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Outrageous Marketing: The Story of The Onion and How To Build a Powerful Brand with No Marketing Budget
A Funny, Inspirational Book About How To Build A Brand
#1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Dikkers tells the hilarious, outrageous, and deeply personal story of how he built the most trusted news source in America, The Onion.
Of course, all the stories in The Onion are fake, and anyone who takes them seriously is the true butt of the joke. But Outrageous Marketing tells the actual, uncensored story of The Onion.
The Onion started as a small college humor newspaper in 1988. How did it grow to become a worldwide comedy brand with millions of social media followers and rabid fans today? Brands today tend to follow the herd when it comes to marketing and branding, but often it's running in a different direction of the herd that gets you noticed.
The Onion did the opposite of what brands are supposed to do. The Onion didn't listen to its customers. It didn't give them what they wanted. It didn't engage with them. It was never "authentic." In fact, everything The Onion printed was fabricated, spoken through a phony facade. This was not by accident. It was calculated and executed with precision.
What’s Inside…• How to court, woo, and seduce people to fall in love with your brand!
• How to recruit the very best and brightest minds in your industry to work for you!
• The single-best way to manage creative people on your team and unleash their FULL potential!
• The secret to making every single day of work feel as smooth and enjoyable as downhill skiing!
• The one thing every brand builder MUST focus on ( it’s not profits)!
• How to reach more people and create more fans using one, super-simple principle ( this is what made The Onion world-famous)!
• The fastest and most effective route to innovation—at work AND in life!
• The ONE thing every brand must do to compel extreme employee advocacy and fuel creative success!
• How to find your brand’s identity!
• The ONLY way to achieve quality!
• How to get the attention, love, and undying loyalty of your customers!
• 13 actionable ways to defy convention, break rules, and succeed wildly!
In flaunting the best practices for brand marketing, The Onion discovered a marketing secret. Not everything is as it seems in the fiercely competitive digital landscape. Sometimes the most counter-intuitive—the most outrageous—marketing strategies are the most effective. With diminishing attention spans and intensifying competition, making fans fall in love will be the lifeblood of brands in the coming years.
Author Scott Dikkers, founder of theonion.com and the publication's longest-serving editor-in-chief, takes you back to the hardscrabble creation and unlikely rise of The Onion to a multi-million-dollar entertainment brand. Along the crazy and heart-wrenching journey are powerful principles and marketing ideas that apply to any kind of product or service, principles for forging a deep connection with customers, making a bigger impact on the world, and achieving the kind of meteoric success that makes headlines.
Click "Look inside" to see more and get free access to bonus content!
#1 New York Times bestselling author Scott Dikkers tells the hilarious, outrageous, and deeply personal story of how he built the most trusted news source in America, The Onion.
Of course, all the stories in The Onion are fake, and anyone who takes them seriously is the true butt of the joke. But Outrageous Marketing tells the actual, uncensored story of The Onion.
The Onion started as a small college humor newspaper in 1988. How did it grow to become a worldwide comedy brand with millions of social media followers and rabid fans today? Brands today tend to follow the herd when it comes to marketing and branding, but often it's running in a different direction of the herd that gets you noticed.
The Onion did the opposite of what brands are supposed to do. The Onion didn't listen to its customers. It didn't give them what they wanted. It didn't engage with them. It was never "authentic." In fact, everything The Onion printed was fabricated, spoken through a phony facade. This was not by accident. It was calculated and executed with precision.
What’s Inside…• How to court, woo, and seduce people to fall in love with your brand!
• How to recruit the very best and brightest minds in your industry to work for you!
• The single-best way to manage creative people on your team and unleash their FULL potential!
• The secret to making every single day of work feel as smooth and enjoyable as downhill skiing!
• The one thing every brand builder MUST focus on ( it’s not profits)!
• How to reach more people and create more fans using one, super-simple principle ( this is what made The Onion world-famous)!
• The fastest and most effective route to innovation—at work AND in life!
• The ONE thing every brand must do to compel extreme employee advocacy and fuel creative success!
• How to find your brand’s identity!
• The ONLY way to achieve quality!
• How to get the attention, love, and undying loyalty of your customers!
• 13 actionable ways to defy convention, break rules, and succeed wildly!
In flaunting the best practices for brand marketing, The Onion discovered a marketing secret. Not everything is as it seems in the fiercely competitive digital landscape. Sometimes the most counter-intuitive—the most outrageous—marketing strategies are the most effective. With diminishing attention spans and intensifying competition, making fans fall in love will be the lifeblood of brands in the coming years.
Author Scott Dikkers, founder of theonion.com and the publication's longest-serving editor-in-chief, takes you back to the hardscrabble creation and unlikely rise of The Onion to a multi-million-dollar entertainment brand. Along the crazy and heart-wrenching journey are powerful principles and marketing ideas that apply to any kind of product or service, principles for forging a deep connection with customers, making a bigger impact on the world, and achieving the kind of meteoric success that makes headlines.
Click "Look inside" to see more and get free access to bonus content!
- GenresBusiness
203 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 6, 2018
26 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Scott Dikkers
40 books85 followersScott Dikkers is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of “How to Write Funny.” He's also the founder of TheOnion.com and The AV Club.
Scott sends out a daily tip on Substack:
https://scottdikkers.substack.com/
Be sure to follow him on BookBub for insiders deals on his books!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/scott...
Scott sends out a daily tip on Substack:
https://scottdikkers.substack.com/
Be sure to follow him on BookBub for insiders deals on his books!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/scott...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 23, 2021
I am an absolutely terrible reader, I easily get distracted and can’t keep my concentration even in fiction, let alone non-fiction. I set myself up to start reading this year and Scott’s writing HELPED ME immensely. The book is fun to read and his stories were indeed outrageous. Definitely some great advice for anyone in the marketing industry!
November 13, 2018
Although marketing has the potential to be a dry subject, Scott Dikkers manages to avoid this completely. Outrageous Marketing is a thoroughly engaging read from the first page to the last, whether you’re a marketing buff or not. Fans of comedian autobiographies will love the way this book reads, as Scott illustrates his points with a series of candid, captivating personal stories.
From a lifetime of firsthand experience, he offers invaluable advice on embracing the risk of failure, achieving quality through quantity, investing time in building a loyal fan base, and so much more. Find out how and why The Onion succeeded by contradicting standard marketing methods and staying true to its brand.
As a longtime fan of The Onion, I can honestly say this is a must-read book for any fan. I couldn’t get enough of the iconic paper’s history and behind-the-scenes stories of overcoming setbacks, sleepless nights meeting deadlines, debating the nuances of a headline, nearly getting sued out of existence, and the convention-defying techniques that helped make The Onion the worldwide hit we know today.
Outrageous Marketing is more than just a wealth of practical advice. If you’re looking for inspiration, or re-inspiration, it’s an excellent source of both. This is one of those books you’ll find yourself revisiting often. Perfect for those times you need a good kick to restore your spirit and reignite your drive to turn creative ideas into realities, with the proven tips to make them succeed.
From a lifetime of firsthand experience, he offers invaluable advice on embracing the risk of failure, achieving quality through quantity, investing time in building a loyal fan base, and so much more. Find out how and why The Onion succeeded by contradicting standard marketing methods and staying true to its brand.
As a longtime fan of The Onion, I can honestly say this is a must-read book for any fan. I couldn’t get enough of the iconic paper’s history and behind-the-scenes stories of overcoming setbacks, sleepless nights meeting deadlines, debating the nuances of a headline, nearly getting sued out of existence, and the convention-defying techniques that helped make The Onion the worldwide hit we know today.
Outrageous Marketing is more than just a wealth of practical advice. If you’re looking for inspiration, or re-inspiration, it’s an excellent source of both. This is one of those books you’ll find yourself revisiting often. Perfect for those times you need a good kick to restore your spirit and reignite your drive to turn creative ideas into realities, with the proven tips to make them succeed.
November 11, 2018
Reading books about marketing is about as appealing to me as doing the marketing itself. But, as a freelance writer, it's important to know these things. I had hoped to pick up a few good self-promotion tips from Outrageous Marketing; it never occurred to me I might be entertained in the process. Instead, I found in Scott Dikkers' book not only an excellent resource, but a genuine page-turner! The book is largely a series of stories, surprisingly candid in nature. Dikkers writes about his childhood, his flaws, and his failures. Of course, we also read of his successes: the most famous of which is The Onion, which he transformed from a fledgling college newspaper into a comedy juggernaut. In fact, the bulk of Outrageous Marketing describes the history and evolution of The Onion, where Dikkers learned valuable lessons about how to go from merely getting noticed to building a fierce fan base. And although Dikkers offers good advice, inspiration (and chuckles) throughout, my key take-away was that focusing on creating the highest possible quality of art and exposing it to the right audience - sometimes by giving it away for free - can pay off in the end.
August 25, 2020
I would put this book at the top of your reading list, especially if you like/love The Onion. I would have to say though that it reads more like an oral history of The Onion with a dash of marketing tactics. Having said that, it's still a fantastic read to get that first person experience of where it all began and what it takes to make something like this succeed.
Scott's drive and obsession with comedy writing and writing is admirable and I'll admit I'm envious of his obsession to just do it. I highly suggest his other books about the creative process and the books he wrote as a creative.
Definitely check this book out.
Scott's drive and obsession with comedy writing and writing is admirable and I'll admit I'm envious of his obsession to just do it. I highly suggest his other books about the creative process and the books he wrote as a creative.
Definitely check this book out.
November 14, 2018
This book is a must-read, not only for fans of The Onion but also for people with a passion to create who want to learn how to easily expose their own product or ideas to the masses. It's part inspirational story and part DIY marketing manifesto, full of practical and invaluable tips from Scott Dikkers' own experiences ranging from childhood all the way up to the present.
November 18, 2018
4.8 stars
February 21, 2024
More a history / memoir about The Onion than about marketing, though for anyone wanting to learn about marketing they will certainly find some strong ideas here.
January 13, 2020
Must Read
Scott’s books have dissected comedy better than anything I’ve read. This book is inspiring in following his personal journey. Will read it again.
Scott’s books have dissected comedy better than anything I’ve read. This book is inspiring in following his personal journey. Will read it again.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews