Katie Couric: The Punk Marketing Deal Breaker
I dropped into my local Books A Million today to pick up Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin. After grabbing it and The Dip (I’m a Seth junkie) I checked out some other titles in the genre. One cover/title jumped out at me and I picked it up. The book is Punk Marketing by Richard Laermer and Mark Simmons. Good cover, catchy title. But when I flipped it over to read the back cover, I discovered a fatal flaw: Katie Couric. Couric was singing the praises of the book. It was the first blurb. The author’s publisher might want to print a new jacket.
Couric’s cache as a blurb quote has waned recently. Of course this quote was given when she was still with the Today Show. It says so right on the book. (Note: As pointed out by the author below, this comment was wrong and I’m owning up to it. I’m leaving it in with the strikeout, so his comment makes sense. Of course, his explanation does raise the question as to why you would want a blurb by Couric, no matter when she gave it or where she worked at the time.) Problem is, her brand has taken a major hit in the past year. If she read the book and endorsed it before the CBS debacle, then she either didn’t take it to heart, or the authors are full of biofudge. (In case you’re wondering what marketing has to do with her reading the news, well we’re all marketers in today’s economy and we’re all solely responsible for our own brands.) Let’s face it, she’s making 10 times the salary that Bob Schieffer made but posting similar ratings. Sorry CBS, but Katie read some “hip” marketing book but the only one who got punked was the shareholders. No offense to the authors, but I had to put your book down. Seth’s books are endorsed by people who actually ADD value to their companies/organizations.
Carry on, Citizens!
Popularity: 29% [?]
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
No. Actually, what the book said was Couric raving about my prior tome, ‘trendSpotting’ on Today Show. Our book, ‘Punk Marketing,’ has been out for 11 months and Katie’s been off the Today Show for a few years! Anyway, thanks for the note. Pick the book back up. We have some amazing reviews from people who are much more interesting than Seth’s folks. And we’re a lot funnier than the Godin Repeat Button. see http://www.PunkMarketing.com for more. And oh yeah one small piece of advice: Read the back covers more carefully :).
Thanks…
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Richard,
I’ll admit I was off on the timeline and I will give you the benefit of the doubt and check out the back of the book again. I’ll even read the book and post a review. And I’ll even go so far as to say that I read the article below and thought you nailed it.
http://www.talentzoo.com/website/columns/columncontent.aspx?Id=2029&type=1
But, I have to say… Couric is not a name you want to pull out for credibility around here. My readers and listeners have grown to love the Katie bashing. So, don’t put her on the back of your book and expect it to go unnoticed or unpunished, regardless of what she says.
And as for the “Godin Repeat Button” comment, I would go easy there. The Citizens tend to like the Seth. The last thing you want is another Progressive Financial.
Jeff
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Lets throw the loss of brand value aside…why would you want to feature Katie Couric liking/endorsing a marketing book? Sure, there’s name recognition there, but that just doesn’t do it for me. If that’s all you want to get across, you might as well say “Britney Spears loves this book and you will too.” (Provided that is a true statement of course.) And pushing your perceptions of Couric aside (past, present & future), the main book endorsements she’d be really good for would be children’s books (due to her “bubbly” character) or maybe something on dealing with loss and raising your child. But marketing just doesn’t do it for me.
Enough on that. If Laermer and Simmons want to go that route, that’s their choice. According to Amazon some people don’t tend to mind or ignore it.
As far as the Godin bashing goes, you (Laermer) might want to watch what you say. Last I checked, Godin has five books ahead of you on the Amazon charts for your category. And remarks patting yourself on the back don’t go too far.
And please tell me that Mark Simmons’ blurb about “helped make Coca-Cola a household name” is in jest. I almost spit Coke all over my screen when I read that one. Unless Mark is over a hundred years old or is responsible for “New Coke”, I don’t see how that could be. And I’m not sure I’d advertise the later. Seth has a good book title for that one.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I guess what I really meant to say (really) was that we are a lot funnier than Godin! Check out Punk Marketing and you’ll see what I mean. He’s good, but I think too serious. I never enjoy earnestness. It’s just too easy to be that way, guys!
March 4th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I’ll check it out and post a review. In the meantime, best wishes on your upcoming release.
Jeff