Recommended reading: Improving brand health and spotting opportunities

Marketing Week reviews the latest books and articles for marketers.

books reading

Eat Your Greens: Fact based thinking to improve your brand’s health

By Wiemer Snijders

This book has already sparked a lot of buzz despite not being released until next month. It comprises a collection of 35 essays from great marketing thinkers such as Byron Sharp and Marketing Week columnists Mark Ritson and Helen Edwards that explore how marketers can do their jobs better by using marketing science. Each author has chosen a different subject, which range from the application of behavioural economics to advertising, short- versus long-term thinking and why it’s a mistake to become obsessed with digital playthings – all of which are underpinned by the need for fact-based marketing.

This is Marketing: You can’t be seen until you learn to see

By Seth Godin

Are you fed up with counting retweets, tallying up Instagram views and the general obsession with social media metrics? So is Seth Godin. In his new book he argues that great marketing is based around emotion and this is where the focus should be. Offering practical advice Godin explains marketing tactics that can be applied to any sector and across any channel. Through a series of anecdotes Godin looks to teach readers a whole host of tools, including how to identify your smallest viable audience, how to spot opportunities and building trust with your target market.

Competing with Giants

By Phuong Uyen Tran, co-authored by Jackie Horne and John Kador

Imagine being offered $2.5bn for your company, in a deal that would become largest merger and acquisition deal in your country. Now imagine turning that down. This is exactly what the owners of Vietnamese green tea company Tan Hiep Phat (THP) did when Coca-Cola approached them in 2012. THP is now Vietnam’s largest privately-owned FMCG company and in this book its deputy CEO argues it wasn’t luck but a core set of values that made the business reject the deal and propel it to success, explaining how readers can apply the same strategy to their business.

Is This the End of Data? And Digital Marketing? #DigitalSense

By Jerry Daykin

Data and high-school sex aren’t normally talked about in the same breathe, but Diageo’s head of media partnerships make a compelling case for why they should be. The thing they have in common? In both cases, everybody says they’re doing it and doing it well, when in reality nobody is. In this article he explores the effects of GDPR and other privacy regulations on third-party data. While this has caused a reduction in the amount of data available to marketers he argues the data that is left is likely far higher quality.

READ MORE: Is This the End of Data? And Digital Marketing? #DigitalSense

Leading from Purpose: Clarity and the Confidence to Act When It Matters Most

By Nick Craig

It seems that purpose is all anyone is talking about. From plastic to Pepsi every brand is looking for their greater meaning and in this book Nick Craig asks readers to think about what their personal purpose is? He says purpose is “the essence of who we are as individual” and can provide grounding in the fast-paced work environment. From professional to personal Craig argues that the best leaders have purpose and claims he can help people find theirs. Senior executives from brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Heineken and Unilever also divulge their stories about how purpose has helped them lead.

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