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Ad Books

These are books that we've actually read, rated, interviewed the authors of or sometimes simply reviewed - if you fancy a peek we've included excerpts so you can 'taste' the writing before deciding if the book is something for you. Browse before you buy!

Dabitch's picture

Ad Nauseam: the back to school book for budding ad-cynics.

Submitted by Dabitch on 31. July 2009 - 20:30
Image of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture

Thanks to Carrie McLaren I got myself a copy of the Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture as seen here on the left, posing on a pile of sick bags with genuine falafal fat stains on it. (Yes, I have collected several hundred sick bags, if you haven't noticed by now, all signs point to me being a packrat on my way to rivaling the Collyer brothers)

If you have been an avid reader of StayFree magazine like myself, don't worry there's fresh data in here to feast on mixed in with some of their best articles. If you've never read StayFree magazine, it's a bit like adbusters. Sure the authors bemoan the advertising seeping into every pore of our culture, but at the same time they are fascinated by it, armed with wit and plenty of research. Those who have followed adland for as long as I have written it will find ad creep and other phenomena as familiar faces in here, all helping to paint a bigger picture of what advertising and consumer culture is doing to our society as a whole. The whole book is funny, subversive and eye-opening - if you've had them closed that is.

2.625
Your rating: None Average: 2.6 (2 votes)
Dabitch's picture

Nouveau? Or not. The book from french Badland-King Joe la pompe

Submitted by Dabitch on 23. July 2009 - 17:39
Image of Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising

Joe La Pompe, the anonymous French guy who has been publishing twin ads on the web for almost as long as I have been Badlanding ads, has published a book. Alas, it's in French. But even if you don't know French, you can enjoy the ad twins anyway.

Since I can't really read French, not properly anyway, I figured that my review of the book should not be a written one. Here's my chat on Badlanders in general, and how to avoid them.

My neat little automagick link to Amazon widget is not built for french Amazon and I'm forced to link a US-available related book just to make this post work, here is a hardcoded link to the Joe La Pompe book that I'm actually talking about: Nouveau ? (Broché)

2.925
Your rating: None Average: 2.9 (2 votes)
Dabitch's picture

Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet

Submitted by Dabitch on 22. July 2009 - 19:16
Image of Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet

"With a unique blend of humor and insight, Othmer guides us through this rapidly changing business and lets us see the direction in which it is headed. A must read for any student of advertising."
-- Rick Boyko, Director, VCU Brandcenter

"Advertising is an industry like any other, except it changes our planet daily. James Othmer, one of my favorite writers, takes you inside that world and makes the people and places real. You can dislike these guys, but you can't ignore them. They make sure of that."
  --Seth Godin, author, TRIBES

"I've been in advertising more than twenty years and spent countless hours trying to tell people how insane and hilarious and exciting and pointless and fascinating it all is. Now all I have to do is hand them this book."
-Jamie Barrett,
Creative Director/Partner Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco

"Othmer's struggle to do the next right thing in a business predicated on greed, lust, envy and sloth makes for an enlightening
as well as entertaining read."
                                                                    -Steffan Postaer
                                                                    Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, 
                                                                    Euro RSCG Chicago

3.65
Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (1 vote)
Dabitch's picture

Dabitch wants the ABCD3D book for Xmas!

Submitted by Dabitch on 20. September 2008 - 13:42
Image of ABC3D

I want this book pretty dang bad, ABC3D is as much a work of art as it is a pop-up book - each letter moves and some turn into other letters when you manipulate them, like C which turns into D with a snap. Bring your budding typographer up right, have them practice their ABC's with this book. Or simply treat your inner child to a brilliantly (and stylishly) executed book idea.

Marion Bataille is graphic and book designer who lives in Paris. The footage shows a hand-made mock-up of the actual book which will be published 14th Oct. 2008. In stores soon, folks! (You can pre-order at Amazon if you, like me, can't wait!)

2.675
Your rating: None Average: 2.7 (2 votes)
Dabitch's picture

Jonathan Salem Baskin - Why did you write "Branding only works on cattle?"

Submitted by Dabitch on 13. September 2008 - 12:12
Image of Branding Only Works on Cattle: The New Way to Get Known (and drive your competitors crazy)

I haven't read the book yet, hence it's unrated (if you have read it feel free to share your views). But I did have the opportunity to ask Jonathan Salem Baskin Why did you write "Branding only works on cattle"? the start of a whole new conversation about branding. He replied:

4.65
Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (1 vote)
Dabitch's picture

Alex White - "Advertising design and typography" - the new bible book for budding designers.

Submitted by Dabitch on 30. July 2008 - 14:36
Image of Advertising Design and Typography

When I first spotted this book, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I'm a total sucker for those heavy hard cover tomes of design that you can read cover to cover and then flip through over and over and over again. This is exactly that kind of book, it's jam packed with over 1,500 advertising examples that reinforce the message Alex is trying to get across.

2.775
Your rating: None Average: 2.8 (2 votes)
Dabitch's picture

Hey Whipple, one more time! The third edition of Luke Sullivan's guide to creating great advertising

Submitted by Dabitch on 8. January 2008 - 17:02
Image of Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising (Adweek Series)

A lot has changed since the first edition of the now staple creative diet book "Hey Whipple, Squeeze Tthis", not just that Dick Wilson who played Mr Whipple has gone to squeeze the big fluffy clouds in the sky at the grand age of 91. There's also the galloping development of the web and the myriad of new media areas. So how does the grand old classic "idea" apply to these new solutions? Don't worry, Luke knows.

“Luke Sullivan writes just about as relevant an advertising read as you can get. It’s a perfect lesson in advertising for newcomers – and a familiar and highly painful reminiscence for those of us entrenched in this noble and often crazy profession.”
–Lee Clow, Chairman, TBWA/Chiat, Chief Creative Officer Worldwide
“This is a business that is changing like crazy, but Sullivan’s advice is timeless.”
–Mike Hughes, President, Creative Director, The Martin Agency
“Luke’s reflections on the advertising industry make me wish I could do it all over again. Except for that ‘scab’ story in Chapter 10.”
–Bob Barrie, Barrie D’Rozario Murphy

Lets do an excerpt. My favorite way to check out a book is to slap it open and read a bit. If I fancy it, I buy it. The third edition of this book doesn't just have two new chapters but old chapters have been updated as well as the examples were getting a little dusty. Check out chapter eight inside for your test read.

4.6
Your rating: None Average: 4.6 (2 votes)
Dabitch's picture

Paul Arden on God

Submitted by Dabitch on 5. December 2007 - 15:09
Image of God Explained in a Taxi Ride

The man who always said "God is in the details" has lost religion and thus put out a book on the subject. A book short enough to read in one single cab ride sitting. A book which has it's own myspace profile. A book full of those little brilliant napkin scribbles that'll never happen.

0.55
Your rating: None Average: 0.6 (1 vote)
Dabitch's picture

Paul Arden quips again.

Submitted by Dabitch on 5. December 2007 - 14:50
Image of Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

Here's another pep talk for you special snowflakes who need someone to remind you to keep your opinions and your backbone, despite what the adgame might be doing to you. Paul Arden delivers his usual distilled smarts in his second book, despite the fact that he claims he can't write. He makes up for this by writing a lot of short sentences and hitting the return key way too often. His books are to young misunderstood adgrunts what the little black poetry book is to Emo kids. If you know a sulking creative at your office, this might be the right gift for them.

I used to commision a lot of photography.
Consequently, people weere keen to show me their work.
99 percent of portfolios I saw were of a very high standard.
But 98 percent of them contained pictures I had seen before.
Obviously not the same subject or composition, but I had the general impression that I was not seeing anything new.

4.85
Your rating: None Average: 4.9 (1 vote)
Dabitch's picture

Cutting edge advertising excerpt.

Submitted by Dabitch on 19. November 2007 - 13:56
Image of Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World's Best for Brands in the 21st Century

As a cutting edge communicator, you need to know what is happening. You need to understand the changes. You need to see how they will impact on your own creative thinking process, because they will.

Strategies and briefs

The joke goes something like this: a copywriter and an account director were visiting a client in Paris. The copywriter asked the account director how to get to the client's office, and the account director handed him a map of Europe.

2.05
Your rating: None Average: 2.1 (1 vote)

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