Menu

Posts Tagged ‘Business’

AGENCY MANIA News!

Tuesday, November 12th, 2019

AGENCY MANIA NAMED BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF 2019: MARKETING

With each passing year, the universe of marketing and sales continues to expand. Fueled by technology, constant connectivity, and rapidly evolving consumer behavior, the scope of activities and competencies that fall under this category grows. This year’s three best business books on marketing come from three radically dif­ferent parts of the ecosystem — and each reimagines a core function while expanding the boundaries of the discipline. Whether they are suggesting new ways to consider the customer experience, providing a realistic look at the immense potential of artificial intelligence, or delving into the still-powerful role of agencies, this year’s books bring focus to an industry that increasingly defies easy definition.

At the beginning of one chapter in Agency Mania, author Bruno Gralpois urges the reader to “go ahead and grab a cup of coffee” before plunging into a 40-page treatise on client/agency contracts. And it shouldn’t be a shot of espresso. Agency Mania is not a book that most readers will finish in one gulp; its best use is as a comprehensive manual detailing virtually every aspect of the client/agency relationship, to be kept on the office bookshelf (or iPad) and pulled out (or tapped on) as needed. About to look for a new agency? Read chapter 5, “Assortative Mating and the Sweaty T-Shirt Theory: Conducting a Successful Agency Search.” Trying to figure out an equitable compensation model? Turn to chapter 7, “Just Six Numbers: Determining the Right Agency Compensation.” Quotes interspersed throughout from major advertisers and agencies — Procter & Gamble, Anomaly, Ford — enhance the book’s credibility. Charts and best practices listed at the end of each chapter help break the thick book into digestible chunks.

Many marketing books I’ve read over the years have been inspiring. Many of the treatises and cris de coeur of ad gurus are full of soaring rhetoric and stabs at deeper meaning. Agency Mania is not one of these books. It’s a distinctly unromantic look into the plumbing of marketing. That said, you’re unlikely to find a more essential book if, as is the case for many marketers, your relationship with your agency is the most important one in your work life. Gralpois, a consultant who has championed agency management as a discipline top advertisers need to invest in, leaves no aspect of the client/agency relationship undiscussed. He devotes dense chapters to scoping work and briefing agencies, building effective performance evaluations, and understanding the nuances of that strange place still sometimes referred to as Madison Avenue.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

To learn more about Agency Mania, click here.

To learn more about author Bruno Gralpois, click here.

LiftOff Leadership

68% of Americans believe that we are currently facing a crisis in leadership, according to the latest National Leadership Index from the Harvard Kennedy Center for Public Leadership.

In LiftOff Leadership, Betty Shotton draws on her 35 years of experience as a CEO, entrepreneur, and pilot to chart a new course for leaders. She believes that numerical measures of success and financial acumen alone are not enough. We need leaders with strength of character and unshakable principle.

LiftOff Leadership calls for a return to leadership attributes that have enabled mankind’s greatest achievements and defined its most exceptional leaders. Chapter by chapter, Shotton examines 10 powerful principles such as vision, accountability, and altruism, within the context of today’s business and economic environments. She uses her own experiences in business, first person tales from the cockpit, and a series of thorough checklists to help readers examine and improve their own leadership style.

This powerful, provocative book is a game changer for leadership, a book every leader needs to read.

About: Betty Shotton

Paperback: $16.95 (ISBN: 9780825307409)

Business & Economics/Leadership

194 pages

Order Here:

The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream

Friday, November 5th, 2010

America seems to be on a downward slide. Our government spends too much; our economy creates too little; and we aren’t preparing our children to compete in a global marketplace. Yet our politicians – Republican and Democrat alike – just don’t get it. While once-great cities fall into decay, Washington thrives, living off the hard work and tax dollars of the private sector.
It’s time for an American comeback — and it starts with innovation.
Throughout its history, America’s great innovators have been the drivers of our unsurpassed economic success. American innovation transformed a country of ragtag farmers into the epicenter of the world’s technological progress.  Innovation creates jobs, markets, and new industries where none existed before. Most importantly, innovation moves us forward as a nation, pushing us to succeed and strive for a better tomorrow. In short, innovation is the American Dream.
In The Comeback, Gary Shapiro shows us how to return innovation to its rightful place at the center of America’s economic policy.  The Comeback is a new blueprint for America’s success.

About the Author: Gary Shapiro

ISBN: 978-0-8253-0562-7

$24.95 Hardcover

224 Pages, 6 x 9

Buy It Now:

Funny Business

Imagine getting career advice from Muhammad Ali; a lesson in stardom from Bill Clinton; watching Don Rickles embarrass one of your most important customers; being caught red-handed using the product of your client’s biggest competitor; lying to the president of the United States; firing your wife from your company; taking Lee Iacocca bowling at midnight; seeing your weekend with “another woman” advertised on a billboard.

The stories in Funny Business really happened. They come from Allen Rosenshine’s more than forty years at BBDO, one of the world’s foremost advertising agencies. And what a supporting cast-Jack Welch, George H.W. Bush, Michael Jackson, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Lou Dobbs, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Louis, Henry Kissinger, Bob Newhart, Catfish Hunter, Thurman Munson, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Don King, Luciano Pavarotti, Tommy Lasorda, Lionel Richie, Duke Snider, and many other movers and shakers-a host of famous names (and a few aliases) in less than famous but truly funny scenarios.

The moguls-many of America’s most recognizable captains of industry-appear in scenes not customary in any corporate boardroom. The mobsters are characters far more funny than threatening. The megastars-from presidents to pop artists to pro athletes-are captured here as no camera has ever seen them. When these crowds mix with the madcap world of Madison Avenue, it is never business “as usual.”

And there’s the author himself, owning up to his own follies, foibles, and foul-ups-a comic counterpoint to his recognition as one of the most prominent people in advertising.

Funny Business is not just about business. It’s about all of us-the only creatures on earth who can laugh at ourselves.

About: Allen Rosenshine

Hardcover: $24.95 (ISBN: 9780825305399)

Business

296 pages

Order Here: