Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit: How Marketing, Advertising, Media and PR Work – the Essential Guide for Career Planning and Professional Understanding. the New

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman at Ogilvy, said the following about ‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit’: –

“I noticed that this book ingeniously starts with a glossary – which was recommendation enough. But it gets even better from there on. I’m really enjoying it”.

In marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype – the latest channel, brand, agency or media outlet. Cutting the useful from the useless is a constant battle.
Marketing, Advertising, PR and Media are all designed to sound awesome, but how can you possibly know which path is right for you without getting stuck in? You won’t know the facts until it’s too late – so the best thing to do is research what’s out there and make the most informed choices possible.
‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit’ was written for two main audiences:- First, Students, Graduates and young marketing professionals looking to find their first job in marketing, advertising, media or PR . Second, it’s useful for an older demographic of those people who use marketing within their businesses but have no idea how it works (and are, by now, too afraid to ask).
Marketing is never perfect. How could it be? Every second of every day, everything that helps inform your decisions changes. Trends disperse, media pivots, demographics shift, geographies imbalance, economies peak and trough, products fail, creative is subjective, Pandemics arrive and strategy’s a Rubik’s Cube of a conundrum.
‘Brands, Bandwagons & Bullshit’ was written using notes, hints and tips I’ve found valuable myself and it also contains snippets from several articles I’ve written for Marketing Week, Campaign and other magazines. The topics are wide ranging, broaching marketing strategy, brand strategy, campaign tactics and some of the pitfalls you may/ will encounter on your own journey.
Part 1: Getting Started’ covers the things you might want to consider before you get your first job whilst ‘Part 2 – The Marketing Bit’ branches out into the strategy, tactics and campaigns that brands employ to give them an edge (or sometimes get it very, very wrong).
This isn’t a ‘self-help’ book, nor does it profess to hold all the answers. Think of it less as a Sat Nav directing you to your ideal marketing career or a bible for perfect marketing and more like a shopping list to browse, extracting useful snippets at will.
The baking of the cake is totally up to you, but hopefully you’ll pick up some useful directions and suggested ingredients over the coming pages to help you steer between the bullshit and the bandwagons.