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101 Things I Learned
101 Things I Learned in Advertising School
Providing unique, accessible lessons on advertising, this title in the bestselling 101 Things I Learned(R) series is a perfect resource for students, recent graduates, general readers, and even seasoned professionals.
The advertising industry is fast paced and confusing, and so is advertising school. This installment in the 101 Things I Learned(R) series is for the student lost in a sea of jargon, data, and creative dead-ends. One hundred and one illustrated lessons offer thoughtful, entertaining insights into consumer psychology, media, audience targeting, creativity, and design, illuminating a range of provocative questions: Why is half of advertising bound to fail? Why should a mug in an ad be displayed with its handle to the right? How did the ban on cigarette advertising create more smokers? Why do people fall for propaganda? When doesn't sex sell?
Written by an experienced advertising executive and instructor, 101 Things I Learned(R) in Advertising School is sure to appeal to students, to seasoned professionals seeking new ways to craft an ad campaign, and to small-business owners looking to increase awareness of their brand.
The advertising industry is fast paced and confusing, and so is advertising school. This installment in the 101 Things I Learned(R) series is for the student lost in a sea of jargon, data, and creative dead-ends. One hundred and one illustrated lessons offer thoughtful, entertaining insights into consumer psychology, media, audience targeting, creativity, and design, illuminating a range of provocative questions: Why is half of advertising bound to fail? Why should a mug in an ad be displayed with its handle to the right? How did the ban on cigarette advertising create more smokers? Why do people fall for propaganda? When doesn't sex sell?
Written by an experienced advertising executive and instructor, 101 Things I Learned(R) in Advertising School is sure to appeal to students, to seasoned professionals seeking new ways to craft an ad campaign, and to small-business owners looking to increase awareness of their brand.
- GenresBusinessNonfictionDesign
216 pages, Hardcover
Published April 3, 2018
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349 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 21, 2017
Advertising is the art of telling the truth. An ad campaign succeeds when it brings forward an embedded truth—about the product or service, about our needs or idiosyncrasies as consumers, about our unrecognized daily foibles, or about the fixations and biases of our culture.
This book is exactly what it says it is: 101 concise lessons about advertising that span different areas of focus. During my time in advertising, I learned that it can be difficult to convince a designer to put the merchandise and target demographic before their artistic vision, but it can also be hard to convince a business person about the importance of font choice and brand standards. I joined the advertising field as a graphic artist, but there's so much more to advertising than design. There are also business, communications, psychological, and legal aspects to consider. Advertising is such a diverse field, so it's helpful to learn a little about each aspect.
How can you use basic human psychology to your advantage? Why did the federal ban on cigarette advertising actually increase smoking? Which type of products should have the highest profit margin? This book answers those questions, plus much more. It includes real-life examples, such as the interesting ways well-known companies have revived or destroyed their brands. There are also helpful tips. The one about handling criticism would be useful for anyone in a creative field. The author advises paying attention when multiple people find a problem with your work, but to focus on the actual criticism rather than the suggested fix for it. If you're looking for how to avoid controversy, this book provides answers for that too. It always baffles people when something obviously offensive slips past the eyes of entire committees, but things aren’t so easy to see when you’re too close to a project and you aren’t looking for it.
This book of succinct and memorable lessons would make a great gift for a student interested in joining the advertising field. It could also be useful for professionals, because it includes lessons that we all need to be reminded of from time to time!
__________
I received this book for free from Netgalley and Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. It will be available April 3rd, 2018.
September 27, 2017
101 tips for advertising people. Written in a simplistic manner, will most likely appeal to those who are either interested in, or beginning a career in advertising.
October 16, 2017
[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Net Gallery. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]
I'm not familiar with the series that this book is a part of, but judging from what the book says, it is likely that the series as a whole is at least somewhat polarizing if this book is any indication. My own feelings about advertising and marketing are somewhat ambivalent, but this book does a good jot, for the most part, at presenting the high road in giving advertising legitimacy by providing the means by which people who have goods and services to offer make others aware of that fact in ways that encourage their bottom line. I see nothing inherently illegitimate about advertising, but feel it necessary to recognize that much of it is unethical and manipulative in its nature [1]. The authors of this book--and it seems as if the cowriter is given credit mainly because he was the one who created the series rather than for being the main author--do a good job at drawing interest to this book through their mostly good-natured sense of humor about advertising. Other than a particularly saucy and daring quotation from Hitler about the nature of propaganda and its audience, this book manages to take the high road and defend ethics and truth-telling in advertising to a high degree.
In terms of its contents this book is short and straightforward to a high degree. Each of the 101 things that the author(s) learned in Advertising school are introduced with some sort of provocative visual and there is usually some sort of provocative quotation or short discussion about it. This is not a book that aims at great depth but it certainly is the start of book that can start a conversation with the reader about the nature of advertising and marketing efforts that certainly deserves to be had. What is the value of brokers and middlemen in general? What are the alternatives to advertising efforts, and are there ways that advertisers can improve their rather pitiful reputation among an increasingly cynical general public? How can much of the clutter that the authors talk about in advertising be removed for the benefit of everyone involved except for those business which profit from the proliferation of intrusive and often irritating advertisement? This book does not definitely answer such fairly obvious questions but does at least provide a pro-advertising point of view that ought to inspire some sort of comment and response among many readers, which is likely what it was meant to do.
Even so, at the end of the day I find it hard simply to buy the arguments of the author(s) in favor of advertising. The authors seem to want to do a great deal in a somewhat superficial way here, and much of it is certainly interesting and some of it downright ironic, such as the insight that advertising agencies do not themselves advertise, except indirectly through the marketing campaigns that they work on for others. The book also praises companies whose reputations have fallen a bit on hard times, like that on Dove with recent advertising that has been deemed racist. Those who want something to argue with or respond to will find much of interest here. Those whose views are favorable to marketers and advertisers will also find much of interest here, but I wonder if this book is designed more to preach to the choir in a highly polarized atmosphere concerning advertising and marketing and to provoke debate with those who are opposed to the authors' worldview than it is to provide the means for a convincing argument in favor of their worldview. At least some of this book appears an awful lot like trolling, especially the quotation from Mein Kempf and its reference to 9/11 truthers that are its most controversial comments/insights.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
I'm not familiar with the series that this book is a part of, but judging from what the book says, it is likely that the series as a whole is at least somewhat polarizing if this book is any indication. My own feelings about advertising and marketing are somewhat ambivalent, but this book does a good jot, for the most part, at presenting the high road in giving advertising legitimacy by providing the means by which people who have goods and services to offer make others aware of that fact in ways that encourage their bottom line. I see nothing inherently illegitimate about advertising, but feel it necessary to recognize that much of it is unethical and manipulative in its nature [1]. The authors of this book--and it seems as if the cowriter is given credit mainly because he was the one who created the series rather than for being the main author--do a good job at drawing interest to this book through their mostly good-natured sense of humor about advertising. Other than a particularly saucy and daring quotation from Hitler about the nature of propaganda and its audience, this book manages to take the high road and defend ethics and truth-telling in advertising to a high degree.
In terms of its contents this book is short and straightforward to a high degree. Each of the 101 things that the author(s) learned in Advertising school are introduced with some sort of provocative visual and there is usually some sort of provocative quotation or short discussion about it. This is not a book that aims at great depth but it certainly is the start of book that can start a conversation with the reader about the nature of advertising and marketing efforts that certainly deserves to be had. What is the value of brokers and middlemen in general? What are the alternatives to advertising efforts, and are there ways that advertisers can improve their rather pitiful reputation among an increasingly cynical general public? How can much of the clutter that the authors talk about in advertising be removed for the benefit of everyone involved except for those business which profit from the proliferation of intrusive and often irritating advertisement? This book does not definitely answer such fairly obvious questions but does at least provide a pro-advertising point of view that ought to inspire some sort of comment and response among many readers, which is likely what it was meant to do.
Even so, at the end of the day I find it hard simply to buy the arguments of the author(s) in favor of advertising. The authors seem to want to do a great deal in a somewhat superficial way here, and much of it is certainly interesting and some of it downright ironic, such as the insight that advertising agencies do not themselves advertise, except indirectly through the marketing campaigns that they work on for others. The book also praises companies whose reputations have fallen a bit on hard times, like that on Dove with recent advertising that has been deemed racist. Those who want something to argue with or respond to will find much of interest here. Those whose views are favorable to marketers and advertisers will also find much of interest here, but I wonder if this book is designed more to preach to the choir in a highly polarized atmosphere concerning advertising and marketing and to provoke debate with those who are opposed to the authors' worldview than it is to provide the means for a convincing argument in favor of their worldview. At least some of this book appears an awful lot like trolling, especially the quotation from Mein Kempf and its reference to 9/11 truthers that are its most controversial comments/insights.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
October 12, 2021
I picked up this little gem while browsing the business section at Barnes & Nobles. I love books that think outside the box and shed light on things in a clear and fun way. And that is precisely what this book does. There are no long pages to teach history and all nuances of advertising, but rather quick and practical nuggets of information that you can apply immediately to your business, service, or product. There were also many interesting examples from the real world that everyone can relate to because they involved information on large brands and companies.
I found many helpful ideas that I can easily implement in my business and product:
- Plutchki's wheel of emotions help people make sense of things. The more expensive the product, the more emotional appeal needs to be (#21) see: https://www.6seconds.org/2020/08/11/p...
- Too many choices are paralyzing - offer no more than seven options (#37);
- Most people pick medium or medium-tier price/product (#38);
- One day only sales do better than ads for longer sales or promotions of unspecified duration (#39);
- Don't make superlative claims but rather distinguished ones. No one will believe 'you are the best.' Also, don't make obvious claims. (#69);
- Ideas and images presented in threes are naturally enjoyable (#76);
Readability - 5
Scope - 3
Depth - 2
Format - 5
Clarity -5
Read this book if:
- You want tips and tricks that you can quickly use in your business, website, service, or product.
- You want to learn through examples.
- You would like to read digestible pieces that are easy and fun to read.
- You are not an advertising professional.
I found many helpful ideas that I can easily implement in my business and product:
- Plutchki's wheel of emotions help people make sense of things. The more expensive the product, the more emotional appeal needs to be (#21) see: https://www.6seconds.org/2020/08/11/p...
- Too many choices are paralyzing - offer no more than seven options (#37);
- Most people pick medium or medium-tier price/product (#38);
- One day only sales do better than ads for longer sales or promotions of unspecified duration (#39);
- Don't make superlative claims but rather distinguished ones. No one will believe 'you are the best.' Also, don't make obvious claims. (#69);
- Ideas and images presented in threes are naturally enjoyable (#76);
Readability - 5
Scope - 3
Depth - 2
Format - 5
Clarity -5
Read this book if:
- You want tips and tricks that you can quickly use in your business, website, service, or product.
- You want to learn through examples.
- You would like to read digestible pieces that are easy and fun to read.
- You are not an advertising professional.
October 17, 2017
I love this series, as so much becomes clear about the mysteries we associate with certain professions. Advertising of course is often considered the dark arts, and we often associate it with deception and manipulation. This book makes you think "yes its all of that" and "thank the Lord for that".
This book details how advertising professionals help you on the product path to all the purchases you need and want. These people not only shift product but also make a world that is refined to making consumer and industry work in synergy. Coordinating that dance is a very complex and useful activity. This book looking at 101 aspects gives you a sense of how it works, why it works and in many cases why it often fails.
I loved this book, but it did leave me wanting more. Some aspects they could have really brought out more, such as digital advertising and telephone and person to person sales. Still I highly recommend this to any one who has any inclination to find out how advertising is done and more importantly why its done.
This book details how advertising professionals help you on the product path to all the purchases you need and want. These people not only shift product but also make a world that is refined to making consumer and industry work in synergy. Coordinating that dance is a very complex and useful activity. This book looking at 101 aspects gives you a sense of how it works, why it works and in many cases why it often fails.
I loved this book, but it did leave me wanting more. Some aspects they could have really brought out more, such as digital advertising and telephone and person to person sales. Still I highly recommend this to any one who has any inclination to find out how advertising is done and more importantly why its done.
December 18, 2018
A quick but informative read from a non marketing perspective. I picked the book up to help my Girl Scout troop earn their marketing badge and I learned a lot of helpful tips for cookie sale marketing and pretty much anything I may need to help publicize in the future without getting bogged down with a lot of explanations why.
December 24, 2022
After liking the urban design book in the "101 Things I Learned..." series very much, I decided to try the advertising one, but I was less blown away. A lot of it was stuff I already knew, or didn't really feel new and insightful. Still, it was a very quick read, so nothing lost. Just that I still have my socks on.
Read
February 7, 2024I probably should have read this when I took my current job. Explains some basic marketing lingo and concepts, as well as some ideas about copywriting and design.
Will not blow anyone’s mind but if you’re interested in pursuing advertising, this may be a good primer to what it’s actually about, and how marketers think.
Will not blow anyone’s mind but if you’re interested in pursuing advertising, this may be a good primer to what it’s actually about, and how marketers think.
May 15, 2018
Another great installment in the "101 Things I Learned" series. I've enjoyed every book in this series so far (I still have a couple more to read). Next for me is "101 Things I learned in Urban Design School".
June 24, 2020
It's fairly quick to read this book as some of the ideas may not seem new if you've been working in the advertising industry for quite some time. Still, it helps as a reminder of what's important when creating effective campaigns.
July 26, 2024
This is a short, easy to read book with some brief poiubts of wisdom. If you are in marketing you will no doubt relate to some of the ideas shared in this book. That being said you can also learn from it as well and if youre in marketing looking to level up then you should check this book out!
April 10, 2018
Would be a great book for beginners.
January 20, 2019
Useful, practical advice that can be applied to many different marketing situations. Definitely worth reading through, then keeping on hand as a reference.
January 28, 2019
Excellent, found it to be very insightful.
July 3, 2025
Love love loveeee
November 24, 2024
Easily readable book that presents the fundamentals of advertising in a succinct and fun way. Short and practical pieces of information with relatable examples for quick reads on the go. Topics covered included the link between emotions and pricing, the power of repetition, bandwagoning, the paradox of choices. Content would be enjoyable for anyone who is curious about ads and their strategies to catch attention/interest, but too shallow for marketing professionals.
November 12, 2020
Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews