| |  | Books : Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are |  | | | | | | | | | |
List Price:$25.00
Our Price: $16.50
You Save: $8.50 (34%)
Prices subject to change.
Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.8270973
EAN: 9781400063918
ISBN: 1400063914
Label: Random House
Manufacturer: Random House
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: June 03, 2008
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: June 03, 2008
Sales Rank: 4117
Studio: Random House
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
“Fascinating … A compelling blend of cultural anthropology and business journalism.” — Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine
“An often startling tour of new cultural terrain.” — Laura Miller, Salon
“Marked by meticulous research and careful conclusions, this superbly readable book confirms New York Times journalist Walker as an expert on consumerism. … [A] thoughtful and unhurried investigation into consumerism that pushes the analysis to the maximum…” — Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
Brands are dead. Advertising no longer works. Weaned on TiVo, the Internet, and other emerging technologies, the short-attention-span generation has become immune to marketing. Consumers are “in control.” Or so we’re told.
In Buying In, New York Times Magazine “Consumed” columnist Rob Walker argues that this accepted wisdom misses a much more important and lasting cultural shift. As technology has created avenues for advertising anywhere and everywhere, people are embracing brands more than ever before–creating brands of their own and participating in marketing campaigns for their favorite brands in unprecedented ways. Increasingly, motivated consumers are pitching in to spread the gospel virally, whether by creating Internet video ads for Converse All Stars or becoming word-of-mouth “agents” touting products to friends and family on behalf of huge corporations. In the process, they–we–have begun to funnel cultural, political, and community activities through connections with brands.
Walker explores this changing cultural landscape–including a practice he calls “murketing,” blending the terms murky and marketing–by introducing us to the creative marketers, entrepreneurs, artists, and community organizers who have found a way to thrive within it. Using profiles of brands old and new, including Timberland, American Apparel, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Red Bull, iPod, and Livestrong, Walker demonstrates the ways in which buyers adopt products, not just as consumer choices, but as conscious expressions of their identities.
Part marketing primer, part work of cultural anthropology, Buying In reveals why now, more than ever, we are what we buy–and vice versa.
Praise for Buying In
“Walker … makes a startling claim: Far from being immune to advertising, as many people think, American consumers are increasingly active participants in the marketing process. … [He] leads readers through a series of lucid case studies to demonstrate that, in many cases, consumers actively participate in infusing a brand with meaning. … Convincing.” — Jay Dixit, The Washington Post
“Walker lays out his theory in well-written, entertaining detail.” — Seth Stevenson, Slate
“Buying In delves into the attitudes of the global consumer in the age of plenty, and, well, we aren’t too pretty. Walker carries the reader on a frenetically paced tour of senseless consumption spanning from Viking ranges to custom high-tops.” — Robert Blinn, Core77
“Rob Walker is one smart shopper.” — Jen Trolio, ReadyMade
“The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. This is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect.”
–Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food
“This book has vast social implications, far beyond the fields of marketing and branding. It obliterates our old paradigm of companies (the bad guys) corrupting our children (the innocents) via commercials. In this new world, media-literate young people freely and willingly co-opt the brands, and most companies are clueless bystanders desperate to keep up. I really don't know if this is good news or bad news, but I can say, with certainty, that this book is a must-read.”
–Po Bronson, author of What Should I Do with My Life?
“Rob Walker is a gift. He shows that in our shattered, scattered world, powerful brands are existential, insinuating themselves into the human questions ‘What am I about?’ and ‘How do I connect?’ His insight that brand influence is becoming both more pervasive and more hidden–that we are not so self-defined as we like to think–should make us disturbed, and vigilant.”
–Jim Collins, author of Good to Great
“Rob Walker is a terrific writer who understands both human nature and the business world. His book is highly entertaining, but it’s also a deeply thoughtful look at the ways in which marketing meets the modern psyche.”
–Bethany McLean, editor at large, Fortune, and co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room
“Are we living in an era of YouTube-empowered, brand-rejecting consumers? Rob Walker has the surprising answers, and you won’t want to miss this joyride through the front lines of consumer culture. A marketing must-read.”
–Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick
“Rob Walker brilliantly deconstructs the religion of consumption. Love his column, couldn’t put his book down.”
–Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Bought In
The great thing about this book is that unlike most marketing and business related reads--this one is actually enjoyable. I didn't want to put it down. Rob has a way of capturing his points in a personal, conversational manner that draws your interest and keeps it.
As a designer, I typically disregard books related to marketing because I believe that things have changed so much that most of them are missing the mark. Traditional marketing is a dinosaur. Buying In goes beyond Communication ... Read More
Rating:  - Nattering Nothingness!
The social sciences are replete with innumerable declarations of recent research insights that later prove to achieve nothing - why else would we have legions of economists that disagree with each other, decades of school "reform" that have brought little/no improvement in pupil achievement, findings that those treated by psychologists show little/no improvement over those not treated, and management theorists that split hairs over irrelevant topics while millions of jobs migrate to Asia for lower labor ... Read More
Rating: - Helpful Examples of Below-the-Radar Marketing
Rob Walker's main point in this book is that for most Americans brand choices have become a way to express individuality while still feeling connected to others. Why? Most people don't really do anything creative, but they want to feel better about themselves. They pick brands that reflect an appealing self-image.
This tendency to designer identity carries as far as choosing brands that reflect lifestyles that are symbolic of what you like, but aren't you. In some cases, brands develop such ... Read More
Rating: - For some brands it's about trusting the tale, and not the teller
If you're interested in how certain brands take on personalities of their own beyond their framers' intent--or in the self-conscious denial of any intent at all--this book deserves your attention. Walker examines how certain brands come to embody what we say to ourselves about ourselves, but with no apparent acknowledgement of a surrounding brand community of any sort. In other words, individuals embrace many of these brands with no conscious pretension to belonging, seemingly because the brand has individual ... Read More
Rating: - buying in the secret dialogue between what we buy and who we are
I am a small business person and chose this book because it was recommended by amazon. I want to learn as much as I can about marketing or attracting more customers to my business.I have read about half the book so far and I have been asking myself why I bought it? When will the author mention something that a small business person can use in his/her business. This book has been a real waste of time. It consists of stories of companies doing new types of marketing.I really do not think it will help a small ... Read More
Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are | | | |
| | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | 
2004-2007 Copyright © , All right reserved.
the website powered by web hosting. |
|
|
