One Plus One Equals Three
By Dave Trott
Reviewed by Will Abbott, marketing director at Hiscox UK
I’m a fan of Dave Trott's column inCampaign. It’s a masterclass in brevity: elegant in its economy. His latest book, One Plus One Equals Three, follows the same format. It’s a collection of fascinating anecdotes and stories drawing from Trott's own life, Hollywood, football, medieval history and much more. Each delivered in his characteristically punchy, lean copy.
The stories all have a simple but thought-provoking message linked to the idea encapsulated in the book’s title: that embracing new experiences and broadening our understanding beyond our current, narrow, fields allows us to think differently and leads to new ideas, new possibilities and, ultimately, greater creativity.
The Science of Why
By David Forbes
Reviewed by Andrew Hawkins, managing director, Doner
Let me declare a few prejudices.
Since the days I studied at the feet of the great Phillip Kotler, I have always believed that marketing in all its forms is essentially the real-life, practical application of economics, but explained with a new glossary of terms.
The same holds true for the work of Gladwell, Dubner, Levitt and Kahneman, which has, justifiably, got our industry excited about behavioural economics.
What they, and other great business writers share, is the ability to keep things simple, interesting, and useful. That is what the The Science of Why, by David Forbes, sets out to do.
Click here to read full review
Do Purpose by David Hieatt
By David Hieatt
Reviewed by Jonathan Earle, head of customer strategy and development at Telefónica.
I happened upon David Hieatt and his company by chance. A friend commented on LinkedIn about this cool website that allows you to choose the music that his factory should be listening to when making jeans – because jeans and music are a marriage in heaven and Hieatt runs a jeans company.
His story is more involved than that, though. Cardigan in Wales used to make jeans. They then had to close the factory and Hieatt wanted to bring jeans back to this part of the UK and create 400 jobs in the process. He is very well-equipped to write about the importance of purpose.
I don't read much – I am not one of those who has my head in a book on leadership, on the way ants work together as teams to be the most effective unit possible. I know I should, but I just don't.
Big Social Mobile
By David F Giannetto
Reviewed by Richard Townsend, managing director and co-founder of Circus Street
It has become increasingly obvious in recent years that digital transformation is the biggest challenge facing businesses. No longer is it enough to simply adopt new platforms and technologies as they come along. Only by anticipating them and placing them at the very heart of a business can sustainable success be achieved in a modern media market.
David F Giannetto’s book picks up this idea and runs with it – highlighting that how a business uses big data, social media and mobile technology are key signs of a successful digital enterprise.
Jolt
By Richard Tyler
Reviewed by Mike Etherington, former UK and Ireland marketing director, Lenovo
The predicament we all face as marketers today is how we can make our companies stand out from the crowd.
Universal kudos is always given to the likes of Apple, GoPro, Red Bull and Coke for their creative and innovative marketing campaigns, but what learnings can we take from them and how can we use this information to improve our own work?
Jolt aims to inspire and effect the type of behavioural change needed for us to upgrade our own thinking in order to drive extraordinary success.
