Marketing Playbook: Praise Archives

August 05, 2005

Summer syllabus

It was cool to get included in one reading list recently, well here is another (note you have to log in to see) - this the summer reading recommendations from SoCal business leaders.

Our book was recommended as "serious reading" by Anil Puri, the Dean of the School of Business and Economics, California State University, Fullerton. What he said he got out of the book was:

"An excellent read on marketing strategies that could apply to any field."

Other folks asked for their reading list included:

Matt Ouimet President, Disneyland Resort
Scott McGregor Chief executive officer, Broadcom Corp.
John Brynjolfsson Managing director (inflation-bond specialist), Pimco
Dick Baker President, Ocean Pacific
Peter Ganahl Co-owner, Ganahl Lumber
Ardelle St. George Intellectual property attorney, St. George & Carnegie
Thomas D. Phelps, incoming president, Orange County Business Council
Cheryl Phelps (no relation to Thomas Phelps) General manager, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa

Other "serious reading" they recommended covered quite a range:

1776 by David McCullough
The Qualcomm Equation by Dave Mock
Warfighting by the U.S. Marine Corps
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias by Brian C. Anderson, and
Oil Factor: Protect Yourself and Profit from the Coming Energy Crisis by Stephen Leeb and Donna Leeb

"Lighter reading" included:

An Unfinished Season by Ward Just
The Greatest Game Ever Played by Mark Frost
Dads and Daughters by Joe Kelly
On Bull - - - - by Harry G. Frankfurt
A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get it by Jim Wallis
Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald, and
4th of July by James Patterson

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July 21, 2005

Personal MBA

Josh Kaufman just launched a new site called the personal MBA. A really cool idea of building the resources you need to have your own MBA equivilent without spending a fortune. I like what this is doing. There are forums resources etc. Cool.

He also got his Personal MBA 40 approved as a Change This manifesto. Congrats and can't wait to see it come out.

This is an awesome list of books to read. And we are deeply flattered to be included.

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July 19, 2005

Round up of recent web mentions/reviews

Here's a quick summary of some nice (and otherwise) mentions we've gotten about the book and the blog:

Software CEO put us tops on their summer reading list, calling the book "one that any software marketer should check out... a surprisingly useful guide to marketing strategy... a down-to-earth approach... refreshingly free of the buzzwords and big-company academic theory that plagues most marketing books." We were in interesting company worth checking out, including "The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White" by Steve W. Martin; "Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story" by our buddy Jerry Weissman; "Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations that Inform, Motivate, and Inspire" by Cliff Atkinson; "The Best Software Writing 1" edited by Joel Spolsky ; and the "Software Sales & Distribution SuperBook."
Stanford Business School put us on their recommended reading list, saying "The coaches who designed this playbook tested and perfected their system as marketing executives at Microsoft and as venture capitalists." (Note: Rich is a Stanford alum)
The M Show had nice things to say about us in their marketing podcast episode 20
Marketing Journal says that you "Gotta have a look at this marketing website and book... They will tell you how you should market and compete against your competitors with 5 basic strategies for a competitive market."
Global Mammal particulary liked the description of the Stealth Play
Ben Casnocha called us "a clear and entertaining look at proven tactics that start ups can employ to make inroads in a new market."
Chief Marketer gave a nice summary of the book and our DMA pitch.
Crosshairs also liked the DMA pitch and the book
Eric Sohn liked our thoughts on perfection, but took us to task a bit (and also gave good input on) for shameless promoting one of our companies (which we will likely continue to shamelessly do)
Alexoid also likes our thoughts on perfection
Charles Fitzgerald was so inspired by the platform play that he started a blog on it
They'll All Fall waxes poetic about marketing - “Marketing. Somehow, that's the same as influence and seduction. And yet, few of us has taken the time to investigate it.”

For a summary of our other acclaim and stuff click here.

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April 11, 2005

Thanks Tara

Tara went to our little talk at the DMA World last week. And had some nice things to say. She called our keynote the "standout" of the show. This is especially flattering, given the company, which included Ernan Roman, whose Integrated Direct Marketing was one of the first marketing books I ever actually read and really used.

Click here for Tara's summary of our talk. Also stay tuned, I'm kicking myself for not recording it as a podcast and posting along with the slides but will do so in the near future.

Thanks again Tara and looking forward to what you think of the book.

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April 03, 2005

Damn, Hugh is Great

Wow. We are flattered. We have long thought that Gaping Void is just plain, you know, well, great. We are clearly only one of zillions who think Hugh MacLeod's blog beyond creative, inspired, funny, intelligent and fun to read. It is one of the best blogs period. About any topic - including marketing, suits, sex, work, etc. He somehow manages to consistently cut throught the BS and capture the whole blog Zeitgeist

(sorry, I just had to find an opportunity to say that word - majored in German you know) with wit, style, cynicism and a fair amount of - ahem - direct language.

Anyway, it's especially meaningful then that he actually likes our book. Thanks man!

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Collins Likes It

Collins is an old friend and we sure spent a bunch of year working on marketing and PR together. Really great to see that he likes this playbook stuff and also that he's got not just Bill's book, but a great new one about Starbucks under his belt

“I had the privilege to see Rich and John in action for a decade. If other marketing “experts” were introduced to the idea of an “automobile,” they would study its design and do extensive, abstract research on how it might be used. Rich and John would build a car from the design, drive the car all over the country, learn how to fix it, and get direct feedback from actual people on how it might be used. They know as much about marketing theory as anyone, but they never rest until they have drilled down to the deepest level of nuts and bolts. As a result, you don’t get theory-in-the-abstract or generalized approaches. You get specific solutions to practical marketing challenges that work where we all have to live—in the real world.”

Collins Hemingway, co-author of Business @ the Speed of Thought
with Bill Gates and co-author of Built for Growth with Arthur Rubinfeld

Posted by rich at 09:12 PM | TrackBack

March 30, 2005

Recent web mentions

Here's a bit of a round-up of stuff folks have said about the book (and the blog) on the web lately.

800CEORead Blog: Jack Covert says, "not only a great first read, but also a book that you will return to again and again"
Brad Feld of Mobius normally fights the urge to read any book with the word
“marketing” in the title but put us on his vacation reading list and said, This one belongs on every entrepreneur’s bookshelf"
Thanks Brad - and, yeah we'll try to resist the urge to inject "marketing blather" in the future (but it will be hard).
Susan Getgood
"highly recommended it, even for experienced marketers. It is quite simply the book I wish had been written when I was starting out... The authors put a new spin on some of our old tactics, and the worksheets are super. In fact, I intend to use them in some upcoming client work as they are better than what I used to use."
Thanks much Susan. Sorry that you've been having problems leaving comments on our site, we're working on it but the spammers have found us.
Josh Kaufman included us in his very cool "personal MBA" program. One of 5 marketing resouces (82 total across disciplines)
"for expanding your mind without paying a fortune in tuition costs."
It is a very cool list.
Craig Howe, the Pointed Pundit calls the book "a useful resource for marketers at both large and small companies." He gives it 5 stars.
Marketing Tom recently posted a little interview we did about the book and the blog. Fun to reflect on how the two have intersected.

For more narcissistic stuff about the book, blog and us look at the praise category and summary of reviews.

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March 08, 2005

Short and sweet

Sound View Executive Book Summaries specializes in providing business leaders summaries of business books as a subscription service. Great idea for people who don't have that much time to read all the great books out there - and great URL too - www.summary.com.

Anyway, we are flattered that they highlighted our book and included it on their current reading list. They also wrote a nice review:

"Why We Like This Book: The Marketing Playbook offers a workable metaphor for making marketing work. Seen as a team sport that requires running plays to create a winning marketing campaign, the authors offer organizations succinct strategies for building teams, choosing tactics, calculating time horizons and planning the next move while outmaneuvering the competition. The authors' conversational tone and relevant experience make it a useful resource."

And of course a short summary of the summary (of a book that tried to be a summary too). For the summary and review, click here. To subscribe click here.

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March 04, 2005

Playbook ABCs in the tech market

Nice article in Businessweek from collegue and internet industry pioneer, Brad Silverberg. Interesting how you can use the Playbook ABCs to help sort out what is going on today, whether Apple, Google, Salesforce or whatever.

Posted by johnza at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 24, 2005

Interview in Marketing News

Below is an excerpt of a recent article in the AMA's publication, Marketing News. The site is members only but the writer Michael Krauss graciously allowed us to excerpt here:

Mktg. Exec offers game-winning biz plays

January 24, 2005
BY MICHAEL KRAUSS

John Zagula gives new reason to view SuperBowl XXXIX. Watch the plays.
I admit it. As a marketer I used to watch the SuperBowl for the commercials. Until Janet Jackson, I’d walk away at halftime. Now my focus will be on play selection.

Credit Zagula [and Rich Tong], the former Microsoft marketing execs[s] and co-author[s] of The Marketing Playbook with my transformation. His new book defines a set of five core plays: the drag race, the platform play, the stealth play, the best of both play and the high-low play...

The plays Zagula [and Tong] outline are a framework road-tested at Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. They provide a simple but potent approach for defining marketing strategy. While many think of marketing as ads and halftime promotions, Zagula believes it’s the marketing strategies, the plays we choose, that are at the heart of our professional success. He thinks we’ll play the marketing game better if we adopt his playbook. Frankly, I think he’s right....

Zagula credits a talented team for the Microsoft success story. Instead of taking credit, he focuses on what he learned. “I benefited from working with a bunch of highly strategic rather than tactical marketers,” Zagula says.

What Zagula [and Tong] gleaned and incorporated into The Marketing Playbook is a commitment to placing the horse before the cart. “Know the core strategy before you go and spend tons of money on marketing tactics that may never succeed,” Zagula says....

With Zagula in mind, I’m going to watch the Super Bowl to see if I can add a sixth play to his book. Even if I can’t, he’s made the game a whole lot more interesting for us marketers.

Michael Krauss is a partner with Marion Consulting Partners based in Highland Park, Ill., and can be reached at Michael.Krauss@Marionpartners.com or news@ama.org.

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January 13, 2005

Recent web/blog book reviews

Here's the most recent roundup of mentions of our book for those interested:

Harvard Business School gave a nice summary and review. Noting both our "grand claim" of just five plays but giving us credit for "vivid examples".
Jobster [Ignition portfolio company] said "Truly a must read for any business strategist. I must admit that at first I was a bit skeptical of the abc's xyz's 123's and the 5 plays ... but truth is, this stuff works. Jobster doesn't just believe in the Marketing Playbook, we're living it."
Hey, we somehow got ourselves in the Forbes Book Club.
We're on the required reading list for CRMIndustry.com.
Fuer unsere deutsch-sprechenden Freunden, hier ist ein "Review" in die "Financial Times Deutschland" (a complete, German language transcript of our financial times review)
Agile Business Books calls the book “An easy-to-apply book that will be enormously helpful to marketers in every industry and leaders in every size company.”
Rocket Readings called it one of the best two business books of 2004, "They keep it simple, straight forward, and no not easy, since this involves very hard work to get it right! Easy, fast read, that I will reread a few times."
Gill Bates (sic) on the Start Up Junkies Forum recommends it.
Members of the small business forum put it in their highly recommended list.
It found its way into the Northwest Indiana Times.
And my favorite, is the nice mention in the Auto Field Guide, "“If you accept that the folks at Microsoft probably know a thing or googolplex about marketing, and given that marketing is essential for moving products and even ideas within and without any organization, then it might be worthwhile for you to spend some time with The Marketing Playbook.” Wow, a googolplex. Cool.

For a summary of all the reviews and stuff click here.

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November 20, 2004

Critical Acclaim - Summary

It's been great to see the book so well received. Below is a quick summary of the various accolades we have received thusfar:

The Financial Times said "Zagula and Tong have produced an ingenious and persuasive book that really does break marketing strategies down into five simple but compelling models, or 'plays'... reading this exuberant book is rather like having two young Microsoft geeks sitting next to you, breathlessly explaining how in a few simple steps you might well be able to conquer the world. Their enthusiasm bursts out again and again, often in the form of sporting or other metaphors... Click here for full review.
Publishers Weekly called it an "engaging primer" with an "illuminating conceptual framework," "wealth of insights, presented in a breezy, down-to-earth style free of management-theory cant, will give marketing managers much useful food for thought." Click here for full review.
Marketing News says we've "made the game a whole lot more interesting for us marketers." and that "we’ll play the marketing game better if we adopt his playbook."
Executive Book Summaries highlighted the book as part of their lineup and said that the book's "succinct strategies for building teams, choosing tactics, calculating time horizons and planning the next move while outmaneuvering the competition... [and] conversational tone and relevant experience make it a useful resource." Click here for the full review.
800CEOREAD (the number one book seller to CEOs) selected the book as one of it's select recommendations, saying "So if you want to play like the big dogs, here is your Playbook. It's obviously not only a great first read, but also a book that you will return to again and again." For the full review click here.
Harvard Business School gave a nice summary and review. Noting both our "grand claim" of just five plays but giving us credit for "vivid examples".
Stanford Business School put us on their recommended reading list, saying "The coaches who designed this playbook tested and perfected their system as marketing executives at Microsoft and as venture capitalists." (Note: Rich is a Stanford alum)
Software CEO put us tops on their summer reading list, calling the book "one that any software marketer should check out... a surprisingly useful guide to marketing strategy... a down-to-earth approach... refreshingly free of the buzzwords and big-company academic theory that plagues most marketing books."

We were also gratified and humbled by the terrific endorsements we received - from marketing author Al Ries, and execs at Apple, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Mercury Interactive, Waggener Edstrom, Compaq, the Cheskin Group, The Kellogg School, the Richards Group and even Baidu (top search engine in China).

For online and blog reviews and mentions click here and for an ongoing tally of other praise click here, here, here and here.

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November 19, 2004

Nice Review from a Different NorthWest

From ITNorthwest (not the Pacific Northwest, the NorthWest of Ireland), a blog for tech entreprenuers in that area, Fergus writes nice things about the book:

"an easy read, with plenty of practical insights"
"The campaign worksheet template is really useful - it helps you think through what your business is all about."
"well worth the money - and its on the ITNorthWest recommended list of reading"

Thanks man. Glad you liked it.

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November 13, 2004

Financial Times Book Review - Full Text

Instructions from the side of the pitch
By Stefan Stern
Published: November 11 2004 02:00

American football is one of the most intricate, subtle games in the world, a fact sometimes obscured by the violence and apparent mayhem unfolding on the pitch. There is order in this chaos, and the shots are being called by the coach.

Whether the coach adopts the cool, inscrutable demeanour of the Dallas Cowboys' Tom Landry (in charge between 1960 and 1988), or the less restrained emotionalism of the Chicago Bears' Mike Ditka (1982-92), every good coach has a playbook, a guide to the ingenious or simple "plays"
(manoeuvres) he wants the team to carry out.

John Zagula and Richard Tong have taken this concept of the playbook and applied it to the less athletic (but occasionally equally chaotic) world of marketing. The authors are both veterans of Microsoft's muscular marketing campaigns of the past 15 years. Now set up in a Seattle-based venture capital firm called Ignition Partners, they have decided to share their insights with the rest of the world.

And reading this exuberant book is rather like having two young Microsoft geeks sitting next to you, breathlessly explaining how in a few simple steps you might well be able to conquer the world. Their enthusiasm bursts out again and again, often in the form of sporting or other metaphors.

Stealthy marketing moves are "quarterback sneaks" - the quarterback being the key playmaker in an American football team. Market conditions may be tough, and "no one wants to punt from the 70 yard line against massive head winds". When taking on a tough competitor, remember: "You can wave a flag in front of a bull, but you'd better make sure you know what to do when he charges." And so on.

But this highly energetic style should not put you off. Zagula and Tong have produced an ingenious and persuasive book that really does break marketing strategies down into five simple but compelling models, or "plays".

The first play is the "drag race" - a powerful head-to-head battle against a chosen competitor. This is the approach Microsoft Word took to defeat WordPerfect (remember that?), and which Visa took to knock lumps out of American Express. When Avis car rental started telling the world that "we try harder" than Hertz, that was a kind of drag race play too.

This is the most direct, simplest and potentially most violent marketing play. You have to be pretty sure of your prospects before you "put the pedal to the metal". "A drag race is a spectator sport," the authors say. "The fans are looking for blood. Give it to them. The play is all about taking direct aim at your opponent."

The second play is the "platform play". This involves ignoring the competition, focusing instead on becoming a platform from which a whole sector can win too. "Successful companies that have stayed successful have almost always found ways to intertwine their success more deeply with the success of the whole industry," the authors say. "They do not let short-term greed cloud their vision. They focus more on long-term greed - it's a lot healthier and more durable." Intel, with all its PC and software partners, is a classic platform player.

The third play is the "stealth play", almost the opposite of the drag race. Find a niche where you can grow and peacefully co-exist with larger rivals until you can challenge them openly. Enterprise Rent-A-Car chose not to "duke it out with the heavyweights" (sport again), but built its strengths in home-town America. McDonald's has been undermined, not by another giant burger company, but by smaller, alternative rivals who have nibbled away at its position from different segments of the market (Taco Bell, World Wraps, Starbucks).

The fourth play is the "best of both play" - the Third Way offering, splitting the difference between the high and low ends of the market. Toyota's Lexus is the supreme example of this.

The fifth play is the "high-low" play. The opposite of "best of both", this involves offering an elite product and a "value" one, killing the middle market. Sheraton Hotels' premium and Four Points economy offerings are an example of this. Tesco supermarket's "Finest" and "Value" brands are another.

These plays, intriguing as they are, provide half the material in the book. The second half is taken up with a thorough but less original analysis of market gaps, with advice on how to judge what sort of playing field you are on and what sort of team and campaign approach you will need to adopt.

The authors remain enthused and energetic throughout. But, as they themselves conclude, only by putting plays into practice will you find out how smart you really are. Markets, customers and competitors all change. You will have to be adaptive and agile to make your plays work in the real world.

Or, as the Dallas Cowboys' Landry once said, doubtless with his trademark "snap-brim" hat still firmly pressed on his head: "Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."

Posted by johnza at 04:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 11, 2004

Financial Times Book Review: "A guide to calling the shots"

Just got this book review in today by Stefan Stern from the Financial Times of London. The headline from the print edition is "A guide to calling the shots: Stefan Stern is persuaded by two Microsoft veterans' reduction of marketing to five simple 'plays'" For the full online edition of the review, click here or here. Below are some highlights:

"Zagula and Tong have produced an ingenious and persuasive book that really does break marketing strategies down into five simple but compelling models, or "plays".
"And reading this exuberant book is rather like having two young Microsoft geeks sitting next to you, breathlessly explaining how in a few simple steps you might well be able to conquer the world. Their enthusiasm bursts out again and again, often in the form of sporting or other metaphors."
"The authors remain enthused and energetic throughout. But, as they themselves conclude, only by putting plays into practice will you find out how smart you really are. Markets, customers and competitors all change. You will have to be adaptive and agile to make your plays work in the real world."
"John Zagula and Richard Tong have taken this concept of the playbook and applied it to the less athletic (but occasionally equally chaotic) world of marketing. The authors are both veterans of Microsoft's muscular marketing campaigns of the past 15 years. Now set up in a Seattle-based venture capital firm called Ignition Partners, they have decided to share their insights with the rest of the world."

Wow. We are flattered. Of course you have to read the book yourself to form your own opinion. We look forward to hearing what you think.

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November 04, 2004

Music to my own ears?

Kinda fun. Did a short radio interview on the book, on venture, and on business in general with W3W3. Listen to it here.

Posted by johnza at 08:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 02, 2004

Jack Covert Selects The Marketing Playbook

We were one of five books Jack of 800CEOREAD selected this month to recommend. It was a very nice review. Among other things he said, "So if you want to play like the big dogs, here is your Playbook. It's obviously not only a great first read, but also a book that you will return to again and again." We are honored, Jack runs a very cool service, dedicated to books for business people. Click here for the full review. Also check out the book too.

Other books on this month's list were:
* Think Like Your Customer, by Bill Stinnett
* The Little Stuff Matters Most, by Bernie Brillstein
* Faith and Fortune, by Marc Gunther, and
* Nightly Business Report Presents Lasting Leadership, by Mukul Pandya and Robbie Shell

Posted by johnza at 04:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Brandweek Q&A

Had a good chat with the folks at Brandweek about the book and other marketing and venture topics. Actually made me sound rather intelligent. For the full transcript click here.

Posted by johnza at 04:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 01, 2004

More nice book mentions/reviews

Here are some of the latest (not yet on the top of the search engines) mentions and reviews of the book.

The folks at, ahem, Antiventurecapital, put us on thier recommended reading list, saying that the book "should quickly become a classic marketing manual." (despite it's title, it's a very interesting site for start-ups)
StartupJunkies (another site rich with resources for start-ups) called us a "must read"
David Straker, of Changing Minds (a very cool site about persuation we wrote about before), who's also a consultant and former marketer at Hewlett Packard, wrote a very nice review. He called it a "delightfully fresh book born out of hard-bitten experience"
Our blog friend at Radio Marketing Nexus, also highlighted the book launch - thanks Mark!
Finally, a really nice review from a former collegue Shiraz Cupala (who really saved my b_tt several times in getting some early online marketing going). He is too flatttering and gives us way too much credit but really appreciate what he has to say. Thanks Shiraz.

Posted by johnza at 09:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2004

Top online reviews of the playbook

Top online reviews judging by looking at MSN Search, referrer logs and of course Google. As a minor aside, it is still amazing to me how different MSN and Google query results are:

Cheskin. Thanks again Chris!
Ty Trible. Thanks Ty for the review and kind words.
Marketing VOX. Approachable and fun to read is what he says and we're glad. He's also right that the tactical parts are a little harder because you have to be more general. Heck, that's what this site is for.
Gaping Void. A great analysis of how the book and this blog work together. Its about the ideas, not the media. He calls it triangulated media. A cool idea.
TJ's Weblog. He loves the ideas in the drag race, the play that teaches you everything else.
FrogBlog. He loves the interview with Jason at 37signals.
Marketing Meta Blog. An interesting idea, take all blogs that are categorized as marketing and merge their RSS feeds.
Heather Leigh. Well she hasn't read the book yet, but she'll get one soon we hope and love it ;-)

Posted by rich at 09:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 22, 2004

Another Comment from a Friend

A great comment from an old buddy who is not in the technology business, but has his own business and is so thoughtful about it. He's also right that IXTAPA and Wal*Mart are great play examples respectively of stealth and drag race. Thanks Jamie!

Rich,
This is a very clear and straight forward example of something we see every day and the success of Enterprise and those that follow this model is clear.

In our neck of the woods, we see IXTAPA Mexican Restaurants. Never heard of them? Just go out to the outlying towns, Duvall, North Bend, and Monroe. Areas that haven't seen the deluge of choices most towns have for dining out.

They spot their locations, provide a great dining experience for customers that previously had to go to a larger town, and have gained a foothold and name recognition for very loyal diners. Their employee base is very good for a whole other set of reasons.

I am enjoying the excerpts enough to buy your book.

Would a behemoth that Drag Raced and stealthed be Wal-Mart? Maybe there's a chapter on Super Saturation, or "Fill Any Freakin' Open Spot". Maybe that would describe Wal-Mart better. LOL

Posted by rich at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 21, 2004

The Marketing Geniuses at T-Mobile like it too!

"Incredibly insightful. The Marketing Playbook is a must have for all marketing led organizations. It offers straightforward tools and approaches applicable to any situation."

Scott S. Ballantyne, Vice President of Business Services Marketing, T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Posted by rich at 12:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What Bob Stearns, fellow VC and hi-tech veteran thinks...

"High tech marketing - hell, any marketing - frequently hovers in the clouds, about 40,000 ft. above real customers. At best, it's a costly effort, run by pretty smart people, whose effectiveness is difficult to gauge. In The Marketing Playbook, Zagula and Tong have built a solid staircase between marketing strategy and real customer-driven results: Strategy that is tangible, actionable, and measurable. This is marketing, not as fodder for consultants, but as fuel for sales. Better get a copy before your next board meeting... and before your competition does!"

Bob Stearns Founder and Managing Director, Sternhill Partners, former Chief Technical and Strategy Officer, Compaq Computer Corporation, as well as McKinsey & Co, Banyan Systems and Motorola

Posted by rich at 12:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

World Leader in Application Testing and Management

The difference between champs and chumps is the ability to executive the right strategic marketing plays. The Marketing Playbook is a no-nonsense, insider's look at how to choose and execute the right marketing strategy for your company."

Christopher Lochhead, Chief Marketing Officer, Mercury Interactive Corporation

Posted by rich at 12:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 20, 2004

Stan Richards

"What others have unnecessarily complicated, Zagula and Tong have made remarkably simple. Their background may be Microsoft, but their playbook is relevant to virtually every business category."

"Stan Richards":http://www.richards.com/default.asp?S=2215, Founder, The Richards Group, The leading independent advertising and branding agency with clients that include Comcast, Corona, The Home Depot, Sub-Zero and TV Guide

Posted by rich at 11:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Waggener Edstrom the #1 Hi-tech PR agency says...

"We live in a world of highly tested and refined messages. You often only get one chance to do it right and be successful. Any business person entering a market, launching a product or kicking off a campaign would be well advised to read and heed the Marketing Playbook. Use it to test drive your strategy, hone your message and come back to it to stay on track as the results come in."

Pam Edstrom, EVP Account and Agency Services, Waggener Edstrom, strategic advisor to Microsoft for the last 20 years

Posted by rich at 11:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Premier Market Researcher Speaks...

"John and Rich have had ringside seats to the launch and development of some of the most powerful brands in the world, and they've packaged that experience into strategies that you can put into motion the moment you finish the book. Obviously, tech marketers can benefit from this team's insights, but any company looking for a simple, powerful marketing system will fine value here."

Ms. Christopher Ireland, Principal and CEO, Cheskin Consulting and Strategic Market Research

Posted by rich at 09:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Academic View on the Playbook

"The Marketing Playbook is the "Best of Both" play between Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy and Adrian Slywotzky's Art of Profitability. Its' powerful metaphors and insightful strategy
tools make it a great addition to any business leader's arsenal."

Mohanbir Sawhney, McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology and Director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation the Kellogg School of Management

Posted by rich at 09:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

From the guys who drag raced google...and won

"For start-ups and established businesses alike, the Five Plays provide a really powerful, yet easy to use, kick-start to your strategy and great, simple guidance for getting your message heard. It is just this kind of thinking that can help you take the lead in a competitive market like we did with the search market in China."

Robin Li, Co-Founder & CEO, Baidu, the search engine that drag raced so well against Google, that Google invested in them

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Marketing VP of Apple Likes the Book!

"The Marketing Playbook is a must read, practical guide for anyone looking to create a winning marketing strategy for their business. Tong and Zagula take the shroud off the marketing black box and reveal a handful of surprisingly simple, market-proven principles. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their odds in today's competitive marketplace."

Rob Schoeben, Vice President Applications Marketing, Apple Computer, Inc. (and former collegue)

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What Microsoft's Bob Herbold has to say

"The hardest part of marketing is the discipline required to figure out what, exactly, you are selling and how you should make the sale in the context of competition. Too many marketing folks want to quickly dispose of this step and get on to the creative part. The Marketing Playbook does a great job of reminding you of the importance of such up-front discipline and provides you simple, straight-forward steps to do it successfully."

Bob Herbold, EVP and Former COO of Microsoft; former Senior Vice President, Advertising and Information Services at Proctor and Gamble; and Managing Partner, The Herbold Group LLC

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Al Ries Accolades

Al Ries, co-author, The Origin of Brands & The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Posted by rich at 09:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Publisher Weekly

This engaging primer contends that all marketing campaigns can be boiled down to five basic strategies, a typology distilled from the authors’ experience as marketing executives at Microsoft and as venture capitalists.

The "plays," schematized with football diagrams, are: the "drag race," in which your product squares off against a single competitor in an attention-getting battle for market dominance; the "platform play" (Microsoft’s forté), in which your product becomes the essential infrastructure for an entire industry (á la Windows); the "stealth play," in which you go after markets ignored by larger competitors; the "best of both" play, in which your breakthrough product becomes all things to all men; and the "high-low" play, in which you pit both your deluxe high-end product line and your cheapo down-market line against a rival’s mediocre compromise offering.

This illuminating conceptual framework is perhaps less important than the authors’ lucid analyses of real-world marketing situations, drawn from case studies and from their own gaffes and triumphs in marketing Excel, MS Office and other software milestones in Microsoft’s march to monopoly. They throw in lots of practical tips on market research, managing a marketing team, finding the proper rhetorical formulas to use in a marketing brief and writing mesmerizing ad slogans that incorporate "the rule of paradox"—i.e. buy this and you can have your cake and eat it too. The authors’ wealth of insights, presented in a breezy, down-to-earth style free of management-theory cant, will give marketing managers much useful food for thought.

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September 26, 2004

Our first book review!

From publisher's weekly. If you subscribe you can find it here. If not you can see it on Amazon. Here's an excerpt

"This engaging primer contends that all marketing campaigns can be boiled down to five basic strategies, a typology distilled from the authors' experience as marketing executives at Microsoft and as venture capitalists. The "plays," schematized [are] with football diagrams...

This illuminating conceptual framework is perhaps less important than the authors' lucid analyses of real-world marketing situations, drawn from case studies and from their own gaffes and triumphs in marketing Excel, MS Office and other software milestones in Microsoft's march to monopoly. They throw in lots of practical tips ... The authors' wealth of insights, presented in a breezy, down-to-earth style free of management-theory cant, will give marketing managers much useful food for thought."

Posted by johnza at 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 25, 2004

Advance praise for the Marketing Playbook

We've given a number of people a sneak peak at the book, The Marketing Playbook. Here's what some of them had to say (boy are we blushing):

"New ideas in marketing strategy are extremely rare. Rich Tong and John Zagula have come up with one with their system of battle-tested plays outlined in The Marketing Playbook. Marketing managers everywhere should open up their own playbooks and be prepared to start using some fascinating new ideas."
- Al Ries, co-author, The Origin of Brands & The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

"The hardest part of marketing is the discipline required to figure out what, exactly, you are selling and how you should make the sale in the context of competition. Too many marketing folks want to quickly dispose of this step and get on to the creative part. The Marketing Playbook does a great job of reminding you of the importance of such up-front discipline and provides you simple, straight-forward steps to do it successfully."
- Bob Herbold, Former COO of Microsoft; former Senior Vice President, Advertising and Information Services at Proctor and Gamble; and Managing Partner, The Herbold Group LLC

"The Marketing Playbook is like a "Best of Both Play" cross between Michael Porter's Competitive Strategy and Adrian Slywotzky's Art of Profitability. Its? powerful metaphors and insightful strategy tools make it a great addition to any business leader's arsenal."
- Dr. Mohanbir Sawhney: McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology and Director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

"What others have unnecessarily complicated, Zagula and Tong have made remarkably simple. Their background may be Microsoft, but their playbook is relevant to virtually every business category."
- Stan Richards, Founder, The Richards Group (leading independent ad agency)

"The difference between champs and chumps is the ability to executive the right strategic marketing plays. The Marketing Playbook is a no-nonsense, insider?s look at how to choose and execute the right marketing strategy for your company."
- Christopher Lochhead, Chief Marketing Officer, Mercury Interactive Corporation

"Incredibly insightful. The Marketing Playbook is a must have for all marketing led organizations. It offers straightforward tools and approaches applicable to any situation."
- Scott S. Ballantyne, Marketing Vice President, T-Mobile

Posted by johnza at 09:30 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 24, 2004

Entrepreneur and the Playbook

Work At Home Dad: The Marketing Playbook, Yup, thanks for your note. Appreciate your link.

Also, love to chat with you about the business you are starting. We have lots of questions for entrepreneurs and want to do some interviews of folks like yourselves if you have time.

Posted by rich at 02:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 09, 2004

Seattle Times on the Marketing Playbook: The Book

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: "Playbook" analyzes marketing strategies. Yup, this is the Marketing Playbook web site.

The Marketing Playbook, the book will hit the shelves late this fall. To get it right now, you can:

Bulk order a whole bunch from 1-800-CEO-READ. A great stocking stuffer for Fortune 500 companies (hint, hint :-) and for those of you have to have it right away.
Pre-order it from your favorite bookstore. A great stocking stuffer for your kids, friends, collegues, clients (but don't let it into your enemies' hands). It is nearly the 1000th best selling book already (How this happened, I don't understand, but join in and help us keep up the trend :-)

Hey, for another local mention in the press see the Seattle PI's note.

Also for more Information. To get on our mailing list for the latest updates and other information.

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August 02, 2004

"The Marketing Game"

Nice mention of our book and blog today in the Seattle Post Intelligencer's Insider. Scroll down to "The Marketing Game" to read about it.

Only nit to pick is that we clearly intend the book to be about a lot more than our experience marketing at Microsoft. It's all about making marketing work for anyone, in any competitive market, and it covers stories and examples from tons of companies in dozens of industries. Still, nice to see the mention in our hometown ;-)

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