A BOOK recently reviewed here contained a Twitter version and a cocktail-party version. These two books go one stage further: they are marketing’s first iPhone apps. Kevin Duncan’s ‘Greatest Hits’ books – A Masterclass in Modern Marketing Ideas and A Masterclass in Modern Business Ideas – are available for easy access on planes, trains, in meetings or for a quick reminder while waiting in reception areas.
The utility of immediate accessibility is obvious, providing the material is worth reading, and Duncan has done a neat job of filleting ideas to the bone. Both books contain ideas not theories or elaborate intellectual constructions, so the titles are accurate.
I think Marketing Masterclass is the better of the two. Marketing is a narrower subject and hence the number of ideas that must be omitted in a small book seems less obvious. The ideas included cover a selection of current buzz thoughts that every marketer should probably at least recognise, if not use or even agree with.
The book is divided into chapters each with a main title and explanatory subtitle. ‘Big Themes’, for example, is denoted as Long Tails and Pirates and covers Adam Morgan’s challenger brand ideas and Chris Anderson’s long-tail theory. ‘The End of Marketing’ deals with the impact of the internet, the Cluetrain Manifesto and so forth.
Another chapter, ‘Love Marks and Buzz’, is about brands and branding.
Business Greatest Hits follows the same format, covering the same general chapter headings but with different writers and broader emphasis.
This is obviously a personal selection and highly selective. This is inevitable and no bad thing. So many business books are little more than a chapter containing an idea stretched out, but these little books and their app versions save buying and reading books containing interesting, often stimulating ideas but whose contents rarely merit the length, or price. The apps are also available for the iPad and iTouch.
Marketing Greatest Hits: A Masterclass in Modern Marketing Ideas (2010), and Business Greatest Hits: A Masterclass in Modern Business Ideas, Kevin Duncan, A&C Black Publishers, 2010, £9.99 each