What Sticks - A must have book by Rex Briggs & Greg Stuart

What Sticks is the one book that explains exactly how marketing and advertising works today! Based on new insights from analysis of over $1billion worth of advertising.

Decades ago it was ok to believe, as retail magnate John Wannamaker did, that “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”

However, today the stakes are much higher as marketing thought-leaders Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart estimate that $112 billion in advertising spending in the U.S. alone is wasted, which is cutting deeply into company profits.

Based on proprietary research against $1 billion in advertising spending, What Sticks uncovers bold new insights from the largest-ever global marketing research project amongst 30 Fortune 200 companies, including: Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, McDonald's, Unilever, Ford and others. This is a comprehensive and solutions-oriented book that outlines how any marketer, at any level, can guarantee their advertising succeeds.

Marketers cannot ignore the findings or the solutions revealed in What Sticks. Written in a conversational, easy-to-read style, you will learn:

• Why 47% of the advertising campaigns studied didn’t work and what you can do to guarantee yours does
• How to spend the same advertising budget, but get better results – the campaigns studied on average gained +20% (And one campaign actually gained nearly +2000%.)
• How to get your CFO and CEO to eagerly increase your marketing & advertising budget
• What many marketers don’t get about how marketing & advertising REALLY works
• Forecast next year’s advertising budget (hint: It’s not by using last year’s spending!)
• How to immediately fix your advertising by applying these principles and real nuggets of wisdom

With data like this, no marketer can ignore these findings or the solutions found in What Sticks.

Advertising Age had this to say…

“The book… may well be the most important advertising research since the "How Advertising Works" study of the early 1990s.”

“Although its conclusions are based on number-crunching done with such marketing titans as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Kraft Foods and McDonald's, the book is written accessibly enough to find an audience among all marketers and creatives.”

Insights

All factions of the Marketing industry will gain value from the insights of What Sticks.

Marketers will gain new insights about all facets of their marketing, advertising and communications efforts. This is one book that covers it all and provides new deep insights that you will not have seen anywhere before. Based on the most extensive research ever, What Sticks uncovers new insights based on the market today and a way of managing that chaotic future still to come. Marketers will learn, as many of the brands here have that advertising can be the ultimate competitive weapon.

What Sticks Insights for Marketers

• Currently, $112 billion of the $295 Billion in U.S. advertising is wasted
• The average gain by marketers in applying the principles of What Sticks was to increase Advertising impact by 20% (and the highest was nearly 2,000%)

Brand Managers, like never before, have to stay on top of all elements of their brand, always looking to understand the relationship between advertising, promotion, the product, pricing and so much more. What Sticks helps a marketer looking at all consumer touch points and ensures that the brand remains strong, even in the face of demands to just sell more product. In fact, in many of the studies, Advertising was the most cost-effective tool for selling more product to more consumers than any other tool, including consumer promotion/couponing, trade promotion or even PR.

What Sticks Insights for Brand Manager

• Every marketer studied was able to improve their advertising or sales impact between +7% to more than double at the same budget level.

Ad Agency Account Executives need new, fresh thinking to bring their clients and What Sticks provides that perspective. Experienced Account Directors will appreciate the new insights and support from the research while new Account Executives will gain a broad overview of how the whole ad game fits together and how they can manage each aspect, strategy, research, creative and media to its utmost effectiveness. The concept of the 4M’s (Motivations, Message, Media and Maximization will bring a whole new focus to their efforts to achieve the ultimate success – Advertising that works.

What Sticks Insights for Account Executives

• 47% of advertising campaigns studied didn’t work (i.e., created little or no change in consumers attitudes or sales)

Creative Directors probably won’t like What Sticks, or at least most that we’ve met. This book focuses on advertising that works, with or without a big idea or a big budget. The emphasis is on effectiveness, not creative cool. If creative directors are focused on making sure their advertising is as powerful for the product sales as it is at winning awards, then they will love this book.

What Sticks Insights for Creatives

• 31% of our marketers did not get their Messaging right and wasted $36 billion
• Ford developed a radical new online approach that was 10x more cost effective than TV

Strategic Planners will find this an instrumental tool for helping them keep the group focused on getting to the right answers and them MAKING sure those are the right answers. The application of What Sticks’ COP, or Communications Optimization Process, will be a godsend to getting better results.

What Sticks Insights for Strategic Planners

• 36% of the marketers studied did not get Motivations right, either missing the Motivation, the Positioning or Segmentation and wasted $53 billion

Media Strategists will appreciate the importance What Sticks gives to the media function. Repeatedly, throughout What Sticks, you’ll see the phrase, “Same Budget, Better Results.” This concept, and the proof of it, was originally conceived from the original concept that was focused on Media Optimization. On average, the brands we worked with were able to increase the actual effectiveness of their campaign by more than 35%, and that after the campaign started.

• 83% of marketers spent money in Advertising media that was seriously suboptimal
• McDonald’s found that they could increase advertising effectiveness by 50% just by changing the time of day

Researchers will feel like they have been vindicated once they read this book, although it will put even more pressure on them to really help contribute to results. Whether Researchers read this book or not, it will benefit you as all factions of the advertising marketing process will begin to appreciate the role that proper research can play. As marketers we are all for the art of advertising, but a bedrock of data will make for a better campaign – guaranteed.

What Sticks Insights for Researchers

• What Sticks identifies a new area of advertising study called Psychologics, which is the field of study examining consumer psychology of meaning created by each medium

CEO’s & CFO’s in our experience have always wondered what role advertising really plays for the brand but it was this void they feel compelled to put money into, a lot of money in fact, but not really sure if they should be spending less, or even more. What Sticks helps CEO’s & CFO’s to figure that out and to not only give guidance to them to share with their marketing teams but importantly tells them clearly the role that they play in their company producing effective advertising.

What Sticks Insights for CEO’s & CFO’s

• The 30 Marketers studied included AstraZeneca, Colgate, Ford F-150, ING Financial Services ,Johnson & Johnson (Neutrogena), Kimberly Clark Corp., Kraft (Jell-O), McDonald’s, Phillips (Norelco), Nestlé's (Coffee-mate), P&G (Olay), Unilever (Dove), Universal Studios Home Video, Verisign, Volkswagen (Jetta), among others.

Download Chapter 1 here