Rating: 
Summary: Smart Marketing for the Future
Review: Faith Popcorn's EVEolution is so on-target and so long-awaited! As a female consumer, I've often been frustrated with the lack of relationship I feel with companies whose brands/products I purchase. The willingness has been there on my part, but often is not a priority with companies. EVEolution spells it out for companies, giving them a step-by-step on how to communicate with women consumers. It's a profoundly simple - and thus brilliant - manifesto on using relationships to bond consumers to your brand. Particularly compelling is the Eighth Truth, Everything Matters: You Can't Hide Behind Your Logo. This Truth explains how women are looking for transparent brands - we want to know EVERYTHING about a company before we buy one of its products. We are deeply interested in knowing how they treat their employees, how much and to whom they donate money, how many women are on the Board, etc. Women buy from and stay loyal to companies who share their values. EVEolution is a must-read for anyone in business - be it a two-person company you're running out of your basement or a multinational, multibillion-dollar company. Understanding your female consumers (and employees) is the key to future success.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Truths Amid the Fluff and Arrogance
Review: Faith Popcorn's EVEolution lays out some very important, practical principles (she calls them truths) for effectively marketing to women. How one would deliver on the truths of connecting women to each other, marketing to all of her lives, making sure she doesn't have to ask, marketing to her peripheral vision, etc. will be very different for a personal care brand versus money management brand. Nevertheless, if appropriately applied, these truths can make a brand more successful. I have seen results first hand. The key to getting through this book is keeping the above in mind while wading through what in the end should be considered several minor flaws, even though they tend to dominate the pages of the book. Notwithstanding several good case examples (e.g., Saturn), the book is filled with an array of very loosely thought out ideas that are so easy to poke holes into, they may leave the reader questioning whether or not following the truths really works. Faith also, based on my marketing experience, correctly claims that "women don't bond with brands that market to them in an overly aggressive way. A full frontal attack isn't the way to turn a woman on." However, the entire book is presented via an "in your face" approach, which will likely turn off some women (and some men for that matter). And finally, Faith attempts to make the case that women are superior to men... on all levels. I would agree that women are superior in many aspects, but they are neither superior nor inferior overall. This approach tends to diminish her credibility. Nevertheless, Faith has keen insight into the way women think and operate. It's really true that "women don't buy brands, they join brands." Therefore, we must do all we can to join our brands in every way possible. Faith's 8 Essential Truths provide unique insight on how to achieve this. Creative, appropriate application of these principles to your band or business is up to you. It actually takes hard work, but as I said before, it will deliver results. For this reason alone, the book is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Truths Amid the Fluff and Arrogance
Review: Faith Popcorn's EVEolution lays out some very important, practical principles (she calls them truths) for effectively marketing to women. How one would deliver on the truths of connecting women to each other, marketing to all of her lives, making sure she doesn't have to ask, marketing to her peripheral vision, etc. will be very different for a personal care brand versus money management brand. Nevertheless, if appropriately applied, these truths can make a brand more successful. I have seen results first hand. The key to getting through this book is keeping the above in mind while wading through what in the end should be considered several minor flaws, even though they tend to dominate the pages of the book. Notwithstanding several good case examples (e.g., Saturn), the book is filled with an array of very loosely thought out ideas that are so easy to poke holes into, they may leave the reader questioning whether or not following the truths really works. Faith also, based on my marketing experience, correctly claims that "women don't bond with brands that market to them in an overly aggressive way. A full frontal attack isn't the way to turn a woman on." However, the entire book is presented via an "in your face" approach, which will likely turn off some women (and some men for that matter). And finally, Faith attempts to make the case that women are superior to men... on all levels. I would agree that women are superior in many aspects, but they are neither superior nor inferior overall. This approach tends to diminish her credibility. Nevertheless, Faith has keen insight into the way women think and operate. It's really true that "women don't buy brands, they join brands." Therefore, we must do all we can to join our brands in every way possible. Faith's 8 Essential Truths provide unique insight on how to achieve this. Creative, appropriate application of these principles to your band or business is up to you. It actually takes hard work, but as I said before, it will deliver results. For this reason alone, the book is well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Best read on women since "The Feminine Mystique"
Review: Faith Popcorn's newest book, EVEolution, co-authored by her creative partner, Lys Marigold, is dynamite. A genius at coining words that have already slipped into the vocabulary such as "cocooning" and "FutureTENSE," EVEolution is about marketing to women based on what really makes them tick. "To anyone in the business of marketing to women, your brand must be differentiated not in the way you bring components together, but the way you bring women together!" Listen up, she says, women are different than men! "Women love to talk to each other. When is the last time you saw two guys get up from the table to go to the bathroom together?" "A woman sits down to dinner in a restaurant and by the time the glass of wine arrives she knows the name of the waiter's acting coach and the next play he has a bit part in." "A woman knows all about who in the office is seeing as therapist, dating a former boyfriend, or thinking about changing jobs." Hey, she tells MCI: Stop focusing on allowing people to talk for less money. Offer seminars on an 800 number line about how to talk to your teenager, or your elder parent. Hey, Johnson & Johnson: Why not take the innovative step of taking over the charge of the ladies rooms at some of the fast food restaurants? The book is full of advice on how to practice savvier business. But, to my way of thinking, it's also the best read on understanding women since The Feminine Mystique.
Rating: 
Summary: Annoying to read
Review: I can't even get past the first few pages, and I've tried many times. The "EVEolution" jargon, or maybe it is just Popcorn's style is so annoying. Not only does she trash the English language, most of the language is so trendy that it just turns me off. This one is heading for the trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Insulting, Impractical, Uninformed.
Review: I can't get over the preachy ... about how all men can do in the home is "breathe" and women do everything; women-think is a million times better than man-think, yadda yadda. She is a sexist bigot ranting about the feminist takeover, like some cartoon from the late 70's. She has some Archie Bunker throwback mentality about the typical household. As a male, I (and all my male friends) share equally in the chores, including grocery shopping, house-cleaning, dish-washing, laundry, bill-paying, child-care and chauffeur etc. I guess she thinks I'm my father, sitting in front of the tube. I do agree that men and women think differently; that is supported by hard evidence in brain scans, but she is as full of ...to claim the female method is superior as I would be to claim the male method were superior. I prefer to think they complement each other. She is inconsistent. In one chapter she lauds the female method of shopping as being absorbed and paying attention to details, clearly implying males are apes in the mall. Elsewhere she claims the opposite is true when shopping for cars. The REAL truth is we both are absorbed and pay attention to details when we shop for something we know and understand and feel is important, but Faith doesn't get that, she can't take off her unrelentingly feminist goggles for long enough to see anything from a male point of view, or even a gender-neutral POV. Also inconsistent: In a later chapter she gives a list of all the things an eighteen year-old has never used: Rotary dial telephone, 45 record, etc. This after suggesting in an earlier chapter that Mr. Potato Head's kid could be called Spud-nik. How many 5-7 year olds have heard of Sputnik? Or for that matter, how much of the target audience even knows that "Spud" is synonymous with "Potato"? How does this name get any traction after the joke? She doesn't have a clue about technology. It is utter BS to say virtually all purchases will be web-based in ten years. No way in hell. She is uninformed. She thinks Consumer Reports should sell the items they review, when a cornerstone of CR's subscriber relationship is objectivity and refusal to even take ads that might suggest anything other than objectivity in their ratings. She is impractical, seeming hung up on things that would make her wealthy lifestyle easier for her without any regard to the costs or how that is going to be profitable. She mentions some "home altar" numerous times as if all women are naturally religious, it is irritating. (At least four of the women I know are confirmed atheists). Yes, statistically women are more religiously committed than men are, but I don't know any pining for a home altar. Her fantasies about future marketing are laughable -- Touch the screen and Calista Flockhart will turn into your own personal salesgirl for the garment she is wearing; complete with full knowledge of your closet inventory, itinerary and personal tastes. Ha! At the current exponential pace of technological development Calista Flockhart will be 100 years old before that is even remotely possible; and then it won't be necessary because other developments will make the idea moot. When AI are capable of controlling virtual actors to that degree of sophistication, they will likewise be able to find clothes for you that you are in love with; and understand you when you say "I like that dress!" while watching the show and add it to its repertoire. In other words, most of the many off-the-cuff ideas she has are junk; as if she did not spend even ten minutes investigating the practicality or ramifications of them. Overall this book is too much of a slog for a few interesting case studies. I bought this book because I liked "The Popcorn Report" and kind of liked "Clicking", but I'm sorry I spent the money on it. Maybe Faith has reached the end of her relevance.
Rating:
Summary: A Marketing Gem!!! A Must Reading for Business People!
Review: I first heard Faith Popcorn on an interview with peak-performance expert, Tony Robbins. She really impressed me with her independent and innovative thinking. This book really brings the reader up-to-date with current business trends regarding the increasing influence of women both as consumers and in the workforce. For me, I enjoyed the simple layout and refined thinking that went into reducing her tons of research into 8 truths. You've got to respect her street-smarts. I also appreciated her extensive recommended books and web sites info. While this book may not be as ground-breaking as the first book, The Popcorn Report, it is still vital information from one of today's most brilliant marketing minds. Ignor the bad reviews. This was not intended to be a Master's Thesis on Marketing. There's plenty of good stuff for average person or for a guy like me who writes to a predominately female audience. Bottom Line: Get it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Is this how women think?
Review: I learned a lot from this book and I hope others will too. If you want to learn more about marketing to women, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Is this how women think?
Review: I learned a lot from this book and I hope others will too. If you want to learn more about marketing to women, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Wacky Ideas are Downright Laughable!
Review: I second the "Stale Popcorn" review below -- I'm a woman, and I don't "bond" with the brands/products I use. Nor do I run and tell everyone I know they should use them too (even if I'm happy with the product or service).
But, aside from that, some of Faith's ideas are downright wacky! Email access in department store fitting rooms? (p. 89) (It's supposed to make shopping less stressful -- but what's the point?)
Hallmark should turn their web site into a "feelings exchange"? This will "recapture.. the high-ground lost to.. Internet communities". Huh? Wouldn't a "feelings exchange" just be another kind of Internet chat? And if you're expressing your own feelings in your own words, why buy the Hallmark card?
How 'bout (on p. 49) "Office Depot should become Life Depot". Faith suggests that a woman business-owner should be able to order "a case of Coke [and a bottle of] Shout stain remover" with her ink cartridges. So companies should ignore their own "bottom lines", stockholders and mission statements to become glorified go-fers? Would that really keep women running to Office Depot rather than a competitor?
But my favorite is on page 118: "Consider the parking lot as the...last uncharted territory... Large product renderings [such as Cheerios and Snapple], interpreted by well-known artists, could be painted in each parking spot... This would be far more exciting than ugly blacktop." Ugh! Aren't we already inundated by "product placement"?
My suggestion -- hang on to your money and skip this book.
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