@kmosher

As an avid CBC Radio listener, I’m extremely familiar with the comforting and warm voice of Terry O’Reilly. As the host of the regular half-hour show, “The Age of Persuasion”, a segment that analyzes the effect of marketing on society, both past and present, I’ve come to learn a lot about the history of persuasion through advertising.

I was positive that this book would be enjoyable based on what I already knew about the author. I already feel like I know the author personally due to the hours I’ve logged just listening to his radio show.

And, I was right! This book was an enjoyable historical account of advertising and marketing, and I highly recommend reading it for both it’s historical context and as a primer on everything you’d ever want to know about advertising.

Everyone outside of the advertising profession has “theories” about advertising – how it works, if it works, why it works (or doesn’t work). Why? Because it’s fascinating and controversial, and it’s present everywhere we look. In this book, Terry, and his silent partner-in-crime Mike Tennant, seamlessly weave together a story with historical accounts, personal anecdotes and their own thoughts on the trends of today to help both the seasoned professional and the average Joe understand that the line between marketing and mainstream culture didn’t just become blurred – it’s always been blurred.

The most fascinating sections for me personally were chapters five and six. I think that most millennial aged readers would also agree. In fact, they were so interesting that I wish I could talk to the authors personally about these specific bits of the book.

Chapter five details the rise of the viral video and chapter six talks about strategic guerrilla marketing effort; two avenues of marketing that whether consciously or unconsciously, we’re subject to through brand experiences every single day. Even with my own professional experience in advertising, I know that videos go viral only when they are extremely “shareable” – they are so cool that everyone wants to pass it around. Videos don’t become “viral” in nature because someone at the agency strategized that it would, as the authors seem to suggest. And, creative guerrilla tactics that create spectacles in ways that traditional advertising cannot are, according to the authors, best if the “little guy” executes them – the “big guys” always take the flack for trampling on the toes of someone with a smaller marketing budget. But, I think there are great examples of the “big guy” going guerrilla out there, too.

Have you read The Age of Persuasion? If so, what was your take?