Recommended reading: Reviving retail and a call to arms for digital advertisers

Omnichannel Retail: How to build winning stores in the digital world

By Tim Mason (with Miya Knights)

Whether it’s the launch of Clubcard or Tesco.com, Tim Mason has a wealth of retail experience, especially when it comes to combining the digital and physical shopper journey. The former Tesco marketing director and deputy CEO, has spent over 20 years at the forefront of retail and in his first book has provided a guide to help others streamline their customers’ experience.

In Omnichannel Retail, Mason notes that while bricks-and-mortar stores are in the midst of a crisis as more consumers shift to internet shopping, that this doesn’t mean the death of high street shopping.

He argues that bricks-and-mortar stores are not dying but need to be enhanced using personalisation and by exploiting surge pricing. Through practical advice and real-world examples this book promises to show how a data-driven approach can increase loyalty and enhance customer experience both online and offline.

Is Advertising What’s Wrong With the Web? @WFAmarketers #GMW19 #DigitalSense

By Jerry Daykin

Jerry Daykin, head of global media partnerships at GSK, is calling for the ad industry to be less black and white when it comes to digital advertising.

In a recent LinkedIn post he summaries what he learnt at the World Federation of Advertisers in Lisbon last week calling for a more nuanced attitude to advertising online.

Citing a panel on the issue, he notes that marketers are too quick to leap to the industry’s defence rather than taking a critical look at the ways advertising can hinder rather than help more vulnerable people on the internet.

While acknowledging that an alternative to the online ad-supported model wasn’t brought up he argues that marketers need to start promoting a more positive expression of the web. This includes considering when it is better not to advertise and taking more control over where ads appear and what they support.

He ends with a challenge: “Advertising is responsible for a lot of the things we and our consumers do find increasingly annoying about the internet, are we honest enough with ourselves to work together and fix that?”

READ MORE: Is Advertising What’s Wrong With the Web? @WFAmarketers #GMW19 #DigitalSense

The Art of Communication: How to be Authentic, Lead Others, and Create Strong Connections

By Judy Apps

Communicating can be tricky but The Art of Communication promises to teach everyone – no matter their experience – how to be a more confident and engaging speaker.

Judy Apps notes that whether you are a confident speaker who struggles with small-talk or a great networker who hates being on stage, most people have a specific hang-up when it comes to speaking.

She promises to help people with a range of issues and uses neuroscience to explain how people need to engage “right brain skills of creativity” including intuition and spontaneity to become expert conversationalists.

App argues that there is untapped potential in all of us when it comes to the art of communication and promises that by reading this book you can build cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural connections and build deeper connections.

You don’t have to be CEO to be a visionary leader

By Ronald N Ashkenas and Brook Manville

Becoming a visionary leader isn’t something that only belongs to CEOs and CMOs, those in middle management also have a plethora of opportunities to enact real change within a company.

As someone further down the company, these professionals are more connected to customers and can provide a bridge between senior leadership and consumers. Using real-world examples from the World Bank and IBM, Ashkenas and Manville provide a convincing argument that no matter your position you have power.

The article concludes with four guiding principles when thinking about how to become a visionary leader, including getting a clear, concrete idea of what that vision is and sharing the decision-making process.

READ MORE: You don’t have to be CEO to be a visionary leader