Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense

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.


Call to (Re) Discover Effective Marketing   January 18, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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.


One of the best marketing books I've ever read   January 5, 2002
 0 out of 2 found this review helpful

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.'


A serious book for serious marketers.   February 16, 2001
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

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!