Book Review: Unreasonable Hospitality

Unreasonable Hospitality

Book Review : Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara There’s a peculiar tendency in business to treat customer experience as something that happens after the important work is done. Build the product. Deliver the service. Send the invoice. Job done. Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara makes…

The Illusion of Choice

The Illusion of Choice

Book Review : The Illusion of Choice by Richard Shotton. Many of us like to think our buying choices are thoughtful, logical, and completely our own. Richard Shotton’s The Illusion of Choice shows us that this belief is a bit too optimistic. It turns out that many of our choices are influenced less by logic…

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

Book Review : Using Behavioral Science in Marketing by Nancy Harhut. There’s a comforting illusion in marketing that customers are calmly weighing up product features, comparing prices rationally, and making thoughtful purchasing decisions based entirely on logic. Nancy Harhut’s Using Behavioral Science in Marketing makes it clear that this idea is mostly a myth. Honestly,…

The Choice Factory

The Choice Factory

Book Review : The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton. Many people in marketing like to think customers carefully compare products, look at features, consider value, and then make logical choices. The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton spends about 200 pages showing why this belief is a bit too hopeful. Luckily, the book explains this in…

Storytelling Exhibitions

Storytelling Exhibitions

Book Review : Storytelling Exhibitions by Philip Hughes. Many people assume exhibitions are just quiet rooms filled with objects, while visitors stroll through and try to make sense of them. Philip Hughes’s book, Storytelling Exhibitions, shows that today’s exhibitions aim for much more than that. Exhibitions now try to create real feelings for visitors, and…

Human First Marketing

Human First Marketing

Book Review : Human First Marketing by Phil Treagus-Evans. There’s a strange trend in modern marketing where brands spend enormous amounts of time trying to sound human while simultaneously removing every actual human element from the process. More automation. More AI-generated content. More so-called personalised experiences, but no real person behind the words. Phil Treagus-Evans’s…

Brains On Fire

Brains On Fire

Book Review : Brains On Fire by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church & Spike Jones. There’s a particular kind of optimism in modern marketing that suggests if we automate enough emails, optimise enough funnels, and post enough short-form video content, customers will eventually fall lovingly into our sales pipeline. Brains on Fire offers a…