FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
December 11, 2003
2003 Marketing Books of the Year Awards
While compiling a list of my favorite all-time business books for a fellow FC Now poster, I thought about which marketing books published in 2003 I felt were the best reads. In typical Best-of-the-Year fashion, I present to you my picks for the Best Marketing Books of 2003:
(Go ahead, post your favorite business book reads of the year!)
Best Book Title
Your Marketing Sucks (Mark Stevens)
This book doesn't suck. Its quite good.
Golden Raspberry Award for Insignificance in Business Book Publishing
Two Winners
Beans (Leslie A. Yakes and Charles Decker)
Not another business fable story... please stop the madness!
Making Dough - 12 Secret Ingredients of Krispy Kreme’s Sweet Success (Kazanjian & Joyner)
Total puff piece. As sugar sweet and airy as a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Best Marketing Advice Book
Lessons from a Chief Marketing Officer (Bradford Kirk)
(Psst. Don't tell anyone else. Keep this book a secret. Why? Because it is so full of great advice and great sound-bites that it will make you a smarter marketer. You'd be stupid to share this book.)
Best Marketing Book to Generate Tactical Ideas
Two Winners
Meaningful Marketing (Doug Hall)
Could a book generate too many ideas? This one might. Seriously, if you are a marketer in search of tactical ideas - read this book.
How to Become a Marketing Superstar (Jeffrey J. Fox)
This book is chock-full of sound marketing wisdom. And for those marketing contrarians out there, you will enjoy this book immensely.
Surprise Book of the Year
Two Winners
The Brand Gap (Marty Neumeier)
A designer who understands marketing and can help you cross the bridge from logic (marketing) to magic (design).
Creating Customer Evangelists (Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba)
I would loan you my copy but you would be frustrated by all the dog-eared pages and by my notes that litter nearly every page.
The Phillip Kotler Vanguard Lifetime Achievement Award
Al Ries and Jack Trout
Best Business Strategy Book
Double-Digit Growth (Michael Treacey)
Not as ground-breaking as The Discipline of Market Leaders was, but it is still a very thought-provoking book.
Best Marketing Book of the Year
PURPLE COW (Seth Godin)
Seth gets a lot of digital ink so if you don't know who he is then you must be new to Fast Company. A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!!
Posted by John Moore at December 11, 2003 1:24 PM | Category: guest hosts: williams + moore |
5 Comments
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I have not read as many marketing books, so I have just a few choices to add:
Best Book Title
Full Frontal PR (Richard Laermer)
A fun read, too.
The Osbourne Family Award for Ubiquitousness (In a Bad Way)
Ken Blanchard
Enough.
More Compelling Than I'd Expected
True to Our Roots (Paul Dolan)
A fascinating look at how sustainability is reshaping the wine industry, and what lessons other businesses can apply from it.
If You Haven't Read It, It's New to You
Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads (Luke Sullivan)
Best guide to copywriting out there.
Best Book That Has Nothing to Do with Marketing
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
Well-done on so many levels.
"Jimi's Book of Japanese: A Motivating Method to Learn Japanese". Excellent!
Go SETH...MOO!!!
Go Seth and wait until the new one.
I agree with Double Digit Growth, lots to think about but not quite as good as Discipline of Market Leaders.
I will announce my books of the year on my site 1-5-03.
Surprise of the year. Spenser Johnson's ability to change the name of the book The Precious Present and reissue it as The Present and not change a word of the text and make a best seller.
My copy of Purple Cow is hidden so no one can borrow it. I'd like to add another book which deserves mention -- The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen.