various metrics. They also include within individual chapters several sections, such as "Construction" (e.g. metrics issues concerning their formulation, application, interpretation, and strategic ramifications), "Data Sources, "Complications, and Cautions" (i.e. an analysis of the limitations of the metrics under consideration, and their potential inadequacies once executed), and "Related Metrics and Concepts" (briefly surveyed). This is by no means an "easy read" but will generously reward those who absorb and digest its material with appropriate rigor.
Although I believe this volume can be of substantial value to executives in almost all organizations (regardless of size or nature), I think it will be of greatest benefit to those - probably in larger companies -- who have an urgent need for accurate and consistent measurement of, for example, the dynamics behind their market share; the profitability of producing, pricing, selling, distributing, and servicing what they offer; and the ROI of marketing initiatives within the framework of enterprise financial metrics.
Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson as well as Ram Charan's Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't, Lynda Gratton's Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organizations Buzz with Energy - And Others Don't, Robert J. Herbold's Seduced by Success: How the Best Companies Survive the 9 Traps of Winning, Jack Alexander's Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation, and Michael Useem's The Go Point: When It's Time to Decide--Knowing What to Do and When to Do It.
A must for marketing people.......2007-05-07
The marketing people fails almost all the time, trying to meet the expectations or demands of the financial officers. Today you can not make marketing based in feelings or genialities, this book really helps to fill the gap between the good ideas and the hard facts needed by the high direction.
Book Description
Communicating a fascination for the everyday activities of people, this leading book on consumer behavior examines how our world is influenced by the action of marketers, and considers how products, services, and consumption contribute to the broader social world we experience. Its incredibly interesting and dynamic content proves hip and engaging, while reflecting the latest research.
A four-part organization looks at consumers as individuals, consumers as decision makers, consumers and subcultures, and consumers and culture.
For brand managers, marketing research analysts, and account executives.
Book Description
With a strong empirical and market segmentation approach, this book focuses on how the Internet has changed the way people obtain information about potential purchases, giving readers the most up-to-date material on how technology is changing their lives as consumers. The Thirty-two mini-cases help readers learn by applying the theory, drawing on current business news to demonstrate specific consumer behavior concepts.
This edition now includes thirty-two Active Learning mini-cases. A clear consumer decision making model is set out in each chapter to facilitate learning–presented in the first chapter, this model serves as a structural framework for the concepts–the building blocks–examined in the following chapters. The book's final chapter ties all of these concepts together so readers see the interrelationships and relevance of individual concepts to consumer decision-making.
For those studying consumer behavior and/or marketing.
Book Description
Since the first edition of this landmark book was published in 1962, Everett Rogers's name has become "virtually synonymous with the study of diffusion of innovations," according to Choice. The second and third editions of Diffusion of Innovations became the standard textbook and reference on diffusion studies. Now, in the fourth edition, Rogers presents the culmination of more than thirty years of research that will set a new standard for analysis and inquiry.
The fourth edition is (1) a revision of the theoretical framework and the research evidence supporting this model of diffusion, and (2) a new intellectual venture, in that new concepts and new theoretical viewpoints are introduced. This edition differs from its predecessors in that it takes a much more critical stance in its review and synthesis of 5,000 diffusion publications. During the past thirty years or so, diffusion research has grown to be widely recognized, applied and admired, but it has also been subjected to both constructive and destructive criticism. This criticism is due in large part to the stereotyped and limited ways in which many diffusion scholars have defined the scope and method of their field of study. Rogers analyzes the limitations of previous diffusion studies, showing, for example, that the convergence model, by which participants create and share information to reach a mutual understanding, more accurately describes diffusion in most cases than the linear model.
Rogers provides an entirely new set of case examples, from the Balinese Water Temple to Nintendo videogames, that beautifully illustrate his expansive research, as well as a completely revised bibliography covering all relevant diffusion scholarship in the past decade. Most important, he discusses recent research and current topics, including social marketing, forecasting the rate of adoption, technology transfer, and more. This all-inclusive work will be essential reading for scholars and students in the fields of communications, marketing, geography, economic development, political science, sociology, and other related fields for generations to come.
Download Description
"Now in its fifth edition, Diffusion of Innovations is a classic work on the spread of new ideas. It has sold 30,000 copies in each edition and will continue to reach a huge academic audience. In this renowned book, Everett M. Rogers, professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico, explains how new ideas spread via communication channels over time. Such innovations are initially perceived as uncertain and even risky. To overcome this uncertainty, most people seek out others like themselves who have already adopted the new idea. Thus the diffusion process consists of a few individuals who first adopt an innovation, then spread the word among their circle of acquaintances--a process which typically takes months or years. But there are exceptions: use of the Internet in the 1990s, for example, may have spread more rapidly than any other innovation in the history of humankind. Furthermore, the Internet is changing the very nature of diffusion by decreasing the importance of physical distance between people. The fifth edition addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas."
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2007-09-12
This book is fascinating. It discusses the spread of ideas and products through communities, how they spread and why. Rogers breaks down the process and describes different categories of people depending on when they take up the innovation. This book is very readable, and although written by an academic, not written in academese. It covers various domains of interest (agriculture, sociology, marketing) and has something for everyone.
The one thing I think Rogers has missed is subjective norm. Not only do people weigh the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability, but they also weigh up what they believe their personal network believes what they should do.
For instance, I will do something that someone important (to me)tells me to do, even if I personally find it silly, simply because I put enough weight and consideration into what I believe is their opinion.
Rogers gets close to that with the discussion of personal networks and adoption of innovations by organisations, but still misses the point. That is why this book only gets four stars, from me.
Excellent.......2007-08-10
Very insightful. A must read for a variety of academic disciplines. I don't know that I've been in a professor's office at my university and not seen this book on the shelf!
Diffusion of Innovations--The scientific framework of lessons learned.......2007-06-12
As a physician who has had the pleasure to experience life-changing innovations in his medical career, the chance to read Dr Rogers book on Innovation has been a real delight. Technology has changed so much around us in the last half of the 20th century that we can scarcely describe what life was like before "the innovation".
To my friends who happen to be innovators, early adaptors, beta testers and entrepreneurs, I recommend the book to provide the scientific disicpline with its glossary, case reports, primary scientific citations and organization of innovation theory that ones needs if one is in an "innovation" field and wishes to communicate professionally.
To the casual reader who is fascinated by the world around him/her and wishes to explore innovation scientifically, then this should be considered the "primer".
A textbook in disquise..........2007-02-15
This is a textbook in disquise. The information is good, but could be summarized better and in a more consise manner.
Good reference material...
most excellent piece of work on diffusion of innovation.......2006-12-26
There are several well written books on innovation but this is one of the most excellent piece of work on diffusion of innovation. Though if we look at history, research on the diffusion of innovations model began with the Bryce and Gross' (1943) investigation of the diffusion of hybrid seed corn among Iowa farmers. They explained how it came to attention and which of two channels (i.e., mass communication and interpersonal communication with peers) led farmers to adopt the new innovation.
But Rogers has further discussed the five characteristics of a technology acceptance - 1) relative advantage, the extent to which it offers improvements over available tools, 2) compatibility, its consistency with social practices and norms among its users, 3) complexity, its ease of use or learning, 4) trialability, the opportunity to try an innovation before committing to use it, 5) observability, the extent to which the technology's gains are clear to see.
Book Description
This text takes a "macro-micro-macro" approach toward communicating the intricacies of marketing research and its usefulness to the marketing organization. The book begins with a macro-level treatment of what marketing research is, where it fits within an organization, and how it helps in managerial decision-making. The body of the text takes a micro-level approach, detailing each step of the marketing research process using a decision-oriented perspective. The authors wrap up with a macro-level treatment of the applications of marketing research. As with previous editions, the text provides thorough coverage of the most advanced and current marketing research methodologies, point out their limitations, as well their potential for enhancing research results.
Customer Reviews:
this book is a piece of garbage.......2006-12-03
The book does not give any practical view on the subject. The theories are vaguely narrated but not explained. Overall structure totally misses the point of teaching - the concepts and methodoligies are used within the text and elaborated later. Sections explaining various mathemathical models I consider being incomprehensible.
Description of methods, rather than a teaching guide.......2003-02-12
This book is a collection of marketing research techniques described at lenght. Serves well as a reference to what happens (conceptually) in each technique. It does not serve as a teaching guide, since there is very little description of the actual procedures involved in performing the techniques. Additionally, almost no information on the actual statistics behind each technique.
Ineffective presentation and weak on mutlivariable analysis.......2002-08-04
I purchased this book (7th, ISBN=*405) as my first book on Marketing Research. However, this book is very disappointing; multivariable analysis sections are superficial in treatment. In particular, the authors avoid math treatment once basic statistics sections are over. I don't understand the techniques described in those multivariable analysis sections based on whatfs written in this book; I already have the understandings in some of the topics discussed in the book, so I know what I am talking about partly. Also the rest of non-statistical sections are very boring to read, and examples are in some cases not easy to relate to the material in the context directly. What makes me most bored might be authors explaining trivial things like "Hospital is the place to go when you get sick....g (Analogy) Considering the quality of this book in terms of depth, this book is way overpriced. I recommend the following books instead: Business Research Methods by Zikmund (much clear presentation on methodologies), and Probability and Statistics by DeGroot (one of the best in these subjects) for non-multivariable sections, and for multivariable sections, Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis by Wichern and Johnson (for math taste), and Multivariate Data Analysis by Anderson, et al (for non-math taste). Also recommended is Data Mining Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques with Java Implementations by Witten and Frank (for Data Mining programming). P.S. this 7th ISBN=*405 does not include CDROM.
Good overview but weak in substance.......2002-07-08
Considering that this book was written by the King of Marketing Research and Brand Management, Prof. David Aaker, I had expected more in a graduate-level textbook. However, the examples are simplistic, cases are weak, and the section on statistical methods and analysis would be better omitted in favor of a statistics-specific textbook.
Classic text on marketing research.......2001-04-08
A classic text - continually revised over the years and gets better every time. Had a prior edition during my MBA studies a decade ago and bought a recent edition; a great source of reference for marketing research & analysis.
Book Description
Consumer Behavior, 9/e, by Hawkins, Best, & Coney offers balanced coverage of consumer behavior including the psychological, social, and managerial implications. The new edition features current and exciting examples that are tied into global and technology consumer behavior issues and trends, a solid foundation in marketing strategy, integrated coverage of ethical/social issues and outlines the consumer decision process. This text is known for its ability to link topics back to marketing decision-making and strategic planning which gives students the foundation to understanding consumer behavior which will make them better consumers and better marketers.
Amazon.com
As it becomes increasingly associated with impressive corporate gains realized in recent years by companies ranging from FedEx and Rolex to Starbucks and Volvo, "branding" has developed into one of the marketing world's hottest concepts. And for good reason, contend well-known strategist Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries in The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding: How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand.
"Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect," they write. "If you can build a powerful brand you will have a powerful marketing program. If you can't, then all the advertising, fancy packaging, sales promotion and public relations in the world won't help you achieve your objective." A no-holds-barred look at a diverse collection of successful--and not-so-successful--branding efforts undertaken by these and other high-profile firms, their book distills the most critical principles involved into a series of clear rules with straightforward titles such as The Law of Expansion, The Law of Contraction, The Law of Consistency, and The Law of Mortality. While some of their suggestions may at first seem counterintuitive, together they compose a logical blueprint for success in today's ever-more-competitive environment. --Howard Rothman
Amazon.com Audiobook Review
When you call a book The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, you're pretty much ruling out Oprah's Book Club as potential buyers. (Not that Oprah herself isn't a terrific brand.) This is an audiobook for a narrow demographic: entrepreneurs, top managers, and public-relations directors. Coauthor Al Ries comes off like the eccentric genius that most of these managers keep in a basement office, only listening to when necessary. When he says, "The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its scope," and hectors managers with the idea that "customers want brands that are narrow in scope," you know he's right (he backs himself up with dozens of examples), and you know it's the last thing powerful, expansion-minded businesspeople want to hear. Coauthor Laura Ries, his daughter and marketing-firm partner, also reads sections. (Running time: 1.5 hours, one cassette) --Lou Schuler
Book Description
How to build a product or service into a world–class brand.
In today's competitive world, it is no longer enough to have a superior product or even a great advertising campaign. Today's consumers are more savvy than ever, and ample competition has allowed them to become more choosy. The only way to stand out in today's, and tomorrow's 埣luttered marketplace is to build your product or service into a brand. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the definitive work on brands and branding. In the tradition of 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, this book is illustrated with anecdotes from some of the best brands in the world and explains how any product or service can be built into a brand.
Customer Reviews:
What a Book!.......2007-09-22
I never read a book more packed with incredible insights that this one. My company, Astonish Results (www.astonishresults.com) provides consulting to mortgage companies. I will recommend this book to every company we consult.
must have for business owners.......2007-09-11
As a small business owner and someone who was new to the business side of running a business I have found this book an absolute necessity in my daily business life.
Something to think about.......2007-08-11
I read this book with pleasure. It contains a lot of common sense and showed how people are influenced in their choice of branding features by what others have done and not what makes sense. I hope to use much of the information in my firm for our software branding.
Steven Calkins
Cross Media Solutions
Würzburg, Germany
Excellent work.......2007-05-26
I must say I have become somewhat of a Ries groupie. Al & Laura Ries along with Jack Trout have created some of the most thought filled pieces within the Branding, Marketing and communications world today. This one lives up the all the hype. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is a masterpiece to say the least. I began seeking out new books on the topic and thought why not hear from the gurus of the field. I had read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing first and it lead me to this great piece. I am a marketing student not just in the classroom but for life. It is what I do, therefore learning more is what I must do.
Once you began your journey for more knowlege on Branding and relating fields you will side with this book. Branding lives with the perpection that is placed int he mind of the consumer. In all my many marketing classes have I not discussed the many issues that come up in this book. To be a great marketer or branding strategiest you must seek out information from all levels of the field and then rethink those thoughts in regards to your position and situation. This book places you in the right mindset to do that and much more. So begin the process...
The one thing I learned from this book.......2007-05-24
This is a quick read and I actually found myself picking it up to read even when I WANTED to put it down. It has an easy flow and is written in layman's terms so anyone can understand. And while all of that is wonderful for a book, there is one thing that stood out the most to me-BRANDING IS MADE THROUGH PUBLICITY, NOT ADVERTISING. I swear I thought it was the other way around. I thought if you advertise your product enough then the media would pick up on your product and give you the publicity. That advice right there was worth the price of the book. If you are an entrepreneur, author or any type of businessperson, this book should be part of your library. Refer to it often.
Customer Reviews:
Develop New Products Rationally.......2007-09-19
The authors argue Rule Developing Experimentation (RDE) is the key to developing new products.
Unfortunately for shareholders, during the past 15 years marketers have dominated product development. The result: more than 90 per cent of product launches and re-launches fail.
RDE is a process of designing, testing and modifying alternative ideas, packages, products, or services. It is disciplined. It reveals to the developer and marketer what appeals to the customer, even if the customer can't articulate the need.
It contains seven steps:
1. Consider the problem; identify features that may comprise solutions.
2. Mix and match the features in experimental designs.
3. Show the prototypes to consumers.
4. Analyze their reactions.
5. Optimize your prototypes.
6. Identify attitudinal population segments.
7. Apply the rules to create new products.
Howard Moskowitz is experimental psychologist in the field of psychophysics. Alex Gofman is widely published, technology-oriented experimental psychologist. They argue RDE delivers cost-effective actionable results tied to business directives. As a shareholder, I argue, RDE is worth a try.
Learn how to turn your old products (pink elephants) into new products (blue elephants).......2007-08-11
When I first saw the title of this book, I was reminded of a skit I once saw featuring ventriloquist Edgar Bergin and Charley McCarthy. Charley asks Bergin "How do you kill a blue elephant?" and when Bergin asks the question, Charley's response is "Shoot him with a blue elephant gun." Charley then asks Bergin "How do you kill a pink elephant?" and after the straight line from Bergin, Charley's response is, "Squeeze him until he turns blue and then shoot him with a blue elephant gun." I laughed when I saw that memorable comedy bit and the fact that I can remember it decades later is an indication of how much of an imprint it made on me.
The incongruity of that comedy bit has relevance to the message that the authors of this book are trying to make. Sometimes the making of a great new product is nothing more than taking an existing product (the pink elephant) and squeezing it so that it looks like a new product (the blue elephant). However, before that you need to know if there is a substantial market for the new product.
In this book, the authors demonstrate a tactic that can be used to explore the possibilities for new products. It is called Rule Developing Experimentation (RDE) and it is a systematic process to develop and test new ideas for products or different ways to modify existing products to make them more desirable. The particular emphasis is on the development for a product that the potential market does not yet realize that it would want. As all marketing directors understand so well, this is an inherently complex problem.
Nearly all businesses want to expand, and there is only two ways to do that. You can either sell more of your existing product line or develop new products. The strategy for the second requires a significant amount of predictive ability, which can only be generated by detailed study. The RDE process is a sound business strategy that can be applied almost anywhere. Several case studies of specific products are presented as examples of how things can be done, although the general tactics used are not specific to the product.
If you have just attended a meeting where the CEO has said that your company must introduce new and profitable products quickly and you are responsible for it, there are two things that you should do.
*) Sit down and take a few deep and relaxing breaths.
*) Reach for this book.
Both actions will help you solve the problem
Poorly done.......2007-08-08
Interesting concept extremely poorly written. Very confusing. I'd be hard pressed to actually put it into practice after reading this book. I'd read the Gladwell articles and that should give a basic idea. I just wish it was done better.
Simple concept overdone.......2007-07-27
I was disappointed in this book. Wasn't worth the $15.00 I paid, let a lone the $28.00 retail price so many probably paid. Very simple concept that could have been explained in one small chapter, not a whole book. I was bored to tears and kept looking for something else to explain why I bought the book. Great title and interesting chapter titles but did little to give me applicable information beyond the simplistic "RDE" concept. I kept saying, "Ok, ok I got it" and expected more - but there wasn't anymore. Find out what RDE is online and save your money regarding the purchase of the book.
Be more systematic in how you develop products, marketing programs, and communications and reap the rewards.......2007-06-23
This book is about using a systematic way to develop experiments, systematically gather the results of those experiments, and to intelligently analyze them to develop rules for use in product development, marketing programs, and even communications. This method they call RDE (Rule Developing Experimentation). The authors do not claim that this is a new idea, but rather that they have a better way of explaining it and demonstrating its power.
They use business stories of developing new products for Maxwell House coffee, Prego spaghetti sauce, Vlassic pickles, and a variety of marketing programs to demonstrate what they are showing us. The authors, Howard Moskowitz and Alex Gofman, write clearly and with a great deal of conviction. My guess is that you will either find their style infectious or, if you are of a cynical bent, it will trigger a bit of naysayer in you.
The basic steps to their method are:
1) Think about the problem and identify groups of features.
2) Mix and match the elements according to a special experimental design
3) Analyze the results gleaned from the experiments
4) Optimize according to the highest sum of utilities
5) Apply the generated rules to create new products, offerings, marketing programs, etc.
Too often we grope in the dark looking for a bolt of lightening to flash out of the sky and show us the best way to compete in our market space. It rarely happens. Even with this method, most of the experiments will prove something one shouldn't do. However, something will have been learned, one will know more about the boundaries beyond which there be monsters, and one will gain more insight and skill in setting up future experiments.
It seems convincing to me that this method can save time, money, and competitive position over the usually used random guesses that can consume entire companies when they are really wrong. The authors say that this can replace the facilitated focus group because they are a flawed method. While that might well be true, I can tell for sure that one can implement this methodology in a flawed way, as well. So, we should always be careful in how we use our tools and hesitate to blame the tool for using it improperly.
Interesting.
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