"A business book with a difference: clear-cut advice, sharp writing and a minimum of jargon."Newsweek "Revolutionary! Surprising!"Business Week "Chock-a-block with examples of successful and failed marketing campaigns, makes for a very interesting and relevant read."USA Today

Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr.’s Marketing the Blue and Gray analyzes newspaper advertising during the American Civil War. Newspapers circulated widely between 1861 and 1865, and merchants took full advantage of this readership. They marketed everything from war bonds to biographies of military and political leaders; from patent medicines that promised to cure almost any battlefield wound to “secession cloaks” and “Fort Sumter” cockades. Union and Confederate advertisers pitched shopping as its own form of patriotism, one of the more enduring legacies of the nation’s largest and bloodiest war. However, unlike important-sounding headlines and editorials, advertisements have received only passing notice from historians. As the first full-length analysis of Union and Confederate newspaper advertising, Kreiser’s study sheds light on this often overlooked aspect of Civil War media. Kreiser argues that the marketing strategies of the time show how commercialization and patriotism became increasingly intertwined as Union and Confederate war aims evolved. Yankees and Rebels believed that buying decisions were an important expression of their civic pride, from “Union forever” groceries to “States Rights” sewing machines. He suggests that the notices helped to expand American democracy by allowing their diverse readership to participate in almost every aspect of the Civil War. As potential customers, free blacks and white women perused announcements for war-themed biographies, images, and other material wares that helped to define the meaning of the fighting. Advertisements also helped readers to become more savvy consumers and, ultimately, citizens, by offering them choices. White men and, in the Union after 1863, black men might volunteer for military service after reading a recruitment notice; or they might instead respond to the kind of notice for “draft insurance” that flooded newspapers after the Union and Confederate governments resorted to conscription to help fill the ranks. Marketing the Blue and Gray demonstrates how, through their sometimes-messy choices, advertising pages offered readers the opportunity to participate—or not—in the war effort.

The post-9/11 era and the overall impact of international terrorism have generated much debate regarding the role of military apparatus in modern society. This book assesses the inherent meaning of the militarization from a critical, interdisciplinary perspective. Against the background of democracy and capitalism, The Marketing of War in the Age of Neo-Militarism challenges prevailing accounts of the "military-industrial complex" as it explores significant interrelated themes denoting the accelerating process of militarization of society. Designed to address pressing socio-political phenomena, this book is the first of its genre contesting conventional wisdom about the perceived link between war and the "military-industrial complex." It is unique not merely because of its approach, but also for its thorough analysis of deeply affected social institutions and processes such as education, popular culture, geopolitics, military expenditure, space and the environment. Contributing authors advance the discussion by exposing factual information demonstrating the nature and scope of society’s militarization. Their analysis is also broadened to encompass key concepts and diverse aspects of the subject matter that provoke a lively debate. The book offers compelling arguments that will be indispensable to scholars, students, professionals, and policy and decision makers with an interest in social and political sciences as well as in other related fields.

This bestselling war-faring guide offers a series of principles for improving a company's understanding of the concept of brand and brand usage based on the methods used by John Hancock.

The must-read summary of Al Ries and Jack Trout’s book: “Marketing Warfare: How Corporations Are Applying Military Strategies to Business”. This complete summary of the ideas from Al Ries and Jack Trout’s book “Marketing Warfare” shows how important it is for companies to stay ahead of their competitors in today’s overcrowded market. The authors explain how leaders can adopt military strategies to use in their operations in order to gain a considerable competitive advantage. By following their advice, you can use this approach to defend your business territory and conquer any competitors that threaten your position. Added-value of this summary: • Save time • Understand the key concepts • Expand your business knowledge To learn more, read “Marketing Warfare” and start making use of military strategies to get ahead of the competition and gain loyal customers.

With nearly sixty percent of Americans initially against a pre-emptive war without sanction from the United Nations, and even higher anti-war numbers in most other nations of the world, the 2003 war against Iraq quickly became an enormous public relations challenge for the George W. Bush administration. The subject of Weapons of Mass Persuasion is a war in which American patriotism became so mired in commercial jingoism that the demarcations between entertainment and political conduct disappeared completely. In this engaging and disturbing book, Paul Rutherford shows how the marketing campaign for the war against Iraq was constructed and carried out. He argues that not only was the campaign a new chapter in the presentation of real-time war as pop culture, but that its deeper implications have now come to constitute part of the history of modern democracy. Situating the war against Iraq within an existing tradition of war as narrative, spectacle, and, more broadly, commodity, Rutherford offers a brief overview of the history of civic advertising and propaganda, then examines in detail the different dimensions of three weeks of war presented to North Americans as it became a branded conflict, processed and cleansed to appeal to the well-established tastes of veteran consumers of popular culture. Including incisive analyses of visual material - speeches, editorial cartoons, and media political commentary, but particularly news reports of such sound bite events as the bombing of Baghdad, the toppling of the Hussein statue, and the rescue of captured soldier Private Jessica Lynch - as well as extensive polling data from around the world and interviews with the actual consumers of war, Weapons of Mass Persuasion chronicles the making of a Hollywood war: fast-paced and heroic, pitting the forces of good against the forces of evil to achieve a triumphant, sanitized, and commodified outcome. Not since Naomi Klein's No Logo have the gods of marketing and the art of commercialism been so thoroughly disrobed. Electronic Format Disclaimer: Images removed at the request of the rights holder.

Corporate Combat adds the historical context and modern business application to the 'business is war' metaphor. It presents a fascinating interweaving of real military operations with actual business successes to demonstrate how millennia years of military strategy can be used to build a competitive business strategy for the next century.