The Waste Makers

The Waste Makers by Vance Packard

I often think of older products being made to last longer with higher quality, replaceable parts. However, this book, written ini 1960, laments the poor quality and planned obsolescence at the time.  I guess no matter how bad things are now, they can get worse. Some areas seem to be carrying right on with the tend line outlined. Other areas may have gotten a bit carried away. He praises Japan for getting population growth under control. They sure did. Now there population has been declining rapidly. 

Much of the waste is in the mindset. Companies want people to buy new things. They update products frequently to drive new sales. They add gimmicks (such as fins on cars) that differentiate, even at the expense of greater resource consumption. Media has become part of the marketing machine. (It was interesting to read that there may have been an alternative. We take the influence of media so much for granted today.) So much of our society is predicated on waste. On one hand it is depressing. However, it does mean there is a lot of area for improvement.

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan

This short book already feels dated. It also shows how much that technology has changed. The book explores the career of the Grateful Dead and how each aspect of their marketing strategy has been applied in the "modern" world. The Dead were a band of a different era. Cassette tapes, mail newsletters and VW busses were the tehch of the day. It is interesting to read how the Dead went their own way and created a loyal following. The tech companies mentioned as "modern" companies are less interesting. Most of the examples are still around in some sense, but out of the positive zeitgeist. Going counter-culture can be useful, but it must come from a company's internal DNA rather then being slapped on. 

Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception

Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller

The economy is driven increasingly by getting people to do things that are not necessarily in their best interest. Marketers encourage people to buy things. Politicians get people to vote for them. A temptation of a quick fix or an ideal solution can encourage somebody to make the plunge. It may provide some benefit, but it is often far from an equally balanced transaction.

Regulators are involved in the game to prevent excessive dishonesty. However, for each regulation there is a loophole. An argument can be made with granule of truth. Perhaps a single anecdote is put forth that is honest, but doesn't come close to representing the whole case. The regulated are often heavily involved in writing the regulations. They are the experts. It also benefits them to have strict rules, especially if these rules make it difficult for others to enter.

There are plenty of examples of "pholish" behavior. In the financial world, consumers are suckered into paying outsize fees for everything from houses to credit cards. Drugs are a big mess with complicated studies and side effects that are difficult for the experts, let alone lay-people to understand. Tobacco companies were able to sow the seed of doubt for many years, delaying tight regulation. Even the loss of a big lawsuit helped excuse them from further liability. Some traders became extremely profitable trading junk bonds, using a kernel of truth from a previous study.

The book provides many concise example of "phoolish" behavior, where people do things outside of their best interest. This is a supplement to the utility-maximization theory of economics which helps explain the unexplainable.

Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple's Success

Is this book a biography, a memoir, or a business book? Perhaps it could even go into self-help. The author is an advertising guy who had worked for a number of tech accounts, including Apple. He is proud of the work on Apple (and even claims to have helped name the 'iMac' which led to i-everything.) There is discussion about advertising campaigns that succeeded as well as those that failed miserably. (There were both for the iPod). There is also plenty of discussion of Steve Jobs and how is personality would be very direct and abrasive, but would take feedback to get things best.

Apple is compared to Intel. The later had an attention to detail and strived to be defect free. They would seek the perfect advertising campaign, with many committees formed to achieve it. Apple would let people run with it, and try to hope the lawyers could work out any problems. Some campaigns would fail, but that is part of the came.

Underneath all of this attention to Apple is the discussion of simplicity. Making things simple is hard. It is easier to write verbosely with sesquipedalians than to be short and concise. Adding many different products to catch different markets seems like the easy way out. However, it can confuse customers and lead to internal turmoil. Sometimes sacrificing short term revenue in the name of simplicity can be beneficial in the long term. Apple has become one of the most valuable companies on the planet. How much has the quest for simplicity contributed to that?

Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation

Fascinate talks about the 7 triggers that fascinate people. People tend to have one that is the primary one that they use and one that they do not use. Using a different trigger can help make something more fascinating. However, it can also be a negative if it is too far apart. The triggers include Power, Passion, Mystique, Prestige, Alarm, Rebellion and Trust. (Though in this edition, Lust and Vice were used instead of Passion and Rebellion. Almost seems to be a turn away from the "fascinating.) Different attempts to make more money can often backfire in reducing the rarity of items. Negative publicity can often usefully inspire people to seek out something. A lot of marketing and media today seems to be based on fascinating, even if it does not seem to be explicitly doing it.
The book contains some applications for individuals, but is primarily focused on business and marketing.

Purple Cow

Purple cows are so unusual that you can't help put notice them. In this book, Seth Godin argues that businesses need their "purple cow" to differentiate themselves. However, he also cautions that their must be some meat behind it to keep it from becoming too common place. (A purple cow store stood out and was known for its great service. However, as it expanded it lost it's service edge, and became "normal".

The author spends a lot of time saying that the "TV" era is over and that you can't force somebody to like something just by buying a huge amount of ads. You must actually make something that stands out and that people remember and like.

It all seems like common sense. Perhaps people that have been entrenched in the marketing world too long started adopted to their tried paradigms and forgot the real purpose for what they were doing. This book reminds them that there has to be some meat behind the marketing. For the rest of us, there is really not much here.