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Can't Buy Me Like
Today's brands face an apparent choice between two continue betting on their increasingly ineffective advertising or put blind faith in the supposedly mystical power of social media, where "likes" stand in for transactions and a mass audience is maddeningly elusive. There has to be a better way . . . As Lennon and McCartney wrote a half century ago, money can't buy you love. But in today's world, where people have become desensitized-even disillusioned-by ad campaigns and marketing slogans, that maxim needs an Money can't even buy you like.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 25, 2021
I listened to the audio book and it's very good. The authors premise is that relationships with customers are more important than marketing to them in order to get them or persuade them to buy. Essentially, developing a relationship will generate more sales than sales gimmicks or a hard sale approach will.
There are lots of examples about Twitter and Facebook and how customers sharing their stories organically are more successful than a marketer pushing stories onto customers or prospects encouraging them to buy. I have found this to be very true as I work in sales and getting a referral or testimonial from a customer has always been better than a cold approach or even a lukewarm approach.
I highly recommend this book.
There are lots of examples about Twitter and Facebook and how customers sharing their stories organically are more successful than a marketer pushing stories onto customers or prospects encouraging them to buy. I have found this to be very true as I work in sales and getting a referral or testimonial from a customer has always been better than a cold approach or even a lukewarm approach.
I highly recommend this book.
Read
January 27, 2016Very interesting take on the changing world of connecting with customers. I read this because of a mention in the profile of Slack founder Stewart Butterfield in Entrepreneur Magazine. Even though the book is aimed at the business world, there are definitely some applications to the library world as well. I'm recommending this to my director.
January 8, 2017
The author argues that since we are in a new era of marketing, businesses should think about start not from a foundation of money but relationships. We are in the Relationship Era. All marketing ideas and implementations should funnel through that paradigm. I loved the book. Being fresh to the business world, Mr. Garfield has showed me that there's another way of working with your audience that honors their dignity and your own. It's great to see the big picture and see it played out with success in the real world.
I want to take issue with the concerns of some reviews. The concerns include the dislike for not enough information about implementation and the dislike for not being "original" or for being "nothing new."
First, the book's subtitle "How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results" pretty much tells you that this book is NOT going to give you detailed implementation plans. I think the author is speaking to those folk out there being given the message that you need to throw money at the problem of marketing. And this author says, "THERE'S A BETTER AND MORE SATISFYING (and cheaper) WAY!!"
Second, we need to consider the frame of time this book is written. It's written SHORTLY AFTER many companies have set sail with implementing this new way of marketing. So, yeah, if you're in this full time, then a lot of this won't seem new. You might be like me and think how common sensical this is for anyone. This is true also. But you're also probably someone who hasn't had their mind warped by the Business Industrial Complex. Trust me, it's alive and well. Many sectors still push the Consumer Era marketing techniques. Personally, I won't stoop to that level of selling.
One last caveat. For me personally, I have reservations about Whole Foods and other grocery store chains like theirs. My reservation focuses on their method of farming. Yes, their farmers do a much better job than farmers for Publix. But I still wonder if size does matter. I wonder if farming is system more local/regional than global, no matter what innovations you try to make. It's like local governments getting the central government involved. Nine times out of ten (see NCLB for example) it just doesn't work. In fact, it backfires.
I want to take issue with the concerns of some reviews. The concerns include the dislike for not enough information about implementation and the dislike for not being "original" or for being "nothing new."
First, the book's subtitle "How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results" pretty much tells you that this book is NOT going to give you detailed implementation plans. I think the author is speaking to those folk out there being given the message that you need to throw money at the problem of marketing. And this author says, "THERE'S A BETTER AND MORE SATISFYING (and cheaper) WAY!!"
Second, we need to consider the frame of time this book is written. It's written SHORTLY AFTER many companies have set sail with implementing this new way of marketing. So, yeah, if you're in this full time, then a lot of this won't seem new. You might be like me and think how common sensical this is for anyone. This is true also. But you're also probably someone who hasn't had their mind warped by the Business Industrial Complex. Trust me, it's alive and well. Many sectors still push the Consumer Era marketing techniques. Personally, I won't stoop to that level of selling.
One last caveat. For me personally, I have reservations about Whole Foods and other grocery store chains like theirs. My reservation focuses on their method of farming. Yes, their farmers do a much better job than farmers for Publix. But I still wonder if size does matter. I wonder if farming is system more local/regional than global, no matter what innovations you try to make. It's like local governments getting the central government involved. Nine times out of ten (see NCLB for example) it just doesn't work. In fact, it backfires.
March 18, 2013
"Can't Buy Me Like" is a new, very worthwhile book from Bob Garfield, well known ad critic and co-host of NPR's On The Media, and Doug Levy, founder and CEO of creative and strategic agency MEplusYOU. This is the book every CEO should read, every marketer should ponder and every social media professional will want to distribute. It is not another exploration of social media but of the way the consumer and brand world is changing, what this means to brands and how "marketers can and must define their brands not by the ads, press releases, slogans, coupons, sponsorships and even product offerings but by their core purpose." (Disclosure: I had the opportunity to review the book prior to publishing and share feedback--mostly praise--with the authors.)
This is the sort of book that can help open eyes, alter thinking and spark change. It thoroughly makes the case that the necessary evolution is not merely one of tactics or even strategy, but something even deeper and more fundamental. Garfield and Levy are bold enough to state from the start that their "immodest goal is to be not merely financially, but something approaching spiritually, transformative." But make no mistake, this is not some fluffy sermon on the importance of caring and tweets; the book's brilliance is in how it ties the need for core mission and new ways of marketing to financial outcomes.
The book begins with a damning study of why the practices that succeeded in the Consumer Era are wilting as we enter the Relationship Era. Levy and Garfield probe "the limits of advertising," which does not sustain brands but works only for as long as marketers feed the ad budget beast. As it does time and again, "Can't Buy Me Like" supports its claims with actual case studies and examples; for example, Colorado tourism catapulted from 14th place to first among states as a summer resort destination thanks to a new $12 million ad budget, but it plummeted to 17th place in one year when that ad spend was eliminated.
Garfield and Levy are not anti-advertising, but they suggest there is a more sustainable way to collect and keep customers in the Relationship Era. The book introduces the Brand Sustainability Map, which graphs brands on two axes--Transactions and Trust. Sure, your brand can get high transactions with low trust, but these "reluctant relationships" are expensive to maintain and remain constantly at risk. Better to fall within the "emotional relationship" or "sustainable relationship" quadrants (depending upon your transaction volume), which can sustain and expand relationships thanks to high levels of trust. Put another way, "Indifference is expensive. Hostility is unaffordable. Trust is priceless."
Social media comes up time and again in this book, but "Can't Buy Me Like" is not a social media manual; instead, it makes the case that social is part of the change occurring around us and not a new tactic to be deployed. "There is no magic in Twitter or any other social-media platform," assert Garfield and Levy, "but there is a sort of magic in properly cultivating trust relationships." Once again, the book makes the case with a brand case study: Kimberly-Clark's Kotex shifted from advertising that perpetuated the stigma of menstruation to adopting a mission that confronts the taboo head on. UbyKotex.com announced, "This is more than a Web site. This is a social movement aimed at changing the conversation," and it garnered four million interactions, received three million sample requests and contributed to an increase in market share from 4% to 7.8%.
"Can't Buy Me Like" is packed with more studies and case studies than any other book I can remember. The examples and research support key points made throughout the book:
- Need evidence that brand building creates value? BrandPower research on "familiarity" and "favorability" across 800 companies demonstrates that brand equity accounts for 5 to 7% of total equity value for the average company and as much as 21% for the strong brands, such as Apple.
- Have difficulty believing that corporate purpose matters? The thirty companies identified in Sisodia, Wolfe and Sheth's 2007 book Firms of Endearment as being driven by purpose saw stock increases of 1646% from 1996 to 2011 compared to the S&P average increase of 157%.
- Think "real time marketing" means having your social team ready to post during the Super Bowl or Oscars? P&G's Secret brand learned of Olympic medalist Diana Nyad's plan to swim the 103 miles between Havana and Miami. A perfect sponsorship opportunity? Yes, but by the time the brand learned of it, the event was just seven days away. In one day, its agency was on the ground at her California home filming three promotional videos; days later, the Secret Clinical Line was an official sponsor. (As it turns out, complications forced a series of delays in Nyad's swim, but with Secret's support, she went on to attempt the feat three times. She won the respect of millions and sales of Secret's Clinical Strength Waterproof doubled.)
- Do you thumb your nose at the small scale of social media compared to the reach of your ad budget? Secret's "Mean Stinks" program launched on Facebook and encouraged teens to apologize for and discuss bullying. The activity created 339,000 text and video engagements yielding 1.3 million placements in users’ newsfeeds. Sound small compared to NCIS's 20 million viewers? Then you do not understand the power of engagement versus passive views of an advertisement. Reports the brand manager at P&G, "In the fiscal year that Mean Stinks launched, total brand dollar share was up 8%. Our Clinical family of SKUs, which were the products associated with Mean Stinks, grew 20% in volume versus the previous year. On our Facebook page, we saw fan engagement increase 24x with the launch of Mean Stinks, and about half of those fans engage with the page on a regular basis."
"Can't Buy Me Like" offers a rich vein of these sorts of brand stories and research insights, but it also strives to provide brands with a roadmap to embrace the Relationship Era. The book shares a seven-point plan to help brands move from listening to engaging to leading to measuring. It also shares Do's, Don'ts and "No, really, don'ts." And it conveys the real-life challenges of brands that have lost consumers' trust.
I can highly recommend "Can't Buy Me Like." Reading it inspired in me the same sorts of feelings I experienced in my 20s when "In Search of Excellence" aroused a shift in my worldview and career. I think this book can benefit everyone from young professionals (who recognize the world is changing but cannot often connect that to the business outcomes their bosses demand) to senior leaders (who have tired of some of the social media hyperbole but also recognize something profound is changing in the consumer-brand relationship). This is a book you will want to read, quote, share, recommend and buy for others.
This is the sort of book that can help open eyes, alter thinking and spark change. It thoroughly makes the case that the necessary evolution is not merely one of tactics or even strategy, but something even deeper and more fundamental. Garfield and Levy are bold enough to state from the start that their "immodest goal is to be not merely financially, but something approaching spiritually, transformative." But make no mistake, this is not some fluffy sermon on the importance of caring and tweets; the book's brilliance is in how it ties the need for core mission and new ways of marketing to financial outcomes.
The book begins with a damning study of why the practices that succeeded in the Consumer Era are wilting as we enter the Relationship Era. Levy and Garfield probe "the limits of advertising," which does not sustain brands but works only for as long as marketers feed the ad budget beast. As it does time and again, "Can't Buy Me Like" supports its claims with actual case studies and examples; for example, Colorado tourism catapulted from 14th place to first among states as a summer resort destination thanks to a new $12 million ad budget, but it plummeted to 17th place in one year when that ad spend was eliminated.
Garfield and Levy are not anti-advertising, but they suggest there is a more sustainable way to collect and keep customers in the Relationship Era. The book introduces the Brand Sustainability Map, which graphs brands on two axes--Transactions and Trust. Sure, your brand can get high transactions with low trust, but these "reluctant relationships" are expensive to maintain and remain constantly at risk. Better to fall within the "emotional relationship" or "sustainable relationship" quadrants (depending upon your transaction volume), which can sustain and expand relationships thanks to high levels of trust. Put another way, "Indifference is expensive. Hostility is unaffordable. Trust is priceless."
Social media comes up time and again in this book, but "Can't Buy Me Like" is not a social media manual; instead, it makes the case that social is part of the change occurring around us and not a new tactic to be deployed. "There is no magic in Twitter or any other social-media platform," assert Garfield and Levy, "but there is a sort of magic in properly cultivating trust relationships." Once again, the book makes the case with a brand case study: Kimberly-Clark's Kotex shifted from advertising that perpetuated the stigma of menstruation to adopting a mission that confronts the taboo head on. UbyKotex.com announced, "This is more than a Web site. This is a social movement aimed at changing the conversation," and it garnered four million interactions, received three million sample requests and contributed to an increase in market share from 4% to 7.8%.
"Can't Buy Me Like" is packed with more studies and case studies than any other book I can remember. The examples and research support key points made throughout the book:
- Need evidence that brand building creates value? BrandPower research on "familiarity" and "favorability" across 800 companies demonstrates that brand equity accounts for 5 to 7% of total equity value for the average company and as much as 21% for the strong brands, such as Apple.
- Have difficulty believing that corporate purpose matters? The thirty companies identified in Sisodia, Wolfe and Sheth's 2007 book Firms of Endearment as being driven by purpose saw stock increases of 1646% from 1996 to 2011 compared to the S&P average increase of 157%.
- Think "real time marketing" means having your social team ready to post during the Super Bowl or Oscars? P&G's Secret brand learned of Olympic medalist Diana Nyad's plan to swim the 103 miles between Havana and Miami. A perfect sponsorship opportunity? Yes, but by the time the brand learned of it, the event was just seven days away. In one day, its agency was on the ground at her California home filming three promotional videos; days later, the Secret Clinical Line was an official sponsor. (As it turns out, complications forced a series of delays in Nyad's swim, but with Secret's support, she went on to attempt the feat three times. She won the respect of millions and sales of Secret's Clinical Strength Waterproof doubled.)
- Do you thumb your nose at the small scale of social media compared to the reach of your ad budget? Secret's "Mean Stinks" program launched on Facebook and encouraged teens to apologize for and discuss bullying. The activity created 339,000 text and video engagements yielding 1.3 million placements in users’ newsfeeds. Sound small compared to NCIS's 20 million viewers? Then you do not understand the power of engagement versus passive views of an advertisement. Reports the brand manager at P&G, "In the fiscal year that Mean Stinks launched, total brand dollar share was up 8%. Our Clinical family of SKUs, which were the products associated with Mean Stinks, grew 20% in volume versus the previous year. On our Facebook page, we saw fan engagement increase 24x with the launch of Mean Stinks, and about half of those fans engage with the page on a regular basis."
"Can't Buy Me Like" offers a rich vein of these sorts of brand stories and research insights, but it also strives to provide brands with a roadmap to embrace the Relationship Era. The book shares a seven-point plan to help brands move from listening to engaging to leading to measuring. It also shares Do's, Don'ts and "No, really, don'ts." And it conveys the real-life challenges of brands that have lost consumers' trust.
I can highly recommend "Can't Buy Me Like." Reading it inspired in me the same sorts of feelings I experienced in my 20s when "In Search of Excellence" aroused a shift in my worldview and career. I think this book can benefit everyone from young professionals (who recognize the world is changing but cannot often connect that to the business outcomes their bosses demand) to senior leaders (who have tired of some of the social media hyperbole but also recognize something profound is changing in the consumer-brand relationship). This is a book you will want to read, quote, share, recommend and buy for others.
December 28, 2018
This is by far the best book on marketing I've ever read, and might be the best book on business in general. Extremely practical advice, written is a very funny, entertaining style. I read this in one sitting, and afterwards I wrote a list of things to go do differently because of what I learned. Hard to ask for more from a book like this. Highly recommended.
August 3, 2015
Great book about the possibilities that lie in the death of advertising. The bottom line, as far as Garfield and Levy are concerned, is that today's brands can only be sustained by meaningful relationships with their customers via social media. When companies attempt to exploit social media as a new way to deliver top-down advertising, they fail. When it comes to social media, the medium REALLY IS the message. Garfield and Levy are heavy on anecdote. But the anecdotes are both entertaining and illustrative! Watch as traditional advertising mascots are viciously mocked on Twitter as payback for corprate skullduggery (Progressive Insurance) and hashtags backfire (McDonald's, among others).
I know some people who grew up in the 1990s skateboarder culture. In the VHS tapes traded by skaters, there was always a section on "getting broke" - messing up skating tricks and causing oneself great physical pain. Garfield and Levy do not share stories of social media mishaps in the spirit of malicious voyeurism. It's all part of a path toward greater engagement with customers in a spirit of shared values and mutual respect.
And if you're a fan of Garfield's smartass style on "On the Media," boy are you in for a treat!
I know some people who grew up in the 1990s skateboarder culture. In the VHS tapes traded by skaters, there was always a section on "getting broke" - messing up skating tricks and causing oneself great physical pain. Garfield and Levy do not share stories of social media mishaps in the spirit of malicious voyeurism. It's all part of a path toward greater engagement with customers in a spirit of shared values and mutual respect.
And if you're a fan of Garfield's smartass style on "On the Media," boy are you in for a treat!
August 31, 2014
Entertaining and interesting read about building relationships between business and customers/consumers - the premise is simple: most business in the future will be based on good customer relationships rather than marketing. If you have a superior product that speaks to the customer, you can build a dialogue with your users. The authors give tips regarding the traps of this method - you must not be perceived as having an ulterior motive. Do not come across as advertising -- you don't read friend's email for the ad content and you won't read the content of the business for it either. Look to what you can provide - Betty Crocker has videos about cake baking, Secret has a site about bullying called "Mean Stinks", and so on. The relationship drives the results. Build people who are passionate about your product (Apple, Coke, Krispy Kreme) and they will advertise for you. Very interesting.
May 3, 2014
As you think about the changing world of advertising, you might wonder how advertisers hope to get us to buy their products. The old model of simply branding the product is giving way to establishing relationships with customers-a model that has been used by successful business people for years. Garfield looks at the changing landscape of advertising where the creation of relationships leads to customers becoming almost evangelical for successful companies (think Apple, Amazon, or Netflix). Other companies don't fare as well, producing relationships that are reluctant or limited. From that simple like on Facebook to the purchase made, this book is fascinating read.
April 6, 2013
very important insight into the Big Shift in Everything we relate to.
A real Relationship book that can be applied to anything we do: from forming friendships to creating art, making movies, running a business or simply running a country
Good answer to the Chaos Scenario dilema
A real Relationship book that can be applied to anything we do: from forming friendships to creating art, making movies, running a business or simply running a country
Good answer to the Chaos Scenario dilema
April 12, 2013
Intro alone is mind blowing in it's understanding and explanation of the post-industrial world in which we live. A must for any marketer or business leader seeking to understand the changing environment of the product/brand-consumer relationship.
December 26, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. Not preachy and not too much on the social media Kool-Aid. Informative and lots of " ah ha!"moments. Well worth the $$, if only for the stimulus to change what you might be doing wrong.
August 22, 2017
I stumbled upon this book at the library and was struck by the authors' irreverent tone. Reading this book is like taking a social media marketing class taught by your hilarious best friend.
Great examples, and an easy read for someone new to the field.
Great examples, and an easy read for someone new to the field.
July 16, 2013
A must read for anyone even remotely involved with questions about social media marketing!
January 10, 2014
Not my favorite. There are a gazillion better social media books out there.
January 21, 2014
Thought this was a pretty good read for marketing in the 21st century. It redefines relationship between consumers and company. And the stories are fun and good.
January 18, 2015
Information overload. Most of the time I can't identify the important points the authors wanted to convey.
January 9, 2015
Though I might take exception with the author's exclusive digital frame for authentic customer relationships, the clues to branding they share will help you enterprise.
March 7, 2016
Didn't finish. Not a huge fan of the audio book. Gave up about 50% of the way through. Similar to a lot of the blogs and other books I've read on the topic.
July 23, 2017
I enjoyed quite a few good chuckles reading this well written book about the Relationship Era of marketing. Lots of interesting stories offered as examples of what to do and what not to do.
April 3, 2017
MEH most of this is common sense
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews