If you prefer the latter, you’re going to like this book. It’s basically the “Weezer’s second album” of marketing discourse. More of the same, albeit not quite as good.
But hey, if you’re a fan, there’s plenty here for you. How Brands Blow picks up where international best seller Delusions of Brandeur left off, with some laughs, some occasional good sense, and some deserved roasting of the marketing industry’s clowns.
(Big) Top Reviews:
Dave Trott
“I'd buy this book just for the brilliant art direction. The writing had me laughing and crying: laughing at how true it is and crying at how true it is.”
Rob Mayhew
“A funny, insightful and beautiful book that is worth buying just to keep your spirits up as you head to your next client meeting in Milton Keynes.”
Vikki Ross
“Hilarious, hard-hitting and a hell of a way to learn to do better in the mess we’ve made of branding, marketing and advertising. Read it and weep - you will weep because you'll see yourself somewhere in all this and wish you hadn't.”
Professor Mark Ritson
“There is no doubt that this is THE masterwork of recent times and a vital new addition to the laboratory of marketing science. ‘How Brands Blow’ disrupted me at a most fundamental level. Its advanced combination of purpose, agility and incredibly artificial intelligence makes this a book every marketer should buy, fail to understand and then quote endlessly in meetings and on the bus home to random commuters.”
Dave Harland
“A laugh-out-loud funny, depressingly relatable reflection of the harrowing realities we face in marketing. Ryan and Giles smash custard pie after custard pie into the faces of everyone involved in our industry’s most baffling decisions. A brilliantly satirical manifesto of common sense.”
Andrew Boulton
“I don’t believe Edwards and Wallman wrote this book at all. It could only have been plucked from the tormented souls of everyone in the marketing world who’s ever slapped their brow in despair and/or disbelief. For them to turn our pain into something so enormously funny is a truly wicked thing to do.”
Tom Fishburne
“How Brands Blow holds up a funhouse mirror to the silliness of modern marketing. Better marketing starts with not taking ourselves so seriously. With wit and insight, Ryan and Giles deftly point out where the marketing emperor has no clothes (which is most of the time).”
Mark Denton
“This remarkable book has already had a profound effect on my long career in advertising…I’M LEAVING!”
Keerti Nair
“It is as if Douglas Adams and The Onion got together to write up on the state of modern marketing. In an industry that is drawn to the new shiny thing without a moment’s thought all while being apologetic about helping brands and businesses sell more, this is refreshingly incisive, on the money and dare I say, educational for marketers of all kinds.”
Wallman and Edwards strike again - WADDS INC
Marketers have lost it - Everyone Hates Marketers | STFO | Louis Grenier
Ryan is Executive Creative Director and Head of Copy at Wellmark, a Melbourne-based creative agency that specialises in healthcare. In his former life, he was a doctor and worked for several years in psychiatry.
An internationally acclaimed copywriter and marketing commentator, he has written for numerous industry publications, including Marketing Week, the Australian Financial Review and The Economic Times. He is also author of the bestselling book 'Delusions of Brandeur' and co-author of ‘Eat Your Greens: Fact-Based Thinking to Improve Your Brand’s Health’.
Something of a contrarian, Ryan is known for his no-nonsense approach to marketing, and has twice been listed in Business Insider’s ‘Best 30 People in Advertising to Follow on Twitter’.
Along with his medical degree, Ryan has a Master of Marketing from Melbourne Business School and a Graduate Certificate in Professional Writing. He has vowed to never study again.
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Giles is the Founder of …Gasp!, the Proper Marketing agency that’s been Creatively Memorable & Boringly Effective™ since 2009.
He believes in “Proper (timeless) Marketing”; tactics change, people don’t. And its vital role in the Boardroom. He talks about this and more at industry events and alongside esteemed guests on the hugely popular UK Top 2 podcast, Call to Action®. Launched in Feb’ 2019, he’s subsequently hosted and interviewed some of the industry’s greatest minds collecting >250k unique listeners from across the globe.
In 2019, Giles and Ryan Wallman collaborated, to write, design and publish the bestselling book, ‘Delusions of Brandeur’; a no-holds-barred commentary on modern marketing and business. Industry legend Dave Trott remarked, “I love this book. Anything I spend my time on, I either have to learn something or be entertained, with this book I get both - along with great art direction.
More recently, in April 2020, Giles launched the charitable initiative ISOLATED Talks®. It’s a rallying call across the lockdown divide for the advertising industry to unite and share ideas that help others whilst partnering with organisations and charities such as Samaritans; to Creatively Support Mental Health. “It’s one of those ideas I wish I’d had myself” - Dave Birss.
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