After the success of Buyology for which I gave it a 8.5 rating comes Brandwashed, an insiders peek at what goes on into the Complex, Competitive and Corporate World of Marketing, Branding and Selling.
For Danish-American Marketer whom Time Magazine christened as the "World's Most Influential Thinkers" in 2009, this book was more or less the shocking exposure of the dirty laundry Top Brands have been keeping hiding from us - its stains, its stench and its sick trail left behind.
Some of the examples & explanations:
- How a certain Lip Gloss ensures it does actual harm so as to boost its use
- Why how many bubbles Coca Cola adverts show (or for that matter water drops on the glass), influence customer buying behavior,
- What Mega-Supermarkets around the world are doing to ensure you and your children are addicted to certain products,
- How Kopiko became the number 1 Coffee Toffee in the Philippines
- Dangerously what is the 1st and most recognizable brand identified by your children
- Why Levis suffered in terms of its sales and at the same time why McDonalds does incredibly well
- How fear results in a buying addiction of a product that by itself does not cure any sickness but we keep purchasing the products because of the masses, the media & the mixed messages- What supermarkets actually sell as fresh -- is not really fresh
- How a Royal Family of a country who was losing out a major fan follower came back into the spot light by smart marketing
- How Online Sites, Gaming Companies & Companies selling FMCG fool you into taking their FREE offer -- which is not actually so and then entangle you into a web of addiction
- How sex makes products fly off the shelves and not in a way we think they do
- How so called Nutritional Products give false claims and why no one can take them to court
- How music played by a Shopping Market can influence customers to buy more
- How we get influenced to purchase more because of the Famous Personalities -- whom we believe don't have an impact on our behavior pattern but indeed they do
- How Google, Twitter, Facebook, Walmart, Credit Card Companies and everyone else take our personal data without our knowledge and use it to influence our purchasing decisions
- The New Creative Method of Mass Marketing which does not use Television or the Internet
Overall Summary
It takes a lot of courage for someone to come out of the pack and blow the whistle. I felt, this book was just that. The courage of the author to come forward and state openly and candidly about what goes on inside the deep, dark and devilish little world of Advertising, Branding and Selling deserves him to get more than just a pat on his back. Personally, I think Martin committed a career suicide by wanting to help the masses by sharing these secrets. Now the companies that may want to deal with him would be very mindful of how he could use their insider secrets (May be he would come out with Brandwashed II?) Even with bad reviews online and with all what the critics had to say about his book, I personally enjoyed it and found it very thought-provoking. It is not everyday that an expert can go against the grain and share all the information to the everyday folks -- which Martin has so generously done so. I found this book in line with his previous title Buy-ology and feel this one also delivers the goods. So yes, I highly recommend this book.
Overall Rating
9 out of 10.
Loy Machedo
loymachedo.com | loymachedo.tv
