Rating: 
Summary: One of the best marketing books I've ever read
Review: Anyone interested in marketing would benefit from reading this book.The authors cram a tremendous amount of information into 348 pages. They use a lot of real-life examples to demonstrate the many ways in which marketers can be their own worst enemies. These include: * Not integrating marketing and strategic planning
* Not integrating various components of the marketing plan
* Thinking good marketing can be done by intuition
* Thinking it's more important to do it fast than do it right
* Misusing focus groups and telephone surveys
* Not having a clearly defined and well understood target market
* Automatically targeting heavy users without analyzing whether this is the most profitable segment
* Ignoring tangible benefits in order to focus on intangibles
* Assessing only the appeal and not the profitability associated with various strategies and tactics
* Over-surveying customers More importantly, they offer a lot of advice about how to avoid these problems by using what they call 'Counter-Intuitive Marketing.' I have a bit of a problem with this name since the approach (get good data BEFORE making a decision) seems highly intuitive to me. Really what they're getting at though is the fact that this is often NOT the approach that's followed and that's what leads to many of the mistakes described above. As someone who frequently champions the need for careful analysis before a decision is made, I was gratified to see lots of examples and data confirming that what they describe as 'rigorous analysis of unimpeachable data' does indeed outperform 'gut instincts.'
Rating: 
Summary: Do you have millions for marketing?
Review: Clancy & Krieg have done an outstanding job at illuminating the many fallacies that take hold in today's marketing world. More importantly, they tell you why these same fallacies cause millions to be flushed down the sink and how you can, hopefully, avoid making the same mistakes. There are valuable and non-intuitive insights here that you'd pay lots of money for from marketing consultants. These insights are given in quantitative and qualitative forms in many cases, which is a satisfying blend in my opinion. This book is aimed at marketing professionals, MBA/marketing students in intermediate-advanced courses, and CMOs who want a kick in the pants. Those looking for a "how to" guide or hands-o, jargon-free approach will be disappointed. If I have one criticism of this book it's that it makes two big, bold assumptions: (1) you work for a large, multinational corporation with established products or services and (2) you have millions of dollars for marketing research. If, like me, you are launching a startup, then at best this book will give you some hope that some day you'll have the money to actually DO some of the things they propose.
Rating:
Summary: Marketing the Right Way
Review: Clancy and Krieg rightly lambaste the seat-of-the-pants decision making of today's harried executive. Fast decisions might feel good but they are often wrong. The authors' thesis is really that information and painstaking care are necessary for truly reliable marketing decisions. Better to go slowly and get things right than to go off in the wrong direction based on misguided gut feel. This book is "counterintuitive" because it goes against the grain of all the "one minute manager" and "go with the flow" management prescriptions that we have seen too many of lately. It is really a call for rational decision making, and in the twenty-first century that may unfortunately seem unusual.
Rating:
Summary: You should read this if you are serious about marketing
Review: Counterintuitive marketing was an amazing book. I learned more about marketing and the decision-making tools that are available today from this book than I did in my MBA classes. If you are a serious marketing person, you need to read this book. It's not BS--this is the way the smartest people in marketing make decisions. People who cling to outdated ways of thinking and are afraid of change probably won't like this book. The only way to make better decisions about marketing is to take the time to understand your customers. This requires research. People who skim a few chapters, will miss important ideas. For instance, the authors explain how to use focus groups correctly--as a starting point in the research process. They never say don't use them, they say don't use them to make multi-million dollar decisions. That anyone in this day and age is basing a critical decision on the opinions of 6-8 people is crazy. This book is the future of marketing. Anyone who says otherwise just doesn't get it.
Rating:
Summary: You should read this if you are serious about marketing
Review: Counterintuitive marketing was an amazing book. I learned more about marketing and the decision-making tools that are available today from this book than I did in my MBA classes. If you are a serious marketing person, you need to read this book. It's not BS--this is the way the smartest people in marketing make decisions. People who cling to outdated ways of thinking and are afraid of change probably won't like this book. The only way to make better decisions about marketing is to take the time to understand your customers. This requires research. People who skim a few chapters, will miss important ideas. For instance, the authors explain how to use focus groups correctly--as a starting point in the research process. They never say don't use them, they say don't use them to make multi-million dollar decisions. That anyone in this day and age is basing a critical decision on the opinions of 6-8 people is crazy. This book is the future of marketing. Anyone who says otherwise just doesn't get it.
Rating:
Summary: Great content and practical advice
Review: I just read Clancy and Krieg's Counterintuitive Marketing and it was amazing. Loaded with content, solid research and practical advice. It teaches stuff about marketing I never learned in my NYU MBA program. I strongly recommend it. Then I read the screed (AKA review) by "Chanali from Asia." Who is this guy and has he worked for even a day in the real
world?
Rating:
Summary: Great content and practical advice
Review: I just read Clancy and Krieg's Counterintuitive Marketing and it was amazing. Loaded with content, solid research and practical advice. It teaches stuff about marketing I never learned in my NYU MBA program. I strongly recommend it. Then I read the screed (AKA review) by "Chanali from Asia." Who is this guy and has he worked for even a day in the real
world?
Rating:
Summary: The secret to great marketing is LESS common sense
Review: If anyone out there relies upon common sense to implement their marketing programs [and who doesn't?], this book is a must read. Why? The authors, Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg, contend that the fundamental problem with today's marketing efforts is that managers rely way too much on common sense. That - and a whole lot of testosterone-driven decision making - are contributing to sluggish growth, declining profits and the downward spiral of once great American brands. The symptoms of testosterone marketing, according to the authors, are commonplace in most companies. Testosterone-driven decision-makers are "the guys who assemble complex toys on Christmas Eve without reading directions, book without a recipe, make business decisions without research." Testosterone marketing is easy to spot. Symptoms include: decisions made too quickly because there's no time to do it right; top management demands short-term results; real customer needs are unknown or ignored; too few alternatives for each decision are evaluated; marketing managers are promoted prematurely; and market plans are sloppily implemented. So what's the cure? Clancy and Krieg believe that quantifiable research is the elixir for developing strategies, creative approaches and tactical plans that can aggressively grow a company's market share, revenue and profitability, and coincidentally, launch and rebuild great brands. The book provides insights for creating strategies that prevent "over-and-over-again" marketing, as well as practical advice about how to actually implement successful marketing programs. Unlike so many business books that are either about strategy or some tactical aspect of marketing, Counterintuitive Marketing provides both and does so with real world company examples and amusing anecdotes from the authors' consulting and teaching experiences. One of the best parts of this book is its Appendix: Marketing in a Nutshell: the 100 Questions Every CEO Needs to Answer. It's a fantastic reference guide to the most important elements of strategic and marketing planning, targeting and positioning, product and pricing strategy, mass media advertising, direct marketing, customer satisfaction and retention, e-commerce, marketing planning, test marketing, and implementation. When in doubt - turn to page 323! I still contend that there's a big need for more common sense in the marketing organization, but the idea that the best ideas are often those that we don't yet know is very compelling. A great read for anyone involved with marketing.
Rating:
Summary: Do you have millions for marketing?
Review: In Counter-intuitive Marketing, Kevin J. Clancy and Peter C. Krieg capitalize on the experience gained in their consulting assignments to lambaste "testosterone-driven, death-wish marketing" that emphasizes speed, relies on little research, and privileges short-term results. The outcome of poorly crafted marketing strategy and tactics is often predictable: High failure rate in launching new products, dismal advertising, sub-optimal promotion, premature commoditization of brands, and poor financial results. Clancy and Krieg constantly urge their audience to go back to basics such as research-driven targeting and positioning. Clancy and Krieg also remind readers that good implementation may be more important than great strategy. The appendix in the book "Marketing in a Nutshell: The 100 Questions Every CEO Needs to Answer" is on its own a gold mine. Counter-intuitive Marketing is ultimately a call to use more (real) common sense in turning a company, product, service into a success story. Smart marketers beware.
Rating:
Summary: A serious book for serious marketers.
Review: It's all in Counterintuitive Marketing--how to stop the decling performance of marketing programs, make better decisions, and improve ROI. The funny stories, witty writing, and cases make the heavy concepts easier to understand and see how to apply at your own company. How refreshing to find a marketing book that doesn't say let instinct be your guide when making huge decisions about your brand!
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