Just like me, you’ve probably wondered: is Brian Halligan and David Meerman Scott’s new book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, a gimmick or a classic? Well, it’s a little of both. The gimmick grabs you, but it’s the content that makes it a classic.
Full disclosure: so I’m a huge fan of the authors, and have seen more than one human’s fair share of Dead shows, but that’s where the bias ends. This one hits it on the head because it taps into what makes for a good marketing tome these days.
- It’s short, small and sweet. The book clocks in at lightweight and simple-to-fit-in-your carry on. There’s no filler in here so you won’t find yourself wondering which 100 pages were written just to meet a page count minimum.
- It’s readable forwards, backwards and flippable (-wards). Smart writing and quick tidbits make flipping to any page a marketing-factoid payoff.
- It visually stimulates. This book is chock full of fabulous photos (I love the one of Bobby on his Blackberry iphone) and wonderful illustrations. And a great cover makes it a perfect talk piece for your office coffee table.
- The Lessons really pay off. The title more than teases – there is a series of really rich marketing takeaways here and I’m guessing this is a book that you’ll be able to pull value from for many years to come.
So now what?
Well, jeez, click this link to get a copy!
Shameless plug, and second full disclosure: I wrote a piece on Grateful Dead’s marketing machine (as compared to Falco’s…seriously) in The Word of Mouth Manual Volume II, a few years back. Download it FREE, here – the Dead stuff starts at about page 95.
Since you are a marketing guy AND a Deadhead, I’m thrilled you rated our book “classic.” Gimmicks? Yeah, a few. Did you find the hidden secret message?
BTW – Bobby would be appalled to think the photo looks like a blackberry. It’s an iPhone of course.
Thanks so much for the post.
David