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Why Does The Pedlar Sing?: What Creativity Really Means in Advertising
£16.70£19.00 (-12%)
Throughout history, selling and entertainment have gone hand in hand – from the medieval pedlar and the medicine show, to generations of TV commercials featuring song and dance, comedy, and cartoon animals, right up to today s celebrities who launch their own multi-million dollar brands. There are good reasons for this; we now understand better than ever before the psychological and sociological reasons why apparent frivolity creates serious business benefits.
And yet the advertising business today seems reluctant to embrace its powerful links with popular culture. Misled on one side by managerial myths of rationality and logic, and on the other by a cultish misunderstanding of creativity , it risks forgetting how to appeal to the public, and how to build successful brands. As a result, evidence suggests, today s advertising is less liked and less effective than ever before.
But it is not too late to reverse this trend. Advertisers and agencies who read this book will rediscover why the pedlar sings, and despite what we ve all been told, why people do buy from clowns. They will be inspired to make their advertising more popular, more famous, more fun again and much more effective.
This is a fabulous book. …It is possibly the book I would most highly recommend to anyone in marketing. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy
And yet the advertising business today seems reluctant to embrace its powerful links with popular culture. Misled on one side by managerial myths of rationality and logic, and on the other by a cultish misunderstanding of creativity , it risks forgetting how to appeal to the public, and how to build successful brands. As a result, evidence suggests, today s advertising is less liked and less effective than ever before.
But it is not too late to reverse this trend. Advertisers and agencies who read this book will rediscover why the pedlar sings, and despite what we ve all been told, why people do buy from clowns. They will be inspired to make their advertising more popular, more famous, more fun again and much more effective.
This is a fabulous book. …It is possibly the book I would most highly recommend to anyone in marketing. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy
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Additional information
| Publisher | Matador (16 Feb. 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 264 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1800462522 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1800462526 |
| Dimensions | 13.97 x 1.3 x 21.59 cm |
by Paul Dervan
If I could give this 6 stars I would. Paul Feldwick is the wisest man in advertising. I genuinely believe this will become one of the most important advertising books ever written.
by Jamie
I have just finished reading Paul Felwick’s excellent book ‘Why Does the Pedlar Sing’.
It is both marvellously instructive & delightful to read ( as is his book ‘The Anatomy of Humbug’ ).
It should be compulsory reading for all marketing & advertising newbies & old hacks who need reminding what the whole thing is really about.
Maybe it’s because I was born in Lytham-St Anne’s & grew up in Blackpool, but this is my favourite little gem from it on brands & branding.
To me, at least, it sums up what the whole thing is about.
‘It is in this realm of the tangible and specific, and ( by some judgements ) the ephemeral, the cliched and the vulgar, that most marketing has done its effective work throughout the past century and a half’
I love it & hope that this post has , in some small way, help to further propogate Paul & his ideas, & make them even more famous & popular.
by Paul Cash
What a belter of a book from Feldwick. I downloaded the Audio version and couldn’t wait to go for a 2hr walk every day to get my fix of his dulcet tones. The book dances between two themes; Salesmanship and Showmanship and how the later is sadly lacking in modern advertising. As a B2B marketeer the themes covered were as relevant to my industry as our B2C cousins, citing great minds like Orland Wood, Bryon Sharp and Jenni Romaniuk. You won’t be disappointed.
by F. Perillo
Why do campaigns work? Why is some stuff more memorable than others? Why do so many brands feature furry animals or characters? Why was the greatest showman also a great ad man? Why should fame be the real ambition of every brief? Why does an industry that worships ‘creativity’ be so bad at defining it, yet alone creating it? Why don’t the public care about ads nowadays? Why do some people have all the luck? Why did Gerry wear that dress? Why, if you work in advertising, haven’t you read this thoroughly entertaining, meticulously researched book so that you can become better at your job? Seriously. Why?
by Mr. R. D. Cox
Why should you read Why Does The Pedlar Sing?: What Creativity Really Means in Advertising, by Paul Feldwick.
Simple, because Mr Feldwick provides the answer, the ultimate answer to the ultimate question about advertising, what needs to change in agencies in order to make advertising more effective.
And the answer is simple and fivefold:
1: hire better people
2: win more awards
3: work more hours
4: streamline human resource processes
5: Bazinga! – None of the above.
There is a big clue in the title of the book.
When someone looks back on their career, it can often be a case of “the older I get, the better I was”, there is none of that in Mr Feldwick’s book, but there is gallons of self-criticism which is really informative and insightful.
I want to recommend booking audio version. It’s often a mistake if the author reads that own book, but in this case Mr Feldwick does an excellent job, a first rate read/listen with the added pleasure of superb timing.
by Alison Turner
This is a wonderful book. Paul puts forward his thoughts on why the advertising industry is struggling at the moment and it makes very compelling reading. He also goes into the “truth” about some of the wonderful campaigns he worked on in the past, which is really refreshing – as we all know it was almost never the way we post-rationalise it! This thinking ties in with other leading edge marketing thinking, such as that from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute on the importance of mental availability, but it also underlines the importance of likeability & entertainment to successful communications campaigns. It should be compulsory reading for everyone working in advertising today. I really loved it.