Spin: Politics and Marketing in a Divided Age

by Clive Veroni

In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, Clive Veroni’s Spin is a fascinating investigation of how the techniques of political strategists are being applied to the world of consumer marketing. In the early twentieth century political operatives did their work in the backroom, a shady place of secret deals and dark arts. By the middle of the century, the politicos were heading to Madison Avenue to learn the techniques of mass communication and persuasion. Today, they have moved from the dim light of the backroom to the bright lights of the war room, the central command for political campaigns. And along the way the pupil has surpassed the teacher. Aided by masses of data, sophisticated computer modelling, and smart manipulation of social media, political strategists are reshaping the way voters think. And act. Forward-thinking marketers are now adopting these techniques to convince consumers to buy their products. The strategies being used to influence our choices at the ballot box will soon be used to influence our choices in the grocery store. Drawing on political and marketing stories from North America, Europe, and beyond, Spin gives readers an insider’s view of this stunning turnaround.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Business

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 8, 2014

About the author

Clive Veroni is a leading marketing strategist. He is a consultant on brand positioning, marketing strategies, new product development and advertising to a wide variety blue-chip clients across North America. He founded Leap Consulting in 1999. Prior to that he had a successful advertising career, including several years as partner and president of Stringer Veroni Ketchum Advertising before selling his firm to Omnicom. Born in South Africa, he now lives in Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Antoinette Taranets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who works in sales, marketing or advertising should read this book. The power of politics to adapt and address the changing nature of communications is one that we should all be taking lessons from.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Spin. Veroni makes strong connections between political tactics and marketing, with plenty of fascinating examples from both arenas to illustrate his ideas. I particularly liked his points about appealing to a passionate minority instead of a safe middle group, taking creative risks in marketing campaigns and the importance of speed (think Oreo and the Super Bowl). A good read!

[Vinayak Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for the digital

[Suresh Thalur · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read.
Few books have altered the way I see the world - this is one of them.
Amazing that he wrote it before 2016 American election and I read it before 2016 too and this served as a template for me to see why things turned out the way they did.
It's a shame that this book isn't that popular. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to widen their perspective on the world we live in.

[Luigi Benetton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great explanations about why politicians act as they do, and why commercial brands may follow them

[Dave Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excell

[Tom Jarmyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book that looks at new techniques from politics as they apply to advertising. However, it tends to over emphasize how much of a difference technology makes in modern politics and branding.

I tend to believe that the core objectives and methods are largely the same and these are just new tools of execution. Most telling is that as I was reading the section on branding, discussing Chipotle, for the second week in three Chipotle was on the cover of Businessweek - the headline [Outbreak] Can Chipotle get over food poisoning? and the headline of the inner story was 'Toxic Burrito'. If one does not get the fundamentals right there is no new idea or technology that can really save you.

[Justus Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clive Veroni’s Spin is a riveting examination of the overlap between politics and marketing. Consumers have gone from passively receiving marketing messages to actively transmitting and promoting them. In cases where both marketers and politicians capture the imagination of the masses, whether it’s the Apple versus Mac ads or Obama’s Hope campaign, those masses do much of the advertising work previously relegated to television advertisements, billboards, and news spots. This book is essential reading for anyone remotely interested in what’s being sold to us and how it’s being accomplished and just how politics are revolutionizing the current consumer market.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in preparation for an in class interview with the author. Was an easy read which doesn't bog down the reader with too much statistics and such. Many good points and valid arguments.