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Advertising For Skeptics
£4.50
A bounty of heretical, unpopular, and aberrant thoughts about the ad industry. Bob Hoffman, author of Amazon #1 sellers “BadMen” and “Laughing@Advertising” looks at advertising’s “decade of delusion” and comes away a skeptic. What went wrong? Just about everything.
“For 161 pages, Mr. Hoffman puts forth an all-out assault against the ills of the advertising industry. He details its hubris, delusions…egos and genuflection of data, drops them all into a garbage can, and lights it on fire.” Communication Arts
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Additional information
| Publisher | LLC (10 Mar. 2020), Type A Group |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 2210 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 181 pages |
by Amazon Customer
There’s billions (or maybe even trillions) of investor dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs riding on the idea that targeted ads work. If you have a pension fund you will quite likely find a non-trivial percentage of your savings are somehow bound up in the concept of targeted ads working without you even realising it. Pointing out that maybe, just maybe the targeted ads don’t work quite as effectively as … well, advertised … is heretical because the financial incentives are so heavily stacked against that suggestion. It’s an Emperors New Clothes situation.
I assume Bob bought thousands of online ads for this book but I actually found it from a mention somewhere in the depths of the comments on a post on Hacker News. I knew I’d probably agree with the content before I bought it and I really handed over my £4.62 to be able to shout “You tell ’em Bob” as I was reading.
The online ad industry really doesn’t get enough scrutiny from the perspective of whether targeting ads really is an effective technique.
by Bheath Boy
This books connects with my experiences as a brand owner. Mr Hoffman sets them out in an enjoyable, humorous and direct way. Straight to the point and no holds barred. From my experience he is spot on but the marketing world, agencies and millions of “experts” will not agree. This is a book I purchased having read Mr Hoffman’s blog and realising that there was someone out there calling BS to many in the industry. I am sure his view will be mirrored by many small/medium business owners around the world and I recommend anyone wanting to look at marketing in a real world way to buy this book and see things from the other side. As a person that finds it frustrating when agencies and gurus cherry pick leading brand case studies to make their points, this book is refreshing. We need to look at the failures and why they failed. That is where the answers might be hiding and we can learn more than the one in a million shooting stars. 5 stars for honesty and for swimming against the tide.
by Donal O’Dea
Short, simple, easy to grasp book on everything that’s wrong with the advertising industry and a few simple ways that it might repair itself. If you’re a Planner, Account Handler, Marketing Manager or Media Buyer this is well worth reading. I’ve attended one of Bob’s talks in Ireland a few years ago. He’s got a great way of getting his message across in an irreverent, passionate and humorous way.
by Jeremy T.
All that’s wrong about marketing, advertising and media planning laid bare. Bob Hoffman calls it out. Erudite and hugely entertaining.
by beeworkz
This is a great book, and the only reason I gave 4-stars is the low quality of the paper-back print.
Edit: You know what, forget the quality of the print, it still deserves 5 star.