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As the advertising industry's Dave Barry, Garfield has written the influential ad criticism column "AdReview" for Ad Age for 17 years and is cohost of NPR's On the Media. His first book, aimed at advertising pros, is a brazenly funny take on the industry practices that Garfield loves to hate. "Most advertising is unnecessarily terrible," he writes, proceeding to enumerate the reasons why: a misguided emphasis on rule breaking and originality; misuse of sex, celebrities, humor, special effects and profundity; lack of contact with consumers; and sheer bad taste and immorality. Garfield supports his claims with passionate attacks on specific ads. Calvin Klein turns out "thinly disguised kiddie porn," while McDonald's "we love to see you smile" campaign is "preposterously false." The criticism, however, isn't always consistent. Garfield occasionally knocks highly successful ads, e.g., CK's famous Brooke Shields jean ads. Furthermore, he praises campaigns that violate his own prohibitions. Garfield's apparent ego (he less-than-wittily compares himself to God and declares, "[W]ith well in excess of a thousand ads subjected to my pitiless scrutiny, I've really blown the call only eleven or twelve times") can also wear thin. Oddly, the critic loosens his choke hold on the industry in the final chapter, ineffectually defending it against other critics and halfheartedly attempting to restore the pride of the very audience he has been so busy mocking. Despite the weak finish, though, Garfield offers a mostly humorous and hard-hitting book.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This third edition of a classic aimed at generalist users and creators of advertising services is written in the tradition of David Ogilvy's Confessions of an Advertising Man. The authors (Kenneth Roman is former chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide; Jane Maas is chairman emeritus of Earle Palmer Brown; Martin Nisenholtz is CEO of New York Times Digital) acknowledge their debt to David Ogilvy and his philosophy of research, results, creative brilliance, and professional discipline. How to Advertise is organized in two parts: "What to Say - and Where to Say It" and "Getting the Message Out."

The style is succinct and to the point: "Advertising is the art of delivering a sales proposition in an attention-getting, involving vehicle and positioning the product uniquely in the consumer's mind." The book is also well organized with short chapters and multiple headings and checklists.

The biggest change that has occurred since the previous (1992) edition is, of course, the emergence of the Internet. Although the predictions of the demise of "advertising as we know it" have proved premature, the Internet is having a significant impact (albeit as an enabling technology, not a disruptive one). The authors emphasize the continuity of the Web with other advertising media and the need to integrate the messages into an overall brand strategy.

If you want to catch up on the state of the art in thinking about advertising, you can't do better than using How to Advertise. [strategy+business annotation]

For a searchable repository of market data check out our Market Research Center

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Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating advertising that truly connects with consumers. While many in the industry are still dissecting consumer behavior, extrapolating demographic trends, developing complex behavioral models, and measuring Pavlovian salivary responses, Steel advocates an approach to consumer research that is based on simplicity, common sense, and creativity--an approach that gains access to consumers' hearts and minds, develops ongoing relationships with them, and, most important, embraces them as partners in the process of developing and advertising.

A witty, erudite raconteur and teacher, Steel describes how successful account planners work in partnership with clients, consumer, and agency creatives. He criticizes research practices that, far from creating relationships, drive a wedge between agencies and the people they aim to persuade; he suggests new ways of approaching research to cut through the BS and get people to show their true selves; and he shows how the right research, when translated into a motivating and inspiring brief, can be the catalyst for great creative ideas. He draws upon his own experiences and those of colleagues in the United States and abroad to illustrate those points, and includes examples of some of the most successful campaigns in recent years, including Polaroid, Norwegian Cruise Line, Porsche, Isuzu, "got milk?" and others.

The message of this book is that well-thought-out account planning results in better, more effective marketing and advertising for both agencies and clients. And also makes an evening in front of the television easier to bear for the population at large.

A common-sense course in how to write advertising copy that gets people to buy your product or service, written by a plain-speaking veteran mail order copywriter in 1960.

Best part: 100 “archetypal” headlines that people are still using in various forms today to create new controls (e.g., “When Doctors Feel Rotten, This is What They Do”).