In the bestselling tradition of "The Lazlow Letters" and "Letters from a Nut," screenwriter Paul Davidson has been firing off humble but humorous letters to Fortune 500 companies to find answers to such hot-button questions like why hasn't Minute Maid begun to sell an all pulp, juice-free product yet, and whether it's safe to microwave a bowl of Marshmallow Fluff on high for ten minutes. And the funny thing is . . . consumer-care departments everywhere have been writing back to him, addressing his queries with deadpan seriousness. Collecting dozens of selections from Davidson's funniest correspondence, "Consumer Joe" uncovers why a box of fifty envelopes only contained forty-seven and how colorblind people are supposed to tell whether their Ziploc baggies ("yellow and blue makes green") are properly sealed, while making numerous product-improvement suggestions along the way (such as adding Tuna Melt flavor to the Jamba Juice product line). Taking aim at the increasingly advertising-sponsored society, "Consumer Joe" features utterly absurd but irresistible missives to companies ranging from Barnes & Noble and Fed-Ex to Southwest Airlines and Taco Bell. Full of kvetches we all can relate to, "Consumer Joe" is poised to become the patron saint of every beleaguered shopper.

The past decade has seen a number of developments that threaten the very fabric of how marketing activities have traditionally been conducted. On one hand, consumers are increasingly socially networked and value-conscious, with heightened expectations of how companies will react to their demands. Along with the challenges, however, come new opportunities: the growth of behavioural economics and the emergence of new data collection techniques, for instance, give marketers unprecedented access to previously hidden aspects of consumer behavior. Clearly, ‘business as usual’ is not an option for marketing managers who want their firms to stay in the game. To help managers adapt to the rapidly changing business environment, Flux offers a collection of the very best thinking on key areas of marketing activity and decision-making. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in a specific ‘new’ marketing subject area, from managing brands to dealing with new media, and addresses substantive challenges in that area while providing steps for taking action. The book’s integrated approach makes it an excellent resource not only for marketing managers but any managers dealing with customers.

A proven resource for high performance, the Siegel’s series keeps you focused on the only thing that matters – the exam. The Siegel’s series relies on a powerful Q&A format, featuring multiple-choice questions at varying levels of difficulty, as well as essay questions to give you practice issue-spotting and analyzing the law. Answers to multiple-choice questions explain why one choice is correct as well as why the other choices are wrong, to ensure complete understanding. An entire chapter is devoted to teaching you how to prepare effectively for essay exams. The chapter provides instruction, advice, and exam-taking tips that help you make the most of your study time. A wonderful resource for practice in answering the types of questions your professor will ask on your exam, the Siegel’s Series will prove valuable in the days or weeks leading up to your final. Features: Exposing you to the types of questions your professor will ask on the exam, Siegel’s will prove valuable in the days or weeks leading up to your final. A great number of questions at the appropriate level of difficulty—20 to 30 essay Q&As and 90 to 100 multiple-choice Q&As—provide opportunity for you to practice spotting issues as you apply your knowledge of the law. Essay questions give you solid practice writing concise essay answers, and the model answers allow you to check your work. An entire chapter is devoted to preparing for essay exams. In checking your answers to multiple-choice questions, you can figure out where you may have erred: Answers explain why one choice is correct and the other choices are wrong. To help you learn to make the most of your study time, the introductory chapter gives instruction, advice, and tips for preparing for and taking essay exams . The table of contents helps you prepare for exams by clearly outlining the topics tested in each Essay question. In addition, you can locate questions covering topics you’re having difficulty with by checking the index. Revised by law school professors, the Siegel’s Series is updated on a regular basis.

How popular companies like Apple and Trader Joe’s project a hip, progressive image—and whether we should believe them Consumers are told that when they put on an American Apparel t-shirt, leggings, jeans, gold bra, or other item, they look hot. Not only do they look good, but they can also feel good because they are helping US workers earn a decent wage (never mind that some of those female workers have accused their boss of sexual harassment). And when shoppers put on a pair of Timberlands, they feel fashionable and as green as the pine forest they might trek through—that is, until they’re reminded that this green company is in the business of killing cows. But surely even the pickiest, most organic, most politically correct buyers can feel virtuous about purchasing a tube of Tom’s toothpaste, right? After all, with its natural ingredients that have never been tested on animals, this company has a forty-year history of being run by a nice couple from Maine . . . well, ahem, until it was recently bought out by Colgate. It’s difficult to define what makes a company hip and also ethical, but some companies seem to have hit that magic bull’s-eye. In this age of consumer activism, pinpoint marketing, and immediate information, consumers demand everything from the coffee, computer, or toothpaste they buy. They want an affordable, reliable product manufactured by a company that doesn’t pollute, saves energy, treats its workers well, and doesn't hurt animals—oh, and that makes them feel cool when they use it. Companies would love to have that kind of reputation, and a handful seem to have achieved it. But do they deserve their haloes? Can a company make a profit doing so? And how can consumers avoid being tricked by phony marketing? In Ethical Chic, award-winning author Fran Hawthorne uses her business-investigative skills to analyze six favorites: Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, American Apparel, Timberland, and Tom’s of Maine. She attends a Macworld conference and walks on the factory floors of American Apparel. She visits the wooded headquarters of Timberland, speaks to consumers who drive thirty miles to get their pretzels and plantains from Trader Joe’s, and confronts the founders of Tom’s of Maine. More than a how-to guide for daily dilemmas and ethical business practices, Ethical Chic is a blinders-off and nuanced look at the mixed bag of values on sale at companies that project a seemingly progressive image.

Master the hottest technology around to drive marketing success Marketers are faced with a stark and challenging dilemma: customers demand deep personalization, but they are increasingly leery of offering the type of personal data required to make it happen. As a solution to this problem, Customer Data Platforms have come to the fore, offering companies a way to capture, unify, activate, and analyze customer data. CDPs are the hottest marketing technology around today, but are they worthy of the hype? Customer Data Platforms takes a deep dive into everything CDP so you can learn how to steer your firm toward the future of personalization. Over the years, many of us have built byzantine “stacks” of various marketing and advertising technology in an attempt to deliver the fabled “right person, right message, right time” experience. This can lead to siloed systems, disconnected processes, and legacy technical debt. CDPs offer a way to simplify the stack and deliver a balanced and engaging customer experience. Customer Data Platforms breaks down the fundamentals, including how to: Understand the problems of managing customer data Understand what CDPs are and what they do (and don't do) Organize and harmonize customer data for use in marketing Build a safe, compliant first-party data asset that your brand can use as fuel Create a data-driven culture that puts customers at the center of everything you do Understand how to use AI and machine learning to drive the future of personalization Orchestrate modern customer journeys that react to customers in real-time Power analytics with customer data to get closer to true attribution In this book, you’ll discover how to build 1:1 engagement that scales at the speed of today’s customers.