Book Reviews

“Moderating to the Max” Book Review

Moderating to the Max: A Full-tilt Guide to Creative, Insightful Focus Groups and In-Depth Interviews, written by Jean Bystedt, Siri Lynn, and Deborah Potts, is an interesting and fun read for anyone interested in conducting interactive and enjoyable qualitative research that creatively spans beyond…

Made to Stick Book Review by Michelle Bouh

“Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath discusses what makes good ideas flourish, what qualities bad ideas lack, as well as what qualities good ideas have in common that makes them sticky. According to the two brothers, good ideas…

Drunk Tank Pink Book Review

This is a review of Adam Alter’s Drunk Tank Pink. It sections the book off into three main parts, the world within us, the world between us, and the world around us. I go over some of the content in…

Made to Stick

Made to Stick is split up between 6 chapters and each of them talks about the different aspects of making ideas “sticky”. In order for an idea to be sticky, it must have Simplicity, Compactness, Unexpected ideas, Credibility of a…

Ogilvy on Advertising

By the year 1983, David Ogilvy had already become a titan in the advertising industry.  He was one of the original mad men, starting his agency in New York City in 1948.  Within 35 years in the business, he had…

Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter

Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave by Adam Alter Drunk Tank Pink gets its name from the bubblegum-pink color used in jail cells to curb aggressive behavior inmates. The realization that…

“Buy.ology” by Martin Linstrom

Throughout this book, the author, Martin Lindstrom, attempts to prove to his readers that through neurological testing, advertisers can discover what consumers really want, because sometimes their words aren’t the complete truth.  Each chapter offers a different example of a…

Contagious

Jonah Berger’s book Contagious explores why certain things catch on and become popular. He starts by dismissing the belief that many, including myself, thought to be true; that a small number of “influencers” cause idea or products to catch on.…

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping

Why We Buy   When you step into a store or shopping environment, have you ever wondered why signs are placed where they are or why there is two feet of walking in between isles? Paco Underhill, the author of…

Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy

Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy. Phil Barden. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. 270 pages We can’t always explain why we buy what we buy. Some product aspects, such as price and quality, are obvious factors in…