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Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
by
Rob Walker (Goodreads Author)
“Fascinating … A compelling blend of cultural anthropology and business journalism.” — Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine
“An often startling tour of new cultural terrain.” — Laura Miller, Salon
“Marked by meticulous research and careful conclusions, this superbly readable book confirms New York Times journalist Walker as an expert on consumerism. … [A] thoughtful and unhurried i...more
“An often startling tour of new cultural terrain.” — Laura Miller, Salon
“Marked by meticulous research and careful conclusions, this superbly readable book confirms New York Times journalist Walker as an expert on consumerism. … [A] thoughtful and unhurried i...more
Hardcover, 261 pages
Published
June 3rd 2008
by Random House
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Much more than a simple, cocktail party business book -- it's an attentive, subtle and entertaining meditation that not only uncovers the latest trends in buying, selling and marketing but also pushes readers to consider larger questions beyond these subjects. Personally, since finishing the book, I've taken a harder look at my purchases and what they mean to my larger sense of identity. Not that this is some kind of Chicken Soup for the Marketing Soul, but Walker isn't afraid to follow his many...more
Read the STOP SMILING interview with New York Times Magazine columnist and Buying In author Rob Walker:
While many of us fancy ourselves modern-day Holden Caulfields as we call out the phonies in the world of advertising and marketing, few have articulated their positions with the degree of clarity as Rob Walker. Rather than simply bristling at Doves’ “real beauty” ad campaign or railing on Nike’s purchase of Converse, the Savannah-based writer encourages us to consider how our behavior and attit...more
While many of us fancy ourselves modern-day Holden Caulfields as we call out the phonies in the world of advertising and marketing, few have articulated their positions with the degree of clarity as Rob Walker. Rather than simply bristling at Doves’ “real beauty” ad campaign or railing on Nike’s purchase of Converse, the Savannah-based writer encourages us to consider how our behavior and attit...more
May 30, 2013
Melissa Anderson
added it
I'm a huge fan of Rob Walker's style and regularly read his 'Consumed' column and mourn his recently departed 'Murketing' newsletter. Heck, I even read his yearly 'zine on departed public figures. That said, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when reading 'Buying In.'
CNV-VSOP-10P
Unlike typical industry commentators and critics, Walker tends not to add hype to the mix, but rather breaks down products, trends and marketing techniques to almost a scientific level. More text book than hyped book...more
Unlike typical industry commentators and critics, Walker tends not to add hype to the mix, but rather breaks down products, trends and marketing techniques to almost a scientific level. More text book than hyped book...more
Walker writes about brandonomics for Wired, and this book is an extension of his insights gained over the years.
I like that he writes about case studies and brands that most people will recognize, as I think it helps with "learning". His thesis is that, contrary to what people will tell you and pundits will tell you, it's not that advertising no longer works, it's that it's not driven by marketeers.
Walker calls this cultural shift "murketing", meaning a place where people create their own brands...more
I like that he writes about case studies and brands that most people will recognize, as I think it helps with "learning". His thesis is that, contrary to what people will tell you and pundits will tell you, it's not that advertising no longer works, it's that it's not driven by marketeers.
Walker calls this cultural shift "murketing", meaning a place where people create their own brands...more
Rob Walker, who writes an always intriguing NY Times column on marketing and consumer culture, pulls together what he has learned about brands, beliefs and what we buy in well-structured discussion with a number of fascinating stories. The book would still be worth the read if it contained only Walker’s expanded versions of his columns recounting unusual brand stories such as Hello Kitty (the secret to the logo’s power is its missing mouth), Red Bull (built by spending $100mil on goofy undergrou...more
This sometimes fascinating, sometimes long-winded book explains about "murkablity". Murkablity = Murky + Modern
Marketing.
Walker draws on the such histories as Proctor & Gamble, Timberland, Red Bull, Axe, and Ecko. It gave me a pause because I, like most Americans, consider myself wizened to the ploys of modern marketing. If we are all so immune to marketing ploys how come our collective behavior and buying habits say otherwise?
Some of the points that stuck out of me: how a labeled can of C...more
Eh. At first I was enjoying it because he calls on my favorite topic of framing reality using metaphor. Referencing the scientific study of how our brains work, that logic is informed by emotional content based on meanings we ascribe to everything, etc. etc. I was still enjoying it about half-way through because he kept coming up with neat little interesting points. But then it started to get boring. Sorry for that lame review, but, I'd heard enough about skateboard culture and... well, it was j...more
“Buying In” is about the role consumers play in modern advertising (or as Walker calls it, the “commercial persuasion” industry). Whereas in the past consumers were presented with a marketing message by the advertising company, consumers now have a much greater ability to shape that message. Through numerous examples of business that employ this “murketing” strategy (a neologism that conveys the murky quality of modern marketing), we see how companies can no longer expect to force a particular m...more
Starting with investigating his own relationship with his Converse Chucks and his rejection of Nike (who now apparently owns Converse), Walker debunks the received wisdom of Old Advertising that consumers are manipulated into needing things they had hithertofore lived happily without. Advertising now seems to just validate what the consumer had already decided. Besides, who actually makes conscious decisions? Doesn't your brain just decide and then you spend time rationalizing?
Walker was in at t...more
Walker was in at t...more
Just finished this book--spooky look at ourselves and the lengths the big corps will go to convince us that we need their nonessential products: Red Bull, $300+ tennis shoes, etc. From revealing traditional advertising tactics to the more insidious advertising "secret agents" that walk among us, Walker dissects the advertising industry with curiosity, diligence, humor, and disbelief.
A thought provoking read, a bit dry in points, but understandably so as the author cites various studies and figu...more
A thought provoking read, a bit dry in points, but understandably so as the author cites various studies and figu...more
I decided to read this book after seeing it on a booklist on a craft blog. There is only a very small section - not even a full chapter - on marketing, consumerism, etc in the diy/craft world, but it was a great section. This book was great for thinking about how marketing pervades our lives, and how we participate in that. Walker is both suspicious of the marketing techniques of companies, and aware of the pleasure that we get from consuming and having marketed to us products that we use to hel...more
Walker offers insight to modern branding, arguing that successful brands must take into account a person's conflicting desires for both individual expression and allegiance to a greater purpose or community. He considers products such as Red Bull, the iPod, Method detergents, and many others to expose how buyers make purchases as expressions of their identities, even in an age where traditional branding is often thought to be dead. At times, his terminology seems slightly informal, but he is non...more
Rob Walker set out to write an ambitious book about the secret dialogue we use to buy things and took me on a compelling journey of branding and how part of our sense of self-identity in America is determined by our purchase choices. Why do we buy what we buy? How do we rationalize overspending? He brings up lots of intriguing stories and I learned why new purchases always get stale. Overall, I learned more than I thought I would but his book seemed to miss something essential. Maybe it's that h...more
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. As a small biz owner I am often looking for ideas on how to advertise or spread the word about what I do without being unauthentic to who I am and what I do and what my overarching biz and cultural goals are. This book didn't provide me with ideas on how to advertise better, but it did offer insight into how advertising works, doesn't work, and sometimes isn't needed. Sometimes, having the best product is all that matters in the end. He does have a chapter...more
I was really expecting to like this book more - the premise was far more interesting than the book itself.
My main complaints are that it felt disorganized to me - Walker would be discussing murketing in the 80's for example (murketing = murky marketing), and then switch gears to discussing brands, only to jump back to talking about murketing in the 90's. There was too much back and forth between time periods and topics, which gave the overall feeling of disconnectedness. There was also a lot mo...more
My main complaints are that it felt disorganized to me - Walker would be discussing murketing in the 80's for example (murketing = murky marketing), and then switch gears to discussing brands, only to jump back to talking about murketing in the 90's. There was too much back and forth between time periods and topics, which gave the overall feeling of disconnectedness. There was also a lot mo...more
Wow was this book disappointing. Rob Walker is a columnist and it showed in the superficial, anecdotal treatment of the topics. While the book has an ambitious subtitle, it does not actually get into the psychological aspects of buying on the consumer end, which is to what I assume the subtitle alludes. Granted, I only read halfway through before having to return to the library, but I flipped through the remainder to see if I was missing anything and it didn't appear that I was.
The premise seems...more
The premise seems...more
I got this in a socialist bookstore which, with its focus, made me think that it would be a kind of 2008 update of Naomi Klein’s “No Logo”. Instead, it reads like a primer for brand marketers, and, in fact, its back cover is full of praises sung by business journalists. Its author, Rob Walker, is a columnist in the business press.
Walker’s oft-stated thesis – that, despite marketers’ claims to the contrary, marketing is alive and kicking, just taking some different forms – would work better for...more
Walker’s oft-stated thesis – that, despite marketers’ claims to the contrary, marketing is alive and kicking, just taking some different forms – would work better for...more
from the library c2008 murketing.com
Everything I have read so far is great. e-ching reading
ch 1 the pretty good problem is what is there to choose when the field is full of adequate competiters
"the goal of the rational consumer is 'maximize utility'"
the desire code:utility, economical, and authentic
authentic is "you can't help but be attracted to them because they lived by their instincts." referring to some skateboarders who started a youth culture
authentic competes with invented symbolic meani...more
Everything I have read so far is great. e-ching reading
ch 1 the pretty good problem is what is there to choose when the field is full of adequate competiters
"the goal of the rational consumer is 'maximize utility'"
the desire code:utility, economical, and authentic
authentic is "you can't help but be attracted to them because they lived by their instincts." referring to some skateboarders who started a youth culture
authentic competes with invented symbolic meani...more
I work for an advertising/media company (albeit one that thinks of itself as a technology company), so I was very interested to read a glowing review of this book about marketing in the New York Times a few weeks ago.
This book is an attempt to sum up the latest trends in marketing and to shine some light on the American consumer's twisted and complex relationship with the concept of "brand."
The most shocking thing I learned in this book (which seems sort of obvious to me know) is that every gene...more
This book is an attempt to sum up the latest trends in marketing and to shine some light on the American consumer's twisted and complex relationship with the concept of "brand."
The most shocking thing I learned in this book (which seems sort of obvious to me know) is that every gene...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I tend to think that I'm a pretty intelligent person, and more or less immune to marketing gimmicks and whatnot. So when I read the opening of Buying In, where Rob Walker states that polls show that 77% of people asked said they're "more aware" of marketing efforts than others, and 66% said they're "better critical thinkers than their typical peer," I decided maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am.
Based on that, I then expected the book to be much more about ways that we're tricked into buying...more
Based on that, I then expected the book to be much more about ways that we're tricked into buying...more
An interesting book profiling corporate america's desire to sell you stuff and people thoughts about how they are immune to it while at the same time company's are still sneaking things into your subconscious. The author coins the term "Murketing" to descibe the combination of murky, somewhat underhanded marketing that this entails. The promotion of this book on GoodReads makes me think that the author has learned a thing or two about promotion during his interviews...
A selection from the book r...more
A selection from the book r...more
Through measurable social science studies, observations and interviews, and a sprinkling of pure conjecture, Rob Walker deconstructs the relationship between ourselves and our stuff in Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are.
I’ve maintained a keen interest in corporate marketing (which I now know to call the consumer persuasion industry) since my law school days, when I supplemented my meager student loan and part-time work income by participating in market research stu...more
I’ve maintained a keen interest in corporate marketing (which I now know to call the consumer persuasion industry) since my law school days, when I supplemented my meager student loan and part-time work income by participating in market research stu...more
I'm a little late writing this review, so I don't remember as much as I would like. The jist of the book -- how marketing has changed in the last couple of decades -- is pretty much what the whole book is about. Each chapter takes an idea of marketing, or a brand, or a company, and demonstrates how modern marketers are trying to get the word out there about the products they have been paid to sell. Lots of anecdotes and examples; some over-arching theory.
It is definitely a quick & enlighteni...more
It is definitely a quick & enlighteni...more
Jul 25, 2008
Sarah
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Sarah by:
consumerist.com
Shelves:
non-fiction,
filthylucre
This is a wonderful look at the modern state of the marketing industry in light of the decline in importance of the thirty-second spot.
As Walker points out, via several choice quotes from articles from the 20's and 30's, the advertising industry has been mourning the appearance of the "savvy young consumer" who "sees though advertising" since before television sets made their way into American homes. But there's a vast difference between seeing through advertising and being impervious to its bla...more
As Walker points out, via several choice quotes from articles from the 20's and 30's, the advertising industry has been mourning the appearance of the "savvy young consumer" who "sees though advertising" since before television sets made their way into American homes. But there's a vast difference between seeing through advertising and being impervious to its bla...more
It is quite likely, although by no means assured, that when it comes out this summer Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are will take its rightful place alongside such paradigm shifting titles as The World is Flat, Freakonomics, Applebee's America, The Tipping Point, etc. Like most of its compatriots Buying In relies heavily on expert interviews and case studies to explore how the world has changed over the past 10 years or so. In this case -- marketing, branding and c...more
So, we're too smart to be 'marketed' to in traditional ways.........so we create our own brand identities......by assigning attributes to PBR and Timbaland and Red Bull that weren't originally there. Word of mouth marketing is big........limited editon quantities........being part of something........a brand as the subculture itself. Not so sure it's a 'secret dialog' but it was a good read and some interesting antecdotes (love the quote from Prada).
Even as a designer who needs to (begrudgingly) keep up on business trends, books like these usually bore me to death, let alone tell me anything new or interesting. But Walker, who writes the "Consumed" column in the New York Times magazine, is more insightful than most authors in this vein. His candid, intelligent commentary on "murketing" should interest anyone remotely interested in why we buy the things we do, and the ends (and unintentional forces) companies engage to snag our hard-earned c...more
I really wanted to like this book, because I agreed with the author's premise: the old rules of advertising and marketing no longer apply, we have reached the age of "murketing"- stunts, word of mouth campaigns, etc. I also identified with Rob Walker's assessment of the consumer's desire code: everyone wants to be known as an individual yet at the same time be identified as part of a group.
I just didn't identify with many of the brands discussed in this book: Red Bull, Timberland, various fashio...more
I just didn't identify with many of the brands discussed in this book: Red Bull, Timberland, various fashio...more
Are brands dead as consumers are getting more and more skilled at “outsmarting” brands by not succumbing to their tactics? Not exactly. Rob Walker takes the reader on a journey, examining brands such as Red Bull, Scion and Hello Kitty to answer this question. Through “Murketing”, companies are able to blend marketing efforts into the very fabric of the target audience’s world. This was a very entertaining & thought-provoking read.
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I joined Goodreads in April 2008, and my bookshelf tracks a) only what I've read since then, and b) only voluntary reading, leaving out the [many] books I *have to* read for work and research.
PS For whatever reason, Goodreads can't get its act together on making it easy for me to remove superfluous books that are listed here as things I've written. If you see something that seems unlikely listed i...more
More about Rob Walker...
PS For whatever reason, Goodreads can't get its act together on making it easy for me to remove superfluous books that are listed here as things I've written. If you see something that seems unlikely listed i...more
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Jun 24, 2008 06:46am