Radical Marketing: From Harvard to Harley, Ten Who Broke the Rules & Made It Big

This book really helped us to position our agency (The Ad Store Amsterdam) against other agencies. Since we not only read this book but also used it (we even positioned ourselves as being a Radical Marketing Agency), our work improved and our client list grew beyond expectations. In short: this is a great book!

I purchased the book without expecting much, and was extremely impressed. The authors have developed key indicators or successful Radical Marketing implementation and then present 10 companies who have made it work.

I thought this book was a great help for all entrepreneurs. It is as good as Power Promoting: How To Market Your Business to the Top! which I just finished reading. I strongly recommend both books.

I find that most business books these days have little to say and take a long time saying it. As a founder of three successful businesses, I have always wondered who buys them. This book is exactly the opposite. Hill and Rifkin write the old fashioned way. They start with solid research and interviews at a dozen companies which have built legendary customer loyalty. From this research, they distill each company's secrets of success. Ultimately, this allows them to generalize a set of practical, low-cost marketing approaches anyone can follow in their business. Most importantly, they write in direct, hard-hitting language that makes it difficult to put the book down. Its like Grisham writing about successful marketers like Harley Davidson, The Grateful Dead, and Sam Adams beer. If you want a book with solid content, home-run ideas, and engaging writing, this one's for you.

Here are companies for whom the concepts of target marketing, value proposition, brand management, lifetime value and customer loyalty are a way of life. Here are real people who have translated these notions into measurable results.Rich with anecdotes, it is easy to read. The case studies come alive while retaining the underlying challenge - meet the customer face-to-face. There is insight here that can be applied to any Marketing challenge. But don't look for Hill and Rifkin to mince words."Getting out of the box" is an easy phrase to use in a conference room - in the flesh it is quite a different animal. This book is about meeting that animal. Don't expect to achieve the customer commitment that Harley-Davidson, Iams, Samual Adams and Snap-on Tools, among others, have achieved without facing this challenge.But it is also about the rewards of having taken that plunge and made the commitment to turn the organization into one that is driven to serve the customer.Challenging and inspiring - great reading.