Consumer Marketing

Good works are no longer optional. For many businesses, success comes in unexpected ways. Toms grew into a $600-million company by giving away 35 million pair of shoes. Patagonia's profits have climbed year after year even as it funnels heavy investments into sustainability. And it's not just millennials rewarding companies with causes. In every age group, people commit to brands that show good citizenship.

Grant McCracken, an anthropologist who now trains some of the world's biggest companies and consulting firms, argues that the CCO would keep a finger on the pulse of contemporary cultural trends, from sneakers to slow food to preppies, while developing a systematic understanding of the deep waves of culture in America and the world. The CCOs professionalism would allow the corporation to see coming changes, even when they only exist as the weakest of signals.

From bargains in the Big Apple to the bustling bazaars of Istanbul, from in-store to interactive and online to mobile, neuromarketing pioneer Dr. David Lewis goes behind the scenes of the "persuasion industry" to reveal the powerful tools, techniques, technologies, and psychologies seeking to stimulate us all to buy more - often without us consciously realizing it.

Anyone can go online and buy a pair of pants - but the likelihood that we would do so depends to a significant degree on where we live. The presence of stores nearby, trendy and friendly neighbors, and local sales taxes play a large role in the decision-making process when it comes to buying online. Location Is (Still) Everything is for anyone who wants to understand the patterns underlying how and why we use the Internet to shop, sell, and search, including entrepreneurs, students, and investors.

As a behavioral scientist for over 3-decades, my job as a research scientist is to study the human mind in all kinds of situations and conditions. As in nature, the human mind seeks balance. Balance within the human body or physiologically is called homeostasis. Balance with the human mind is called sanity. Mind research scientists have long sought the reasons behind the mind's ability to create success as well as turn on itself and create failure.

Our preferences and opinions are constantly being shaped by countless forces–especially in the digital age with its nonstop procession of “thumbs up” and “likes” and “stars.” Tom Vanderbilt, bestselling author of Traffic, explains why we like the things we like, why we hate the things we hate, and what all this tell us about ourselves.

By one expert's prediction, within 20 years half of Americans will have body implants that tell retailers how they feel about specific products as they browse their local stores. The notion may be outlandish, but it reflects executives' drive to understand shoppers in the aisles with the same obsessive detail that they track us online. In fact, a hidden surveillance revolution is already taking place inside brick-and-mortar stores, where Americans still do most of their buying.

Prepare for this new generation, prepare for the Afripolitan Generation. A revolution is taking place in the great marketplaces of the informal sector and it contains an unquantified scale and power as an economic engine and a way of life for the majority of our low-income populations. The KasiNomic Revolution may still be a murmur in the streets, a grassroots economic groundswell, but it is the future of African economic activity.

It takes a special kind of magic for a challenger brand to achieve seemingly impossible customer-centric results. It’s that magic that makes Australian telecommunications company Macquarie Technology world leaders in award-winning customer experience. Joseph A. Michelli—the bestselling author of books about brands renowned for their stellar service and outstanding growth, such as The Ritz-Carlton, Mercedes-Benz, and Starbucks—was so impressed by Macquarie’s ability to deliver transformative customer experiences that he felt compelled to share this book.

In Winning Her Business, Bridget Brennan, advisor to some of the world’s biggest brands and businesses, provides a road map for selling in a world dominated by the rise of women’s economic power.

Fred Reichheld's 2006 book The Ultimate Question - that question being, "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?" - challenged the conventional wisdom of customer satisfaction programs. It coined the terms "bad profits" and "good profits" and pointed to a faster, much more accurate way of gauging customers' real loyalty to a company. Richard Owen and Laura Brooks are co-developers, along with Reichheld, of the methodology behind answering the question.

Corporations are broken, reflecting no purpose deeper than profit. But the tools we are relying on to fix them - corporate social responsibility, divestment, impact investing, and government control - risk making our problems worse. With lively storytelling and careful analysis, O’Leary and Valdmanis cut through the tired dogma of current economic thinking to reveal a hopeful truth: If we can make our corporations accountable to a deeper purpose, we can make capitalism both prosperous and good.

In 2016, Category Pirate Eddie Yoon wrote the seminal book on business growth, called Superconsumers. A Superconsumer is the kind of person who knows your category better than anyone else—and as a result, is willing to spend 30 percent to 70 percent more with you than other less enthusiastic customers. And in this “mini-book,” the pirates follow up with an equally groundbreaking discovery: A Super of one category is also a Super of nine others.

A social media expert with global experience with many of the world's biggest brands - including Nike, Toyota, and Motorola - Simon Mainwaring offers a visionary new practice in which brands leverage social media to earn consumer goodwill, loyalty, and profit, while creating a third pillar of sustainable social change through conscious contributions from customer purchases. These innovative private sector partnerships answer perhaps the most pressing issue facing business and thought leaders today: how to practice capitalism in a way that satisfies all needs.

Decorated gaming and social media research and marketing executive Jonathan Stringfield delivers a roadmap to understanding and navigating marketing and business integrations into the gaming ecosystem: who plays games (and why), how modern games are created and oriented around the world of esports, and where brands can get involved with games. Perfect for marketing strategists, brand managers, and chief marketing officers, Get in the Game will also earn a place in the libraries of executives seeking to connect with the misunderstood yet largest segment in consumer entertainment.

User Tested delivers an eye-opening and compelling treatment of putting customers back at the center of your business model. In this book, you'll discover why the company that offers the best customer experience always wins and that real, three-dimensional people can't be reduced to data points on a graph.

The go-to entrepreneurial guide for establishing your platform, building your audience, and monetizing your skills and services on Clubhouse, the audio-only social media app.

Smart products are everywhere. They're in our companies, in our homes, in our pockets. People love these products. But what they love more is what these products do - and for anyone running a business today, outcomes are the key. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the point of connection between products and the results they deliver - it's where products become software. IoT Inc. explains everything you need to know to position your company within this powerful new network. And once you do, you'll leave the competition in the dust.

Far from the catchy television spots and sleek magazine spreads are the comparatively modest ads that pop up on websites and in Internet searches. But don't be fooled - online advertising is exploding. Growing at a compound annual rate near 20%, it is now the second-largest advertising channel in the United States. Part history, part guidebook, part prediction for the future, Targeted tells the story of the companies, individuals, and innovations driving this revolution.

Filled with practical information and written in Lou's inimitable conversational style, Winning the Customer is your all-pro offensive attack against old, ineffective methods and flat results. Lou's tools will give any business an inspired team, supersized income, and a virtual stadium full of engaged, high-paying customers.