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Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
Marketing executives and consumer advocates alike predict a future of brand-proof consumers, armed with technology and a sophisticated understanding of marketing techniques, who can effectively tune out ad campaigns. But as Rob Walker demonstrates, this widely accepted misconception has eclipsed the real changes in the way modern consumers relate to their brands of choice. Combine this with marketers' new ability to blur the line between advertising, entertainment, and public space, and you have dramatically altered the relationship between consumer and consumed.
261 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Rob Walker
57 books103 followersRob Walker is a journalist covering design, technology, business, the arts, and other subjects. He writes the Human Resource column for Lifehacker, and has contributed to The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, TheNewYorker.Com, Design Observer, The Organist, and many others. His book The Art of Noticing (Knopf) comes out in May 2019. He is on the faculty of the Products of Design MFA program at the School of Visual Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
June 21, 2008
Much more than a simple, cocktail party business book -- it's an attentive, subtle and entertaining meditation that not only uncovers the latest trends in buying, selling and marketing but also pushes readers to consider larger questions beyond these subjects. Personally, since finishing the book, I've taken a harder look at my purchases and what they mean to my larger sense of identity. Not that this is some kind of Chicken Soup for the Marketing Soul, but Walker isn't afraid to follow his many case studies and pieces of hard evidence to wherever they lead, and sometimes that means not only a critique of consumer culture but a look at contemporary American culture as a whole.
May 9, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. As a small biz owner I am often looking for ideas on how to advertise or spread the word about what I do without being unauthentic to who I am and what I do and what my overarching biz and cultural goals are. This book didn't provide me with ideas on how to advertise better, but it did offer insight into how advertising works, doesn't work, and sometimes isn't needed. Sometimes, having the best product is all that matters in the end. He does have a chapter on the indie-biz DIY movement and mentions an event I attended and has some insight that matched my own opinion. Since this book was written several years ago, the info is a bit outdated and I would love a revision/update that examines the history that has happened since then. But I would recommend this to any person who either loves advertising, or to any person who says that advertising doesn't affect them. It does, you just have to be aware of when it does.
September 9, 2015
Subtitle: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
So, there are people who make it their task to analyze the relationship between consumer and producer. They are normally in the pay of the latter, who really ought to be called "seller" because they may not actually have produced anything (e.g. Apple pays somebody else to make their electronic devices). Rob Walker, unusually, is one of these people, but not primarily as a creator of ad campaigns, but rather as someone who analyzes them from a third party perspective. In a way, he is an ad campaign critic, perhaps even a scholar of ad campaigns in the way that others are scholars of Chaucer or 20th century French existentialists.
Walker has heard a lot of talk to the effect that the internet, and the wealth of information it has made available, as well as the fact that it enables the Long Tail of catering to smaller and smaller niches, has shifted power from seller to consumer. He is, shall we say, skeptical. This book, is more or less a rebuttal to the optimistic "consumer is king" point of view.
I have a hard time getting interested in most of this stuff, myself, not because I don't think it matters (how we consume has an inordinate impact on our politics, family life, religion, ecology, happiness generally), as because I don't think much useful writing happens on this topic. So, while I was naturally predisposed to like Walker's skepticism, I was perhaps equally predisposed to be skeptical of any theory he had to put in its place. Having finished his book (which was published in 2008), and having pondered it for a bit, I believe he may have actually said something both true, and not often said.
The first thing any analysis of advertising and marketing has to acknowledge, is that the business is not entirely unchanged by the suite of technologies generally refered to as "the Internet". It turns out that newspapers were actually methods of delivering classified ads, and are going extinct at a rapid clip largely due to Craigslist. It turns out that magazines were selling ads to people who were, by and large, not getting much exposure for their money, and once Google (and its competitors) could give them pay-per-click ads, where they could know how well their ads worked, most magazines started going the way of the dodo. These are not small changes.
Walker claims to be the creator of the term "murketing", which he first used in regards to a Red Bull stunt wherein they paid young men to ride wind-powered kiteboards from Florida to Cuba. Walker noticed that there weren't many observers, and he was the only journalist, and thought this has to be the dumbest publicity stunt ever. A couple years later, having seen many similarly murky publicity manuevers by Red Bull correspond with a rocketing market share, he began to wonder what was going on, and whether or not murketing might be a valid strategy.
The first thing he convinces us of, is that any idea that we have become "immune" to advertising or brand awareness, is stuff and nonsense. There's a lot of data here, from a lot of different sources, to prove that we are at least as aware of brands as we were fifty years ago, and at least as influenced by advertising. I could recount this, but Walker has done a pretty good job of that, and anyway it wasn't something I really had any doubt of.
Second, he analyzes the equally murky psychology of what the "consumed" object means to us. I put "consumed" in quotes, because there are cases where people buy sneakers they never take out of the box, or buy high end kitchen stoves that they never turn on. Obviously, the buyer is not immune to brands or advertising, but equally obviously, they aren't buying it to be seen if they aren't wearing the shoes, or it sits in a kitchen no one but they ever see.
They also don't seem to be just buying whatever the ads tell them to buy, though. Pabst Blue Ribbon, to take one of many examples that Walker covers, came rocketing back from the edge of extinction. Close analysis of their resurrection disproves many theories for their resurgence. It was too long after "Blue Velvet"; it predated any significant ad spending by its owners, who had a history of buying dying beer brands and milking them for their remaining sales and then killing them; it was cheap, but by no means the only very cheap beer.
Walker's theory is essentially this: consumers think about brands, a lot, but they want to decide on their own images for them rather than get one assigned by advertisers. This doesn't mean they are actually thinking about the object's real value, or that they have liberated themselves from advertising, but rather that the most effective advertising is that which lets the consumer fill in the blanks themselves. If hipsters decide that PBR is their beer, or artists decide that Apple is their computer, or hip-hop urbanites decide that Timberland is their boot, it doesn't much matter that the original targets of these brands were blue collar workers or nerds. If the seller is wise or lucky enough not to try to contradict the consumer as to what their image is supposed to be, they can end up with large brand loyalty from a group of buyers they (at least initially) knew nothing about.
In this model, more advertising can actually turn off your customers, by sending too clear a message about what it means to buy the product. This doesn't mean advertising is no longer relevant, but rather that the advertising is just supposed to bring up the name again, without providing any information, even false information, about what the product is or what you should think about it. Don't keep telling hipsters that PBR is a blue collar workingman's beer, because if you succeed, the only people currently buying your beer will stop. In this model, Hello Kitty is the perfect brand, because it is a brand that gives the vague appearance of being a character, but compared to Mickey Mouse or Bart Simpson or Calvin and Hobbes, there is no character there, no back story that might conflict with what the buyer wants to project on that brand. The most distinctive thing about Hello Kitty is actually something it doesn't have (a mouth), which makes it even more of a blank canvas that the buyer can project onto. Whether they are a Japanophile nerd or a little girl who likes cute, Hello Kitty is willing to accept that image, and never contradict you.
If true, this would seem to be the final endpoint of a long evolution of advertising towards more image and less substance, to the point that even the image is almost entirely vapid and empty. The advertisers aren't even lying to you any more; you will lie to yourself, as long as they don't interrupt you with their own idea of what the product is. We don't like being told what to think, but it's not because we really want to know the truth, but rather because we want to tell ourselves our own lies about who we are and what purchases will make us that way.
I'm not totally sure if I believe it or not, but I am certain I will be thinking it over again and again in the next few years.
In his final chapter, perhaps more out of exhaustion at how negative his thesis is, Walker tells us one story that seems to hint at a movement of consumers towards independence. It is the modern craft movement, not yet at that point called Maker, but including people like the Austin Craft Mafia. It is the only suggestion that a few people are looking for a way to acquire items, and invest them with whatever meaning they wish, without buying permission to do so from the Corporate Behemoth first. He's clearly not sure if he can bring himself to believe it will work, and five years later it's still an open question, but it's useful if only to point out how the rest of the changes in consumer behavior are NOT any challenge to corporate dominance. If you're still giving nearly every penny you earn to corporations, and the things you surround yourself with nearly all your life all came from low-wage mass production factories overseas, it doesn't really matter what meaning you have projected onto them, they still (in a very real sense) own your life.
So, there are people who make it their task to analyze the relationship between consumer and producer. They are normally in the pay of the latter, who really ought to be called "seller" because they may not actually have produced anything (e.g. Apple pays somebody else to make their electronic devices). Rob Walker, unusually, is one of these people, but not primarily as a creator of ad campaigns, but rather as someone who analyzes them from a third party perspective. In a way, he is an ad campaign critic, perhaps even a scholar of ad campaigns in the way that others are scholars of Chaucer or 20th century French existentialists.
Walker has heard a lot of talk to the effect that the internet, and the wealth of information it has made available, as well as the fact that it enables the Long Tail of catering to smaller and smaller niches, has shifted power from seller to consumer. He is, shall we say, skeptical. This book, is more or less a rebuttal to the optimistic "consumer is king" point of view.
I have a hard time getting interested in most of this stuff, myself, not because I don't think it matters (how we consume has an inordinate impact on our politics, family life, religion, ecology, happiness generally), as because I don't think much useful writing happens on this topic. So, while I was naturally predisposed to like Walker's skepticism, I was perhaps equally predisposed to be skeptical of any theory he had to put in its place. Having finished his book (which was published in 2008), and having pondered it for a bit, I believe he may have actually said something both true, and not often said.
The first thing any analysis of advertising and marketing has to acknowledge, is that the business is not entirely unchanged by the suite of technologies generally refered to as "the Internet". It turns out that newspapers were actually methods of delivering classified ads, and are going extinct at a rapid clip largely due to Craigslist. It turns out that magazines were selling ads to people who were, by and large, not getting much exposure for their money, and once Google (and its competitors) could give them pay-per-click ads, where they could know how well their ads worked, most magazines started going the way of the dodo. These are not small changes.
Walker claims to be the creator of the term "murketing", which he first used in regards to a Red Bull stunt wherein they paid young men to ride wind-powered kiteboards from Florida to Cuba. Walker noticed that there weren't many observers, and he was the only journalist, and thought this has to be the dumbest publicity stunt ever. A couple years later, having seen many similarly murky publicity manuevers by Red Bull correspond with a rocketing market share, he began to wonder what was going on, and whether or not murketing might be a valid strategy.
The first thing he convinces us of, is that any idea that we have become "immune" to advertising or brand awareness, is stuff and nonsense. There's a lot of data here, from a lot of different sources, to prove that we are at least as aware of brands as we were fifty years ago, and at least as influenced by advertising. I could recount this, but Walker has done a pretty good job of that, and anyway it wasn't something I really had any doubt of.
Second, he analyzes the equally murky psychology of what the "consumed" object means to us. I put "consumed" in quotes, because there are cases where people buy sneakers they never take out of the box, or buy high end kitchen stoves that they never turn on. Obviously, the buyer is not immune to brands or advertising, but equally obviously, they aren't buying it to be seen if they aren't wearing the shoes, or it sits in a kitchen no one but they ever see.
They also don't seem to be just buying whatever the ads tell them to buy, though. Pabst Blue Ribbon, to take one of many examples that Walker covers, came rocketing back from the edge of extinction. Close analysis of their resurrection disproves many theories for their resurgence. It was too long after "Blue Velvet"; it predated any significant ad spending by its owners, who had a history of buying dying beer brands and milking them for their remaining sales and then killing them; it was cheap, but by no means the only very cheap beer.
Walker's theory is essentially this: consumers think about brands, a lot, but they want to decide on their own images for them rather than get one assigned by advertisers. This doesn't mean they are actually thinking about the object's real value, or that they have liberated themselves from advertising, but rather that the most effective advertising is that which lets the consumer fill in the blanks themselves. If hipsters decide that PBR is their beer, or artists decide that Apple is their computer, or hip-hop urbanites decide that Timberland is their boot, it doesn't much matter that the original targets of these brands were blue collar workers or nerds. If the seller is wise or lucky enough not to try to contradict the consumer as to what their image is supposed to be, they can end up with large brand loyalty from a group of buyers they (at least initially) knew nothing about.
In this model, more advertising can actually turn off your customers, by sending too clear a message about what it means to buy the product. This doesn't mean advertising is no longer relevant, but rather that the advertising is just supposed to bring up the name again, without providing any information, even false information, about what the product is or what you should think about it. Don't keep telling hipsters that PBR is a blue collar workingman's beer, because if you succeed, the only people currently buying your beer will stop. In this model, Hello Kitty is the perfect brand, because it is a brand that gives the vague appearance of being a character, but compared to Mickey Mouse or Bart Simpson or Calvin and Hobbes, there is no character there, no back story that might conflict with what the buyer wants to project on that brand. The most distinctive thing about Hello Kitty is actually something it doesn't have (a mouth), which makes it even more of a blank canvas that the buyer can project onto. Whether they are a Japanophile nerd or a little girl who likes cute, Hello Kitty is willing to accept that image, and never contradict you.
If true, this would seem to be the final endpoint of a long evolution of advertising towards more image and less substance, to the point that even the image is almost entirely vapid and empty. The advertisers aren't even lying to you any more; you will lie to yourself, as long as they don't interrupt you with their own idea of what the product is. We don't like being told what to think, but it's not because we really want to know the truth, but rather because we want to tell ourselves our own lies about who we are and what purchases will make us that way.
I'm not totally sure if I believe it or not, but I am certain I will be thinking it over again and again in the next few years.
In his final chapter, perhaps more out of exhaustion at how negative his thesis is, Walker tells us one story that seems to hint at a movement of consumers towards independence. It is the modern craft movement, not yet at that point called Maker, but including people like the Austin Craft Mafia. It is the only suggestion that a few people are looking for a way to acquire items, and invest them with whatever meaning they wish, without buying permission to do so from the Corporate Behemoth first. He's clearly not sure if he can bring himself to believe it will work, and five years later it's still an open question, but it's useful if only to point out how the rest of the changes in consumer behavior are NOT any challenge to corporate dominance. If you're still giving nearly every penny you earn to corporations, and the things you surround yourself with nearly all your life all came from low-wage mass production factories overseas, it doesn't really matter what meaning you have projected onto them, they still (in a very real sense) own your life.
December 17, 2021
Some of the anecdotes by now are obviously out of date (the most hip item in the book is the iPod and there’s no mention of the iPhone even) so you would have to read through all those to get at the gems of the ideas which are more timeless, ie, the idea that the objects we consume have meaning because of the meaning we confer onto them. Ignore the anecdotes and keep thinking about the ideas as you are reading them, and how they apply in our current landscape. Then the book becomes more relevant.
April 24, 2021
I enjoyed this for the discussion of ideas and stories of colorful characters, though it sometimes felt a little light on substance, especially Part One. I identified hard with the author, who at one time saw himself as very different from the average consumer influenced by marketing and personally attached to branding...until the day Nike purchased Converse and his beloved Chuck Taylor's no longer conveyed the message about himself he had unconsciously come to rely on.
Walker shares some really fascinating stories about how specific brands have come to symbolize what they do today and how closely those images match reality, but he also takes the next step to ask whether any disconnect matters, and that's a pretty interesting conversation too. There are classic examples, like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (now a working class-associated, social protest, "vaguely anti-capitalist" choice among the indie crowd, despite the fact that Pabst closed its PBR brewery, wiping out its blue-collar workforce, engaging in a legal battle over pension obligations to those workers and outsourcing their jobs) and Timberland boots (originally designed as serious work boots for the construction industry, the company was ambivalent at best about the co-opting of the brand by "urban" hip hop culture, leading to some soul searching among the leadership of the longstanding family-owned company), but the modern start up brands were really fun to read about too. (Young people are doing cool things out there, whether geezers like me understand it at all.) There's a lot of evidence that these days products and brands find popularity not because we consumers fit into their stories, but because specific products fit into our personal narratives. If the difference doesn't seem immediately obvious, this is a good book to start investigating these ideas.
"But why, really, did I feel so strongly about a brand of sneaker-- any brand of sneaker? I know why I rejected the swoosh. In Air Force I's, I'd feel like a brand zombie. But what I suddenly couldn't reconcile was my belief that I could project my individuality through some other brand."
Walker shares some really fascinating stories about how specific brands have come to symbolize what they do today and how closely those images match reality, but he also takes the next step to ask whether any disconnect matters, and that's a pretty interesting conversation too. There are classic examples, like Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (now a working class-associated, social protest, "vaguely anti-capitalist" choice among the indie crowd, despite the fact that Pabst closed its PBR brewery, wiping out its blue-collar workforce, engaging in a legal battle over pension obligations to those workers and outsourcing their jobs) and Timberland boots (originally designed as serious work boots for the construction industry, the company was ambivalent at best about the co-opting of the brand by "urban" hip hop culture, leading to some soul searching among the leadership of the longstanding family-owned company), but the modern start up brands were really fun to read about too. (Young people are doing cool things out there, whether geezers like me understand it at all.) There's a lot of evidence that these days products and brands find popularity not because we consumers fit into their stories, but because specific products fit into our personal narratives. If the difference doesn't seem immediately obvious, this is a good book to start investigating these ideas.
August 2, 2023
Published back in 2008, this book remains shockingly relevant. The phenomenon that Walker dubs “murketing” (in which companies create buzz and advertising basically using reality TV editing tactics and word-of-mouth influencers) is still very much with us. What was once murky has maybe cleared up a bit in some cases (Youtubers announcing early into sponsored videos that they are, indeed, sponsored, Instagram requiring users to make sponsorships clear in posts), but still exists as a way for advertisers to jump over people’s distaste for being sold things. Of course, celebrity endorsements are still with us, like Matt Damon telling you about historical “adventurers” before talking up the then hot crypto scheme or whatever more recent example is to your liking. Nonetheless, I was surprised by how much of an early notion of today’s influencer culture Walker outlines in this book.
I mean, I had picked it up off of the small Ontario town used bookstore shelf after seeing it there on a few consecutive visits thinking maybe this would help me see the origins of the phenomenon, but I had thought it would be a laughably dated take on “murketing”’s roots. Something like an established marketing/sociology writer prognosticating some sort of wild future that could never really happen. Instead, Walker is level-headed throughout. He goes so far as to just outright say, in the book’s final chapters, that people do want to buy “green” but unless such choices are convenient, well-priced, and available, they’re more than happy to just keep buying what they’ve always bought. I didn’t expect the book to end on such a downer note, but here we are.
For what he says about consumer culture and how our individual takes on the phenomenon (for Walker believes none are truly able to escape that culture here in the Global North) shape us and our self-presentations, this is truly a curious read. It might have been more potent back in 2008, but sometimes, reminders of what has sprung up around you are just as good as predictions of what is about to envelop you.
I mean, I had picked it up off of the small Ontario town used bookstore shelf after seeing it there on a few consecutive visits thinking maybe this would help me see the origins of the phenomenon, but I had thought it would be a laughably dated take on “murketing”’s roots. Something like an established marketing/sociology writer prognosticating some sort of wild future that could never really happen. Instead, Walker is level-headed throughout. He goes so far as to just outright say, in the book’s final chapters, that people do want to buy “green” but unless such choices are convenient, well-priced, and available, they’re more than happy to just keep buying what they’ve always bought. I didn’t expect the book to end on such a downer note, but here we are.
For what he says about consumer culture and how our individual takes on the phenomenon (for Walker believes none are truly able to escape that culture here in the Global North) shape us and our self-presentations, this is truly a curious read. It might have been more potent back in 2008, but sometimes, reminders of what has sprung up around you are just as good as predictions of what is about to envelop you.
September 5, 2017
This book doesn't seem to be thick, but contains so important message about how the marketing evolved. He gave many examples from Red Bull, Timberland, Ipod, Living Strong, the Hip-Hop generation...etc to explain the whole development between producers and consumers.
We are in the murketing era ( def. from wikipedia: murketing is an advertising strategy that avoids direct sales of a product and focuses instead on vagaries such as marketing buzz, brand identity and publicity.). The commercial and ads need to use implicit way to attract consumer's buying desire.
It mentioned a book written a century ago named: The theory of the leisure class. conspicuous consumption..I think this phenomenon is getting enlarged. People nowadays spent 3 months salary on a brand bag not for utility, but for showing off, to prove that they are capable to seemingly live in a different class.
This book is worth to read it twice. I will get back to absorb more in the near future.
We are in the murketing era ( def. from wikipedia: murketing is an advertising strategy that avoids direct sales of a product and focuses instead on vagaries such as marketing buzz, brand identity and publicity.). The commercial and ads need to use implicit way to attract consumer's buying desire.
It mentioned a book written a century ago named: The theory of the leisure class. conspicuous consumption..I think this phenomenon is getting enlarged. People nowadays spent 3 months salary on a brand bag not for utility, but for showing off, to prove that they are capable to seemingly live in a different class.
This book is worth to read it twice. I will get back to absorb more in the near future.
December 31, 2019
3.5 stars. This was a good book. I don't quite know what the point was but it was filled with a lot of anecdotes and examples of different businesses that made it a decent listen.
Notes:
The first brand logo believed to have been worn on the outside of a garment is some La Crost crocodile from a French tennis player in the 1920s.
A logo acquires its meaning through the product it is attached to or those who wear the product.
I never liked that stupid Ecko brand because it was associated with hip-hop.
The more you find reasons that the object was found relevance to your own stories, the more you find rationale to buy it.
Meaning flows from consumer to product not the other way around.
Once something has been given to us we value it more.
In a free market the consumer has the most powerful weapon - not buying.
You surround yourself only with who you are.
Notes:
The first brand logo believed to have been worn on the outside of a garment is some La Crost crocodile from a French tennis player in the 1920s.
A logo acquires its meaning through the product it is attached to or those who wear the product.
I never liked that stupid Ecko brand because it was associated with hip-hop.
The more you find reasons that the object was found relevance to your own stories, the more you find rationale to buy it.
Meaning flows from consumer to product not the other way around.
Once something has been given to us we value it more.
In a free market the consumer has the most powerful weapon - not buying.
You surround yourself only with who you are.
February 4, 2018
Consumerism Explained (sort of)
I hardly ever rate a book five stars. The book must have really rocked my world in some way. This was a “PrettyGood” book, a concept he discusses. It was written in 2007, so no doubt much has changed, but many of the people and methods of consumerism are still alive and working. If you are interested in why people buy the things they do and what kind of force consumerism is in the world, this is a good read and rather more optimistic than might be the norm.
I hardly ever rate a book five stars. The book must have really rocked my world in some way. This was a “PrettyGood” book, a concept he discusses. It was written in 2007, so no doubt much has changed, but many of the people and methods of consumerism are still alive and working. If you are interested in why people buy the things they do and what kind of force consumerism is in the world, this is a good read and rather more optimistic than might be the norm.
January 17, 2018
This might be close to 10 years old but there's still plenty of relevance here. The rise of influencers, murketing and priming continue to have an insidious presence, coupled with marketers' astute understanding of the psychological thrill of acquisition and our delusions of "control" and "uniqueness".
March 2, 2019
fun books about brands and image associated with it, and how consumers inturn effect the brand. murkerting is the act of marketing towards a less specific market, due to the fact that the consumers make their own interpretation, the history of PBR is super interesting seen as how it has set up to fail slowly.
February 21, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It’s easy to understand and it gives great understanding on the history of items that were once non existent and are now household items.
Gave me new perspective on marketing and makes me look at my own spending habits.
Easy to read, and would definitely recommend.
Gave me new perspective on marketing and makes me look at my own spending habits.
Easy to read, and would definitely recommend.
February 28, 2023
Published 2008, so already dated in some of its perspectives. Uneven — some flashes of brilliant insight, but also some takes that feel shallow and unthoughtful. Quite disorganized, typical of books by journalists that are quilted together from reporting and essays spread across many years. Glad I read it, but I’m a marketer and feel obligated to. Not recommended for most readers.
December 6, 2022
Felt more like a history of marketing than anything that would give you tangible insight into how to structure your marketing efforts for your business. Also feels rather dated by many examples being pre-2000.
March 5, 2019
Very interesting concept and brilliant start, however the author failed to sustain the interest. Towards the end of book it became a case study of different companies' marketing campaigns.
October 9, 2020
I think most business-related books would be better if they were limited to 100 pages. This book included.
November 11, 2021
Interesting book. I did read a version from the 2000's though, so many things are outdated.
March 13, 2017
I dig this stuff.
February 27, 2009
from the library c2008 murketing.com
Everything I have read so far is great. e-ching reading
ch 1 the pretty good problem is what is there to choose when the field is full of adequate competiters
"the goal of the rational consumer is 'maximize utility'"
the desire code:utility, economical, and authentic
authentic is "you can't help but be attracted to them because they lived by their instincts." referring to some skateboarders who started a youth culture
authentic competes with invented symbolic meaning
Our world is riddled with logos and symbols because we desire and need them.
We all want to feel like individuals AND we all want to feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves......wh leads to the tension that the Desire Code resolves
part one the desire code
part two murketing
ch5
ch6 Rebellion unsold.....a segment about the beer industry and Portland p98
ch9 the murkiest common denominator...quotes Jackson Lears "The recurring motifin the cultural history of American advertising could be characterized asthe attempt to conjure up the magic of self transformation through purchase while at the same time containing the subversive implication s of a successful trick." send this quote to Rob
part three invisible badges
Table of Contents
introduction xi
part one the desire code 1
one The Pretty Good Problem
3
two The Straw Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
21
three Rationale Thinking
35
four Ignoring the Joneses
51
part two murketing 71
five Chuck Taylor Was a Salesman
79
six Rebellion, Unsold
96
seven Click
115
eight Very Real
134
nine The Murkiest Common Denominator
145
ten The Commercialization of Chitchat
165
eleven The Brand Underground
189
part three invisible badges 209
twelve Murketing Ethics
215
thirteen What's the Matter with Wal-Mart Shoppers?
230
fourteen Beyond the Thing Itself
249
acknowledgments 263
additional source notes 265
index 275
The Purple Cow Seth Godin what sells is what is remarkable. Besides being pretty good, a product has to have novelty. Innovation as such is not good enough.
The hero and the outlaw : building extraordinary brands through the power of archetypes Margaret Mark
Paradox of choice Barry Schwartz
quote from Library Whether buying a pair of jeans or applying to college, everyday decisions, big and small, have become increasingly complex due to the abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction--but choice overload can make you question your decisions before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for failures. This can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and stress. In this book, social scientist Schwartz explains at what point choice--the hallmark of individual freedom that we so cherish--becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. He offers practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.--From publisher description.
ISBN: 0060005688
Fables of Abundance A Cultural History of Advertising in AmericaSomething for Nothing Luck in AmericaT.J. Jackson Lears
Everything I have read so far is great. e-ching reading
ch 1 the pretty good problem is what is there to choose when the field is full of adequate competiters
"the goal of the rational consumer is 'maximize utility'"
the desire code:utility, economical, and authentic
authentic is "you can't help but be attracted to them because they lived by their instincts." referring to some skateboarders who started a youth culture
authentic competes with invented symbolic meaning
Our world is riddled with logos and symbols because we desire and need them.
We all want to feel like individuals AND we all want to feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves......wh leads to the tension that the Desire Code resolves
part one the desire code
part two murketing
ch5
ch6 Rebellion unsold.....a segment about the beer industry and Portland p98
ch9 the murkiest common denominator...quotes Jackson Lears "The recurring motifin the cultural history of American advertising could be characterized asthe attempt to conjure up the magic of self transformation through purchase while at the same time containing the subversive implication s of a successful trick." send this quote to Rob
part three invisible badges
Table of Contents
introduction xi
part one the desire code 1
one The Pretty Good Problem
3
two The Straw Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
21
three Rationale Thinking
35
four Ignoring the Joneses
51
part two murketing 71
five Chuck Taylor Was a Salesman
79
six Rebellion, Unsold
96
seven Click
115
eight Very Real
134
nine The Murkiest Common Denominator
145
ten The Commercialization of Chitchat
165
eleven The Brand Underground
189
part three invisible badges 209
twelve Murketing Ethics
215
thirteen What's the Matter with Wal-Mart Shoppers?
230
fourteen Beyond the Thing Itself
249
acknowledgments 263
additional source notes 265
index 275
The Purple Cow Seth Godin what sells is what is remarkable. Besides being pretty good, a product has to have novelty. Innovation as such is not good enough.
The hero and the outlaw : building extraordinary brands through the power of archetypes Margaret Mark
Paradox of choice Barry Schwartz
quote from Library Whether buying a pair of jeans or applying to college, everyday decisions, big and small, have become increasingly complex due to the abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction--but choice overload can make you question your decisions before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for failures. This can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and stress. In this book, social scientist Schwartz explains at what point choice--the hallmark of individual freedom that we so cherish--becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. He offers practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.--From publisher description.
ISBN: 0060005688
Fables of Abundance A Cultural History of Advertising in AmericaSomething for Nothing Luck in AmericaT.J. Jackson Lears
December 22, 2008
“Buying In” is about the role consumers play in modern advertising (or as Walker calls it, the “commercial persuasion” industry). Whereas in the past consumers were presented with a marketing message by the advertising company, consumers now have a much greater ability to shape that message. Through numerous examples of business that employ this “murketing” strategy (a neologism that conveys the murky quality of modern marketing), we see how companies can no longer expect to force a particular message about their product onto customers. In other words, the top-down approach to selling a product is disappearing, being replaced by something much more complex.
I won't go into a synopsis of all the various ideas and anecdotes in “Buying In”. It's an easy and enjoyable read, and even if you consider yourself a fairly savvy consumer you could probably learn a lot from it. One of the interesting insights has to do with the reasons we buy what we buy; while most of us claim to buy a particular product for a rational reason, the reality is that most of us buy something and then rationalize why we did so. This discrepancy between our presumed “rational” behaviour and our actual “rationale” behaviour is an interesting phenomenon. As I read it, I found myself wanting to believe that I was not one of the rationale buyers that Walker was talking about. I like to think that I buy things for a good reason and give appropriate amount of thought to my purchases. But of course that's not true of me and it's not true of you. Denying that we are affected by advertising is likely to make us more susceptible to marketing messages. This sort of consciousness raising is what makes a book like this useful.
It has not escaped my notice that this review, and Goodreads as a whole, is exactly the sort of marketing that Walker describes in his book. I get no direct benefit from writing this review, except the chance to possibly influence others, while the author and the publisher stand to benefit financially if someone reads my review and goes out to buy the book. And yet I'm happy to do it. I enjoy encouraging people to read books that I find interesting (as I suspect do most people on Goodreads), and I enjoy telling people to avoid lousy books. Some people might bristle at the idea of becoming an unpaid shill for a corporation, but I think they have it wrong. By definition, we communicate in order to influence other people's behaviour. Influencing others about what they buy, use, listen to, read, etc is normal human behaviour. Companies are completely within their rights to tap into this preexisting drive (so long as there is some kind of system in place to ensure that companies do not take advantage of people and are not promoting their products deceptively).
My only real beef with this book is that, while describing consumer behaviour as being post-hoc “rationale” decision-making, the author does the exact same thing throughout the book when describing various brands that have become popular due to murketing. He offers no predictions or suggestions for how other companies could do the same. Just after-the-fact rationalizations and explanations for why certain brands have become successful (whatever that means). The whole notion of murketing could be bunk, for all we know, because the book presents no prospective research into the effectiveness of this approach. While this books has many of the trappings of pop consumer psychology, it would best be described as pop consumer history. The various stories and theories in this book are interesting but they simply don't help us to make predictions about the future.
Oh, and “Buying In” was scooped by theonion.com 5 years ago: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/...
I won't go into a synopsis of all the various ideas and anecdotes in “Buying In”. It's an easy and enjoyable read, and even if you consider yourself a fairly savvy consumer you could probably learn a lot from it. One of the interesting insights has to do with the reasons we buy what we buy; while most of us claim to buy a particular product for a rational reason, the reality is that most of us buy something and then rationalize why we did so. This discrepancy between our presumed “rational” behaviour and our actual “rationale” behaviour is an interesting phenomenon. As I read it, I found myself wanting to believe that I was not one of the rationale buyers that Walker was talking about. I like to think that I buy things for a good reason and give appropriate amount of thought to my purchases. But of course that's not true of me and it's not true of you. Denying that we are affected by advertising is likely to make us more susceptible to marketing messages. This sort of consciousness raising is what makes a book like this useful.
It has not escaped my notice that this review, and Goodreads as a whole, is exactly the sort of marketing that Walker describes in his book. I get no direct benefit from writing this review, except the chance to possibly influence others, while the author and the publisher stand to benefit financially if someone reads my review and goes out to buy the book. And yet I'm happy to do it. I enjoy encouraging people to read books that I find interesting (as I suspect do most people on Goodreads), and I enjoy telling people to avoid lousy books. Some people might bristle at the idea of becoming an unpaid shill for a corporation, but I think they have it wrong. By definition, we communicate in order to influence other people's behaviour. Influencing others about what they buy, use, listen to, read, etc is normal human behaviour. Companies are completely within their rights to tap into this preexisting drive (so long as there is some kind of system in place to ensure that companies do not take advantage of people and are not promoting their products deceptively).
My only real beef with this book is that, while describing consumer behaviour as being post-hoc “rationale” decision-making, the author does the exact same thing throughout the book when describing various brands that have become popular due to murketing. He offers no predictions or suggestions for how other companies could do the same. Just after-the-fact rationalizations and explanations for why certain brands have become successful (whatever that means). The whole notion of murketing could be bunk, for all we know, because the book presents no prospective research into the effectiveness of this approach. While this books has many of the trappings of pop consumer psychology, it would best be described as pop consumer history. The various stories and theories in this book are interesting but they simply don't help us to make predictions about the future.
Oh, and “Buying In” was scooped by theonion.com 5 years ago: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/...
June 8, 2015
Does what we buy define who we are? I won't tell you the punch line, you'll have to read to the last line of Walker's book to find the answer.
This is a popular study of marketing and consumers--why we buy, and how marketing affects what and how we choose to buy. Walker considers and rejects the two extremes often supposed to be true today:
--consumers (especially younger ones) are cynical and way too smart to buy the marketing hype.
--marketing is so smart and pervasive that nothing we buy is "authentic" (whatever that means; Walker spends some interesting time thinking about this) or meets an authentic need.
Consumers are smart today, no question, says Walker, and they understand marketing and hype--and buy anyway, sometimes even turning branding into an act of individualism or rebellion. In fact, Walker gives the example of Timberland boots, originally designed by manual laborers who needed tough waterproof boots, but were adopted by hip-hop artists and fans who drove sales to record levels and essentially co-opted the brand.
And marketing has gotten smarter too in the age of "clicks" (the mouse, the remote control, the DVR fast forward that bypasses marketing that doesn't hit home immediately). Walker references icons such as Apple and the iPod, stressing that the iPod was not first, cheapest, or necessarily technically superior to other MP3 players when introduced, although he misses a key point in the technical and marketing success of the iPod--iTunes, which both explains the iPods success, and adds another layer of mystery to Apple's business model for the iPod. An iPod, and any MP3 player, is really just a portable storage drive (either a rotating hard drive or a flash memory drive); people buy iPods (we own four of them in our family of five!) because of the utility value of the iTunes software, which is available for free download and is in fact of such utility that I (like many other iTunes users) had downloaded it and started using it to rip and listen to my music before I got my first iPod. I've always been fascinated by a business model that bases sales of an expensive product on a component of even higher utility--that is given away! It would be interesting to hear Walker's take on this.
Walker coined the term "Murketing" (murky + marketing) for the successful use of stealth marketing concepts that promote brands and brand loyalty without rising to the level of hard-core selling. In fact, murketing is successful only up to a level that is still under the consumer's radar--a level Walker calls the "murkiest common denominator."
But this book is not as dry or textbook as my review may be making it sound. Walker's interviews, writing style and examples are fascinating (we all are consumers and most of us enjoy doing it, after all) and his conclusion (you'll have to read to the end of the book) is interesting. I will say that along the way he considers consumer responses such as ethical consumerism (whatever THAT means, and again he has some ideas) and handcrafted production, and even references Rick Warren's immensely popular book The Purpose Driven Life and his Saddleback Church as positive examples of why and how we relate to each other and our beliefs (or the products we buy). And its not about materialistic Christianity, quite the opposite.
This is a popular study of marketing and consumers--why we buy, and how marketing affects what and how we choose to buy. Walker considers and rejects the two extremes often supposed to be true today:
--consumers (especially younger ones) are cynical and way too smart to buy the marketing hype.
--marketing is so smart and pervasive that nothing we buy is "authentic" (whatever that means; Walker spends some interesting time thinking about this) or meets an authentic need.
Consumers are smart today, no question, says Walker, and they understand marketing and hype--and buy anyway, sometimes even turning branding into an act of individualism or rebellion. In fact, Walker gives the example of Timberland boots, originally designed by manual laborers who needed tough waterproof boots, but were adopted by hip-hop artists and fans who drove sales to record levels and essentially co-opted the brand.
And marketing has gotten smarter too in the age of "clicks" (the mouse, the remote control, the DVR fast forward that bypasses marketing that doesn't hit home immediately). Walker references icons such as Apple and the iPod, stressing that the iPod was not first, cheapest, or necessarily technically superior to other MP3 players when introduced, although he misses a key point in the technical and marketing success of the iPod--iTunes, which both explains the iPods success, and adds another layer of mystery to Apple's business model for the iPod. An iPod, and any MP3 player, is really just a portable storage drive (either a rotating hard drive or a flash memory drive); people buy iPods (we own four of them in our family of five!) because of the utility value of the iTunes software, which is available for free download and is in fact of such utility that I (like many other iTunes users) had downloaded it and started using it to rip and listen to my music before I got my first iPod. I've always been fascinated by a business model that bases sales of an expensive product on a component of even higher utility--that is given away! It would be interesting to hear Walker's take on this.
Walker coined the term "Murketing" (murky + marketing) for the successful use of stealth marketing concepts that promote brands and brand loyalty without rising to the level of hard-core selling. In fact, murketing is successful only up to a level that is still under the consumer's radar--a level Walker calls the "murkiest common denominator."
But this book is not as dry or textbook as my review may be making it sound. Walker's interviews, writing style and examples are fascinating (we all are consumers and most of us enjoy doing it, after all) and his conclusion (you'll have to read to the end of the book) is interesting. I will say that along the way he considers consumer responses such as ethical consumerism (whatever THAT means, and again he has some ideas) and handcrafted production, and even references Rick Warren's immensely popular book The Purpose Driven Life and his Saddleback Church as positive examples of why and how we relate to each other and our beliefs (or the products we buy). And its not about materialistic Christianity, quite the opposite.
August 25, 2008
I work for an advertising/media company (albeit one that thinks of itself as a technology company), so I was very interested to read a glowing review of this book about marketing in the New York Times a few weeks ago.
This book is an attempt to sum up the latest trends in marketing and to shine some light on the American consumer's twisted and complex relationship with the concept of "brand."
The most shocking thing I learned in this book (which seems sort of obvious to me know) is that every generation is lamented as being too advertising savvy and therefore too hard to market to. I remember reading these articles back in 1989 about how my generation (Generation X) is just too hard to market too, and being sort of proud of this in a weird way.
Well, after reading a quote from Dorothy Parker mocking claims that the youth of her time are impossible to market to, I now realize that the exact opposite is true. Rob Walker, the author, then sketches an interesting connection between children of immigrants helping their parents adapt to America and the focus on marketing to youth today.
Mr. Walker uses the term "murketing" to describe the latest, counterintuitive marketing techniques that companies are gradually beginning to master and turn to their advantage. Converse, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Timberland, Red Bull, and others are used as fascinating case studies to back this up.
(Aside: The term "murketing" is so clunky and annoying that I wonder if Mr. Walker's colleague at the Times, Thomas Friedman, came up with it. It just sounds like him. But don't be put off by this term. "Murketing" is no "freakonomics.")
A running theme in the book is the complex relationship that America has with brands. There is an interesting section that shows how Nike is able to have it both ways -- being a mainstream brand and having ultra trend-setters lining up for limited edition sneakers at the same time.
In fact the discussion about the concept of "brand" is so convoluted that it becomes difficult to tell which statements are from marketing agencies, performance artists, Fortune 500 executives, early hip-hop heroes, or skate punks. Somehow what we get from the brands that surround us has become such a part of us that it takes great effort just to bring it to our conscious minds.
I'm only scratching the surface of what is covered in this book. I highly recommend reading it, even though once you finish it you won't be able to trust casual conversation with acquaintances again.
This book is an attempt to sum up the latest trends in marketing and to shine some light on the American consumer's twisted and complex relationship with the concept of "brand."
The most shocking thing I learned in this book (which seems sort of obvious to me know) is that every generation is lamented as being too advertising savvy and therefore too hard to market to. I remember reading these articles back in 1989 about how my generation (Generation X) is just too hard to market too, and being sort of proud of this in a weird way.
Well, after reading a quote from Dorothy Parker mocking claims that the youth of her time are impossible to market to, I now realize that the exact opposite is true. Rob Walker, the author, then sketches an interesting connection between children of immigrants helping their parents adapt to America and the focus on marketing to youth today.
Mr. Walker uses the term "murketing" to describe the latest, counterintuitive marketing techniques that companies are gradually beginning to master and turn to their advantage. Converse, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Timberland, Red Bull, and others are used as fascinating case studies to back this up.
(Aside: The term "murketing" is so clunky and annoying that I wonder if Mr. Walker's colleague at the Times, Thomas Friedman, came up with it. It just sounds like him. But don't be put off by this term. "Murketing" is no "freakonomics.")
A running theme in the book is the complex relationship that America has with brands. There is an interesting section that shows how Nike is able to have it both ways -- being a mainstream brand and having ultra trend-setters lining up for limited edition sneakers at the same time.
In fact the discussion about the concept of "brand" is so convoluted that it becomes difficult to tell which statements are from marketing agencies, performance artists, Fortune 500 executives, early hip-hop heroes, or skate punks. Somehow what we get from the brands that surround us has become such a part of us that it takes great effort just to bring it to our conscious minds.
I'm only scratching the surface of what is covered in this book. I highly recommend reading it, even though once you finish it you won't be able to trust casual conversation with acquaintances again.
August 24, 2008
Takes a look at marketing from a different perspective. Basically the idea is that brands used to be defined by their companies. Today brands are defined by the individuals that decide to consume the product. What happens is that companies now purposefully keep their brand vague so that different demographics will apply their own meaning and story to the brand. This leads to Red Bull and PBR, which do nothing to define their brand and so a ton of disparate groups adopt them as their own.
As a book though it was only alright. There was no central thread. Or at least it was so illdefined that I couldn't find it.
Quotes:
"The modern relationship between consumer and consumed-what I'm calling murketing- is defined not by rejection at all, but rather frank complicity."
"Brand knowledge," the researchers concluded, had a "dramatic effect...on subjects' behavioral preference."
"Maybe we live in a world riddled with logos because symbols are something that we enjoy, desire, and even need."
"We all want to feel like individuals. We all want to feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves. Resolving that tension is what the Desire Code is all about."
"It doesn't actually matter whether those personal stories are objectively true; what matters is that they're consistent."
"The vice president of industrial design, spent about ten minutes telling me about the iPod's packaging-the way the box opens, how the foam is cut, the unusually thin and flexible FireWire cable, about the 'taut, crisp' cradle..."
"We consciously think about making great products. We don't think, 'Let's be innovative!'"
Pg 97. They were saying the same things about consumer control over the market and invulnerability to marketing...in 1939. It's all been said before.
"PBR had no image...It was a kind of blank canvas, where brand meaning could be filled in by consumers."
"Let the rationale thinkers spot the pattern that works for them and fill in all the blanks."
"Large-group celebrations-like worship services in arena size churches-give people the feeling that they are a part of something significant. They're also impersonal. The small affinity groups, on the other hand, are perfect for creating a sense of intimacy and close fellowship."
As a book though it was only alright. There was no central thread. Or at least it was so illdefined that I couldn't find it.
Quotes:
"The modern relationship between consumer and consumed-what I'm calling murketing- is defined not by rejection at all, but rather frank complicity."
"Brand knowledge," the researchers concluded, had a "dramatic effect...on subjects' behavioral preference."
"Maybe we live in a world riddled with logos because symbols are something that we enjoy, desire, and even need."
"We all want to feel like individuals. We all want to feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves. Resolving that tension is what the Desire Code is all about."
"It doesn't actually matter whether those personal stories are objectively true; what matters is that they're consistent."
"The vice president of industrial design, spent about ten minutes telling me about the iPod's packaging-the way the box opens, how the foam is cut, the unusually thin and flexible FireWire cable, about the 'taut, crisp' cradle..."
"We consciously think about making great products. We don't think, 'Let's be innovative!'"
Pg 97. They were saying the same things about consumer control over the market and invulnerability to marketing...in 1939. It's all been said before.
"PBR had no image...It was a kind of blank canvas, where brand meaning could be filled in by consumers."
"Let the rationale thinkers spot the pattern that works for them and fill in all the blanks."
"Large-group celebrations-like worship services in arena size churches-give people the feeling that they are a part of something significant. They're also impersonal. The small affinity groups, on the other hand, are perfect for creating a sense of intimacy and close fellowship."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2012
Through measurable social science studies, observations and interviews, and a sprinkling of pure conjecture, Rob Walker deconstructs the relationship between ourselves and our stuff in Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are.
I’ve maintained a keen interest in corporate marketing (which I now know to call the consumer persuasion industry) since my law school days, when I supplemented my meager student loan and part-time work income by participating in market research studies for corporations such as Procter and Gamble and the Kroger Company, as well as a variety of cosmetic brands. I was fascinated by what I learned about the consumer persuasion industry’s research into consumer psychology that drives marketing and its study of shoppers’ habits, omitting no detail starting with logos and branding to physical product placement in the stores. This interest has directed a lot of my pleasure reading, with industry insider books such as Candy Freak, and my avid viewing of documentaries dealing with consumer goods. I was too far indebted to the government for my law school education by the time I realized I was in the wrong business.
Walker’s exposition of corporate subjects included a number of those to whom I possess brand loyalty, and it really made me think about at least what I thought were my reasons for “buying in.” According to Walker, people my age who buy my make and model of car -- whose target market was the younger Generation Y – do so because “crass, clumsy marketing” works on us. He reports on study after study that have often surprising outcomes, like a blind soda taste-test where the visually branded soda beat out the “competition,” which just so happened to be the same product in an unlabeled container. The power of suggestion, along with the persuasion of the memories (sometimes false) and feelings that we attach to “our brands,” are undeniable, and always interesting to have revealed.
I think with this knowledge, I’m more introspective and aware of the persuasive tactics being used in what Walker coins as “murketing” (murky marketing), but the fact is, I’m a sucker for Diet Coke.
I’ve maintained a keen interest in corporate marketing (which I now know to call the consumer persuasion industry) since my law school days, when I supplemented my meager student loan and part-time work income by participating in market research studies for corporations such as Procter and Gamble and the Kroger Company, as well as a variety of cosmetic brands. I was fascinated by what I learned about the consumer persuasion industry’s research into consumer psychology that drives marketing and its study of shoppers’ habits, omitting no detail starting with logos and branding to physical product placement in the stores. This interest has directed a lot of my pleasure reading, with industry insider books such as Candy Freak, and my avid viewing of documentaries dealing with consumer goods. I was too far indebted to the government for my law school education by the time I realized I was in the wrong business.
Walker’s exposition of corporate subjects included a number of those to whom I possess brand loyalty, and it really made me think about at least what I thought were my reasons for “buying in.” According to Walker, people my age who buy my make and model of car -- whose target market was the younger Generation Y – do so because “crass, clumsy marketing” works on us. He reports on study after study that have often surprising outcomes, like a blind soda taste-test where the visually branded soda beat out the “competition,” which just so happened to be the same product in an unlabeled container. The power of suggestion, along with the persuasion of the memories (sometimes false) and feelings that we attach to “our brands,” are undeniable, and always interesting to have revealed.
I think with this knowledge, I’m more introspective and aware of the persuasive tactics being used in what Walker coins as “murketing” (murky marketing), but the fact is, I’m a sucker for Diet Coke.
May 20, 2014
This book was a great beginning point for those who are interested in marketing. Everything stated in a book about effective marketing and whatnot should be taken with a grain of salt because it is never so simple.
This book uses case studies to help prove the authors point. And these case studies lead to some very interesting conclusions about mankind.
Reading this I came across a few lines that I thought would help someone get a feel for this book.
"Branding is really a process of attaching an idea to a product." (8)
"...the key to cracking the Desire Code lay in the object: To attract Consumer Economicus, build something that helps people solve a problem, or do a job, better than before." (36)
"...salience- the mere awareness that a thing exists in the world- is such a big part of what the commercial persuasion industry aims to achieve." (58)
"...these critics say we glom onto symbols and objects as a means of impressing, or even competing with, an audience. It's a never-ending game of 'status-oriented one-upmanship" in which we 'just want to stand out, or at least not look bad, compared to other people,"" (64)
"Rational thinking, one speaker noted that morning, leads to conclusions, whereas emotional thinking, based not on deliberation but on following impulsive gut instincts, leads to actions." (69)
"The simple act of not buying something has always been- and remains- the form of consumer power that brand managers fear the most" (80)
"So to sell something like Axe, he concluded, "you have to become part of pop culture."" (133)
"...lots of people like to tell others what they are reading and what restaurant they've discovered and what gizmo they just bought." (173)
"The implication is that it doesn't matter if you know what you're talking about, as long as you are willing to talk a lot." (179)
"...brands can play a role in the stories we tell about ourselves and help us resolve the tension between individuality and belonging." (213)
"You are what you surround yourself with." (253)
"If you are a terminal materialist, you surround yourself with what you wish you were." (255)
Good luck on deciding whether to purchase this book or not.
This book uses case studies to help prove the authors point. And these case studies lead to some very interesting conclusions about mankind.
Reading this I came across a few lines that I thought would help someone get a feel for this book.
"Branding is really a process of attaching an idea to a product." (8)
"...the key to cracking the Desire Code lay in the object: To attract Consumer Economicus, build something that helps people solve a problem, or do a job, better than before." (36)
"...salience- the mere awareness that a thing exists in the world- is such a big part of what the commercial persuasion industry aims to achieve." (58)
"...these critics say we glom onto symbols and objects as a means of impressing, or even competing with, an audience. It's a never-ending game of 'status-oriented one-upmanship" in which we 'just want to stand out, or at least not look bad, compared to other people,"" (64)
"Rational thinking, one speaker noted that morning, leads to conclusions, whereas emotional thinking, based not on deliberation but on following impulsive gut instincts, leads to actions." (69)
"The simple act of not buying something has always been- and remains- the form of consumer power that brand managers fear the most" (80)
"So to sell something like Axe, he concluded, "you have to become part of pop culture."" (133)
"...lots of people like to tell others what they are reading and what restaurant they've discovered and what gizmo they just bought." (173)
"The implication is that it doesn't matter if you know what you're talking about, as long as you are willing to talk a lot." (179)
"...brands can play a role in the stories we tell about ourselves and help us resolve the tension between individuality and belonging." (213)
"You are what you surround yourself with." (253)
"If you are a terminal materialist, you surround yourself with what you wish you were." (255)
Good luck on deciding whether to purchase this book or not.
September 21, 2012
I tend to think that I'm a pretty intelligent person, and more or less immune to marketing gimmicks and whatnot. So when I read the opening of Buying In, where Rob Walker states that polls show that 77% of people asked said they're "more aware" of marketing efforts than others, and 66% said they're "better critical thinkers than their typical peer," I decided maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am.
Based on that, I then expected the book to be much more about ways that we're tricked into buying things, or thinking we need certain things, and for me to think, "Damn! I *was* fooled! I'm *not* immune!" but it wasn't so much about that. Or maybe I just really am smart enough to see that his examples of marketing/murketing (murky + marketing) really are marketing strategies. Maybe I *am* more aware of marketing efforts and smarter than my typical peer. :D
But Buying In is a really interesting book. It discusses different types of marketing strategies--like sponsoring niche events, targeting niche markets like gamers and the hip-hop crowd, and word-of-mouth marketing, where people are hired simply to talk up products to their friends, acquaintances, and strangers; the idea of the product defining the consumer vs. the consumer defining the product; corporate ethics; conspicuous consumption vs. invisible branding; buying for who we are vs. buying for who we *wish* we were; etc. I found it all really interesting. Basically, how products and their marketing influence our lives.
(But I do wish there were pictures. There are lots of times that Walker discusses a product or an advertisement, and I wish I could see what he's talking about, so I can get a better sense of his point.)
Based on that, I then expected the book to be much more about ways that we're tricked into buying things, or thinking we need certain things, and for me to think, "Damn! I *was* fooled! I'm *not* immune!" but it wasn't so much about that. Or maybe I just really am smart enough to see that his examples of marketing/murketing (murky + marketing) really are marketing strategies. Maybe I *am* more aware of marketing efforts and smarter than my typical peer. :D
But Buying In is a really interesting book. It discusses different types of marketing strategies--like sponsoring niche events, targeting niche markets like gamers and the hip-hop crowd, and word-of-mouth marketing, where people are hired simply to talk up products to their friends, acquaintances, and strangers; the idea of the product defining the consumer vs. the consumer defining the product; corporate ethics; conspicuous consumption vs. invisible branding; buying for who we are vs. buying for who we *wish* we were; etc. I found it all really interesting. Basically, how products and their marketing influence our lives.
(But I do wish there were pictures. There are lots of times that Walker discusses a product or an advertisement, and I wish I could see what he's talking about, so I can get a better sense of his point.)
December 7, 2009
I was really expecting to like this book more - the premise was far more interesting than the book itself.
My main complaints are that it felt disorganized to me - Walker would be discussing murketing in the 80's for example (murketing = murky marketing), and then switch gears to discussing brands, only to jump back to talking about murketing in the 90's. There was too much back and forth between time periods and topics, which gave the overall feeling of disconnectedness. There was also a lot more relating to the history of marketing than I was expecting.
Some things I like include the many anecdotes about specific people, companies, and products - those are the memorable things for me. Walker did a nice job of exploring some aspects of why brands and logos speak to us so loudly and create the desire in us to own them. There was extensive discussion on counter- and sub-cultures, which felt a bit played out by the last third of the book.
I felt like I read the whole book just waiting on Walker to offer an explanation for why some brands boom and others only bust - some small answers were given (i.e. a very plausible explanation for Hello Kitty's sucess), but was left feeling underwhelmed. Like I accompanied Walker on this long, drawn-out journey only for the last page to be turned and for him to say, "Well, we're not really sure. It just seems to be one of those intangible things that defies reason or explanation. But thanks for sticking with me through all that."
I'm glad I read it, though. There was some interesting insights and anecdotes, but I was expecting more.
My main complaints are that it felt disorganized to me - Walker would be discussing murketing in the 80's for example (murketing = murky marketing), and then switch gears to discussing brands, only to jump back to talking about murketing in the 90's. There was too much back and forth between time periods and topics, which gave the overall feeling of disconnectedness. There was also a lot more relating to the history of marketing than I was expecting.
Some things I like include the many anecdotes about specific people, companies, and products - those are the memorable things for me. Walker did a nice job of exploring some aspects of why brands and logos speak to us so loudly and create the desire in us to own them. There was extensive discussion on counter- and sub-cultures, which felt a bit played out by the last third of the book.
I felt like I read the whole book just waiting on Walker to offer an explanation for why some brands boom and others only bust - some small answers were given (i.e. a very plausible explanation for Hello Kitty's sucess), but was left feeling underwhelmed. Like I accompanied Walker on this long, drawn-out journey only for the last page to be turned and for him to say, "Well, we're not really sure. It just seems to be one of those intangible things that defies reason or explanation. But thanks for sticking with me through all that."
I'm glad I read it, though. There was some interesting insights and anecdotes, but I was expecting more.
February 8, 2017
"Buying In" presents most of its information in examples of brands and their marketing. The examples are excellently chosen and very fascinating, from Red Bull to PBR to Timberland to Converse to Kia. However, the book is a bit dated and could use more relevant examples. For example, American Apparel is referenced, but from about 2006, and since then a lot has changed with the company's ethics, how they market themselves, and the owner's sexual proclivities.
I'd lump the book in with other pop science books I've read. It's a great book to learn a bit more, and the info you'll retain is the kind that's useful in a lot of conversations and tangents. It also reads easily and doesn't posit any wild, academic, or jargon-y ideas. It really does fall flat with the second clause of its title, though, and that is why I read the book in the first place. "What we buy and who we are" is simply not covered. The author does mention a few anecdotes about how we like to buy new things, but they grow old faster than we expect, which sends us out to buy more new things, leavings an overlap of junk and an underlying sense of dissatisfaction, but I think this premise takes up a single paragraph toward the end of the book. There's no real mention of the psychology of why we, as humans and supposed individuals, buy the things we buy. The slant is more about how the marketing appeals to buyers, which is legit and relevant. I just think the title is misleading. It would be great if the author came out with a new edition that was more current.
I'd lump the book in with other pop science books I've read. It's a great book to learn a bit more, and the info you'll retain is the kind that's useful in a lot of conversations and tangents. It also reads easily and doesn't posit any wild, academic, or jargon-y ideas. It really does fall flat with the second clause of its title, though, and that is why I read the book in the first place. "What we buy and who we are" is simply not covered. The author does mention a few anecdotes about how we like to buy new things, but they grow old faster than we expect, which sends us out to buy more new things, leavings an overlap of junk and an underlying sense of dissatisfaction, but I think this premise takes up a single paragraph toward the end of the book. There's no real mention of the psychology of why we, as humans and supposed individuals, buy the things we buy. The slant is more about how the marketing appeals to buyers, which is legit and relevant. I just think the title is misleading. It would be great if the author came out with a new edition that was more current.
January 23, 2016
The message of Buying In is that while modern consumers have becomes smarter and more discriminating, they are nonetheless embracing brands like never before.
Despite cynicism in general toward the persuasion industry and new technologies that allow people to bypass advertising in some contexts (using TiVo, DVRs, website ad blockers), author Rob Walker contends that people are increasingly finding value by bringing their own meanings and interpretations to brands. Using varied examples including Hello Kitty, Timberland, Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Red Bull, and the iPod, Walker cites case after case where the consumer brings her own meaning to the brand, often ascribing an interpretation totally unanticipated by the company owning and marketing the brand. Bottom up interest in pink Timberlands is just one of many examples from the text.
This phenomenon has led to what Walker calls "murketing", partially a range of tactics that blur the lines of the traditional sales pitch, but also a whole new, closely-connected relationship between consumer and brand. Murketing includes brands quietly sponsoring extreme sports and music, tapping popular youth as commercial persuaders, and facilitating buzz agents to push products in everyday conversation.
I've only touched on what you'll find in Buying In, but if you have any interest in what we buy and why, like me, you will probably find this fascinating.
You can also learn more about the author and find links to his popular "Consumed" column at http://www.robwalker.net/contents/con....
Despite cynicism in general toward the persuasion industry and new technologies that allow people to bypass advertising in some contexts (using TiVo, DVRs, website ad blockers), author Rob Walker contends that people are increasingly finding value by bringing their own meanings and interpretations to brands. Using varied examples including Hello Kitty, Timberland, Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Red Bull, and the iPod, Walker cites case after case where the consumer brings her own meaning to the brand, often ascribing an interpretation totally unanticipated by the company owning and marketing the brand. Bottom up interest in pink Timberlands is just one of many examples from the text.
This phenomenon has led to what Walker calls "murketing", partially a range of tactics that blur the lines of the traditional sales pitch, but also a whole new, closely-connected relationship between consumer and brand. Murketing includes brands quietly sponsoring extreme sports and music, tapping popular youth as commercial persuaders, and facilitating buzz agents to push products in everyday conversation.
I've only touched on what you'll find in Buying In, but if you have any interest in what we buy and why, like me, you will probably find this fascinating.
You can also learn more about the author and find links to his popular "Consumed" column at http://www.robwalker.net/contents/con....
December 4, 2009
Rob Walker, who writes an always intriguing NY Times column on marketing and consumer culture, pulls together what he has learned about brands, beliefs and what we buy in well-structured discussion with a number of fascinating stories. The book would still be worth the read if it contained only Walker’s expanded versions of his columns recounting unusual brand stories such as Hello Kitty (the secret to the logo’s power is its missing mouth), Red Bull (built by spending $100mil on goofy underground stunts) and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (a fake brand that became popular by celebrating the real American working man). It would also be worth the read for the discussion of online organizations that recruit, without pay mind you, hundreds of thousands of regular people to push products (sausages, books, cologne, etc). to their friends. Maybe this review was done under the auspices of one of these firms – you have no way of knowing. Walker also tries to knit all of these dynamics and anecdotes into a cohesive discussion of what they say about human behavior and values. His conclusions are compelling if not exactly shocking (i.e., people are willing to shill products to their friends for no money because they like being part of the larger marketing effort and first access to soon-to-be-released products gives them a sense of superiority). You should buy this book and you should try this delicious, organic, healthy new sausage…
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