Recommended Holiday Reading

Looking forward to a little downtime and regeneration over the coming holidays? Here are two recent books on marketing that I recommend. Read either one over the festive season and I guarantee that you will begin 2009 with renewed energy.

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Buying In, Rob Walker, Random House

This is a must read for marketers. Rob Walker, the New York Times Magazine columnist has produced an insightful and entertaining discussion on the process of building brands in 2008 and beyond. Is the marketing world to be swept away by a tsunami of Facebook and YouTube empowered consumers? Or will our craft adapt and emerge more vibrant and exciting than ever? The author presents compelling proof that the latter transformation is well underway and marketing continues to be the most exciting career in the world.

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Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Harvard Business Press

Two analysts from Forester Research present their argument on winning in a world transformed by social technologies. This book provides brand managers, account managers and planners solid examples of companies that are building brands through giving control to customers and encouraging them to connect online. Left brain people will love this book because the case studies that are discussed have solid data to back up the results.

The authors also introduce their Social Technographic Profile, a useful tool to with which to segment and understand the web 2.0 user universe according to individual behaviour patterns. Very exciting!

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