Silhouette Designs for Artists and Craftspeople

Book Description

153 motifs: lovely ladies with elaborate headdresses, graceful wood sprites, beautiful floral vignettes, much more.

Customer Reviews:

A great fantasy resource!.......2007-07-10

This is one of my favorite and most-used clip art books - full of fairies, dragons, mermaids, butterflies, dancing people, and more. I typically use it as a resource for making handcarved stamps for my journal. I highly recommend it!

Craftwork in Metal, Wood, Leather, Plastics
Average customer rating:
Craftwork in Metal, Wood, Leather, Plastics

Manufacturer: The Bruce Publishing Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000E6NMLE

Craftwork the Handicapped Elderly Can Make and Sell
Average customer rating:
Craftwork the Handicapped Elderly Can Make and Sell
Willetta R. Rissell
Manufacturer: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

Decorative Arts | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0398045607

Craftwork in Plastic (Leisure Crafts)
Average customer rating:
Craftwork in Plastic (Leisure Crafts)

Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Sculpture | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 085532287X

Craftwork in plastics
Average customer rating:
Craftwork in plastics
A. C Bentley
Manufacturer: E.J. Arnold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007IZK5K

We the People: A Call to Take Back America
Average customer rating:

We Need More Thom Hartmans

Blind leftest propaganda

big story told in accessible language

Very Informative

Outstanding and well thought out explanation of the 'real' conservative agenda!

We the People: A Call to Take Back America
Thom Hartmann , and Gene Latimer
Manufacturer: Coreway Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Practical Politics | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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What Would Jefferson Do?: A Return to Democracy

Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights

Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents)

The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late

The Prophet's Way: A Guide to Living in the Now

ASIN: 1882109384

Book Description

America faces its greatest threat since the Civil War. The worst fears of the Founders are being realized, as powerful corporate interests have taken over our culture and representative government. We the People now face a fundamental choice: take back our country . . . or do nothing, and become victims of tyranny and empire.

Thom Hartmann, the acclaimed author of Unequal Protection and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, tells a compelling story -- of how a government of, by, and for the people has been replaced by corporate domination. Through brilliant analysis and imaginative illustrations, this fully graphic book illuminates the central dynamics of American politics.

He reveals the forgotten history of the Founders' intent and the devious way that corporations came to possess "human" rights. He explains what the Boston Tea Party actually was, what constituted the Second American Revolution, and how "corporatists" disguised as conservatives are looting assets from We the People's common ownership through privatization schemes.

Most importantly, the book issues a call to action from citizens who want to restore true democracy, and liberty and justice . . . for all.

Customer Reviews:

We Need More Thom Hartmans.......2007-09-23

A very unique format for a serious book. Thom Hartman again tries to teach us how important the middle class is for the survival of this country. The middle class has to start grass roots movements to take back our country from the megacorporations.

Blind leftest propaganda.......2007-08-17

This lefest propaganda of lies is just as insulting as a book of conservative propganda lies. People like this are such an insult to our country. Hartmann takes whatever comes out of a conservatives mouth and turns it completely around. Attack after attack on policies that work. For example wire tapping and intercepting mail which is pretty necessary considering the fact that it was proven on september 11th that terrorists are capable of planning,hijacking planes and killing thousands of Americans inside our country under our noses. Bushes policy of wire tapping and etc have foiled numerous terrorist plots after 9/11 saving hundreds and even thousands of lives . Anyway, i didnt want to get into anything detailed... The point is people like this on the left and the right are poisoning the minds of the ignorant and the naive and making it harder to work together for a better America. If you actually like this book and give it a high score then you are pretty blind and narrow minded.

big story told in accessible language.......2007-08-17

Thom Hartmann is a genius. I had my doubts about the graphic novel format, but, hey, it works! This book tells a huge story-- the intentional dismantling of our government, the theft of our commons, the destruction of our democracy-- in clear, straight-forward, accessible language. Buy it! Buy it new! Give it to friends, to teenaged children, to Republican uncles.

Very Informative.......2007-02-06

I like the contents of the book, but don't like the fact that the pictures are in cartoon fashion. I believe this takes away from the seriousness of the contents.

Outstanding and well thought out explanation of the 'real' conservative agenda!.......2006-07-10

Explaining the original intentions of the Founders in regards to corporate personhood and the conservative agenda to turn America into a new feudal society, all in graphic novel form? --Priceless.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book! It is exceptionally well thought-out in its argument that America is headed for a new type of feudalism, where a rich elite control the 'commons' and the rest of us are doomed to serfdom and acceptance of corporate power and influence. The book uses amusing and compelling graphics and well-cited examples to illustrate it's arguments. But, of course, if you've ever listened to Thom Hartmann's radio show, you know he's the real deal! Best of all, Hartmann stresses that all is not lost, and that with concerted effort and grassroots action--which he details--all of us can help to bring America back on the right track and make our nation one that lives up to the words of its founding.

Buy this book and learn...then act!

You Wouldn't Like it Here -- A Guide to the Real Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Average customer rating:

This isn't "Back to Central"

an ok read, Just like home

Terrible book

You Wouldn't Like it Here -- A Guide to the Real Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Lon L. Emerick , and Sam Satterly
Manufacturer: North Country Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Midwest | Regions | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
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Growing Up Yooper: Childhood Memories of Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Going Back to Central: On the Road in Search of the Past in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

The Superior Peninsula: Seasons in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Hiking Michigan's Upper Peninsula (Hiking Guide Series)

Lumberjack: Inside an Era in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan : 50th Anniversary Edition

ASIN: 0965057771

Product Description

Chambers of Commerce won't be giving this book away any time soon! A high-spirited, humorous look at a special land and the challenges of living in a remote region with more trees than people, long winters, and two-track roads. Visitors are warned about the climate, insects, wildlife, local residents and other potential "dangers." In a more serious epilogue, the author asks that visitors tread gently on the land and fold themselves into the Upper Peninsula way of life that its residents hold dear. Illustrated with regional map and 12 black/white drawings.

Customer Reviews:

This isn't "Back to Central".......2007-03-09

"Back to Central" by Lon was an extraordinary book - one of my all time favorite local history/geography books. But I am afraid this one is a real "stinker". Sorry Lon.

an ok read, Just like home.......2006-12-26

This book was written from a resident's point of view, not as a guild book. As a longtime resident of the of the northern lower as well as being born and raised in the Upper Peninsula. This author was right on with the way people think and what they do from an outsider's inside view. A little over the top on the "redneckedness". But hey, most of us are. A quick read into the old northern way.

Terrible book.......2006-11-22

As a lifelong Michiganian, I spent my summers in the UP growing up. This book takes a bad joke too far and just lists all the reasons the author thinks people should avoid the UP. It starts off with a cute, gramatically jilted letter from someone who didn't enjoy his time up there. But then the author continues with this theme to point out things like bugs, mean people and wild animals to encourage people to stay away from the UP. Boring, juvenile and poorly written; this book was a waste of money.

Customer Reviews:

Chicken Soup for the Brain.......2001-11-12

When I was a born-feminist bookworm of 16, I was delighted by the Marquise de Merteuil. I knew she was evil, and all, but she was the only literary heroine I'd ever encountered who was also intelligent, complex, and strong-willed. She also scared me a bit. I didn't exactly identify with her, yet she seemed as close to me as any heroine had ever gotten. When later on the same year I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time I realized that Elizabeth Bennet was the real heroine I'd been searching for. Unfortunately the Elizabeth Bennets of literature are much rarer than the Marquise de Merteuils, so I could not abandon the latter as figures of identification.

Where on earth am I going with this? I feel about the hot new scholarly phenomenon that is Slavoj Zizek, the editor of this volume, much the way I did about the Marquise de Merteuil. It's nice to see someone out there championing such academic fashion sins as Christian ethics (in The Fragile Absolute), the Cartesian subject (in The Ticklish Subject), and erudition, and make them trendy by doing it within a Lacanian framework. But unless you really needed to be liberated from the poststructuralist program you probably never lost entire faith in any of these things and concluded all by yourself the same things Zizek seem to have: that the version of Western metaphysics savaged by poststructuralism was a straw man anyway, whereas a more truthful version would acknowledge the fragility or ticklishness of these ideals and intuitions.

If you do not need Zizek to liberate you then there is not much to recommend in this book of Lacanian Hitchcock criticism. Zizek is mostly incomprehensible; unlike the equally erudite Camille Paglia, he doesn't possess the writerly virtue of being able to explain other people's big ideas. He just namechecks and hurries on. His odd prose style contains something compelling about it, but also something unsettling. His attention-grabbing imperatives like "Enjoy your symptom!" (from the title of another of his books) or (from his contribution to this book) "Eat your being-there!" are an odd mixture of much good and bad in contemporary culture: they have the sensationalism of Paglia's scholarship-as-sound-bites ("If women ran the world we would all still be living in grass huts," or however it goes), the shiny emptiness and absurdity of bad Japanese translations on imported gift products (my favourites to date are "Hearts live in the coming day" and "Let us make the most and best of each day's and noble enjoyment" (sic)), a faint ring of sing-song Communist or flaky self-help mantras in a Bizarro universe, and a fainter ring of Nietzsche's piquant, pissy, repellent maxims. Not that what I've read of Zizek reminds me much of Nietzsche. His personality reminds me more of someone like Alfred Jarry or Marcel Duchamp, a mixture of intellectualism and mischief. And that, along with his gimmick uh, I mean project of reforming the house of Lacan from within, is surely what accounts for Zizek's sudden trendiness. Yet to me this seems like a disguised continuation of the deep problems of academe rather than a compromise solution to them: Zizek is the very essence of of-the-momentness.

The book gets three stars from me not for its contents but for its usefulness (maybe) in making certain choices available to students without the cost of sacrificing their cool radicalism. Was it Nietzsche, or Stanley Cavell, or someone else who predicted that morality would only be revived if someone made it cool again? Well, the time has come, and in that Zizek has gone beyond Paglia, who was fighting Judeo-Christianity as much as she was fighting the trendy pack of poststructuralist ideas. The essays in this book not written by Zizek will, I presume, appeal to Lacanians and particularly to Lacanian Hichcockians (I know a couple); they will not appeal to non-Lacanians, Hitchcockian or not. As for Zizek's introduction and essay, what I understood of them I sometimes agreed with, sometimes not. He has good observations to make about the gaze in Hitchcock (if Lacanian theory is ever going to apply to any filmmaker, it's Hitchcock), even if he sometimes comes by them in a tortuously roundabout fashion, but it is certainly not worth it for a non-Lacanian Hitchcock fan to buy the book. Take it out of the library, like I did. But only if you're bored and have nothing else to do but check out the latest trends. Better yet, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I'm still waiting for criticism of Hitchcock that will be worthy of him. In the meantime Zizek's scattered, mercurial insights will have to do as a poor approximation, just like the Marquise de Merteuil had to do until I discovered Elizabeth Bennet.

Studies in Musicology, 1935-1975
Average customer rating:
Studies in Musicology, 1935-1975
Charles Louis Seeger
Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Music Grooves: Essays And Dialogues

ASIN: 0520020006

Book Description

18 categories of games — pursuit and escape, throwing and catching, etc. — with up to 59 games (plus variations) in a category.

Average customer rating:

Handbook of Recreational Games-
Neva Boyd-
Manufacturer: Dover Press-
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000R9KVOE

Average customer rating:

Good Magic
Lots of intresting magic tricks that are fun to do.

Magic Handbook
M. Bird , and A. Dart
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Magic | Obsessions | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0811802841

Customer Reviews:

Good Magic.......2000-12-27

The Magic Handbook is a bit short on how to present magic, but the effects presented are very good. Many principles used by professional magicians are provided here, and all can be made fairly simply with easy to find materials. Recommended.

Lots of intresting magic tricks that are fun to do........1997-04-16

This book is very inspiring, and has helped me do a lot of magic tricks. I use a lot of it's tricks when I preform, and no one has ever figured them out. It is an excellent book and I think that all kids who want to be magicians will love it. It is also good for parents who want to impress their kids, but don't know how to. All in all, I think this is an A+ book

Parties With a Purpose: A Handbook for Activity Directors

Average customer rating:

Parties With a Purpose: A Handbook for Activity Directors
Shirley L. Barrett
Manufacturer: Charles C. Thomas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0398039860

Book Description

By Shirley L. Barrett, Allen's Nursing Home, West Kingston, Rhode Island. This unique game book will be ideal for use in nursing, convalescent and retirement homes; rehabilitation hospitals; senior day care centers; and other residential institutions. It contains forty-two parties, each based on a central theme—seasonable, historical or topical—with over one hundred related, challenging games that encourage maximum participation for all players, including the mentally and physically impaired. The games require a minimum of preparation and can be easily directed by one person. They range from old favorites with a new twist to original games devised to exercise specific mental processes: word square and category games; body language, sound-alike, proverb and picture identification games; association games; rhythmic and creative games; and bean bag and relay games. All games have been tested for high interest level, ease of play, and maximum effectiveness in stimulating group interaction and individual achievement. Helpful tips for insuring staff cooperation, handling problem players, and keeping the parties flexible and interesting are provided.

The Recreation Handbook: 342 Games and Other Activities for Teams and Individuals

Average customer rating:

Start a game anywhere! (a great resource for Scout leaders)

The Recreation Handbook: 342 Games and Other Activities for Teams and Individuals
Robert L. Loeffelbein
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0899507441

Book Description

Over 500 recreations designed both to amuse and to stimulate children and youths; most require minimal equipment. Each easy-to-understand entry includes the purpose of the game, age level, organizational level, number of participants, supervision needed, time, space, equipment, and a summary of the rules.

Customer Reviews:

Start a game anywhere! (a great resource for Scout leaders).......2000-03-28

Ever need a game? At a party, a picnic, a Scout meeting, at the beach, on a rainy day, in an airport, anywhere? This book by Robert Loeffelbein has lots of great games, collected from his days as a park superintendent and as a Navy morale officer. This is the kind of book you didn't know you needed until you've got it. If you are looking for a game (excluding cards!), this book will give you great ideas.

The Snack Sneak: Logic Games, Mysteries and Quests

Average customer rating:

Kids loved it!

The Snack Sneak: Logic Games, Mysteries and Quests
Carol Ledden
Manufacturer: Annick Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1550373323

Customer Reviews:

Kids loved it!.......2000-10-17

I used this book to plan a week of activities at the facility I work at one summer. The kids loved it. They really enjoyed the many activities (especially the wanted posters). They are always asking me when the snack sneak is going to visit again. I try to have him visit on an inconsistent schedule so that the kids are always suprised. This was one bunch of activities that keeps the kids interested. This isn't easy with our group because they are all 4th, 5th & 6th graders. If you have some bored older kids who like to do projects on their own, play detective and be suprised this book is for you.

Teach Us to Number Our Days: A Liturgical Advent Calendar

Average customer rating:

Wonderful way to celebrate the season

Teach Us to Number Our Days: A Liturgical Advent Calendar
Barbara Dee Bennett Baumgarten
Manufacturer: Morehouse Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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The Jesse Tree: Stories and Symbols of Advent
Watch For The Light: Readings For Advent And Christmas

ASIN: 0819217654

Book Description

This practical handbook for homes and church communities helps to enrich the Christian celebration of Advent through the creation and use of an Advent calendar. Written for people of all skill levels, Baumgarten provides instructions for a calendar made of paper or junk mail, a no-sew felt version, and a fabric version for more advanced sewers.

Teach Us To Number Our Days, however, is more than a simple crafts book. Baumgarten provides readers with a brief history of the development of Advent in the Christian calendar, as well as detailed explanations of the various Christian symbols that can be used during the season. Paying attention to both the Old and New Testament symbols, as well as the Sundays of Advent and the Great 'O' Antiphons from December 17-23, this book is a complete guide to Advent for individuals, families, and churches.

Barbara Dee Baumgarten seeks to understand the relationship between visual art and theology. She has a Ph. D. in Theology and the Arts from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She is also a quilter, and teaches quilting to others. Barbara lives with her family in Santa Paula, California.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful way to celebrate the season.......2002-11-09

The book guides you through planning and creating an Advent calendar that interweaves the liturgy of the season with your everyday Christmas preparations, giving rich significance to such "menial" things as housecleaning, and serving as a reminder to do everything "as unto the Lord." You can choose from three different materials/levels of difficulty, and each one comes with step-by-step instructions and a shopping list! The book is written from a Catholic perspective, and the calendar is easy to adapt to other Christian traditions. Some days (like the 4 Sundays of Advent) have specific themes, but even the "doors" on those days can be personalized with different decorations and Scripture verses. Other days, you choose something that suits your family -- a school house for the last day of school or a Christmas tree for the day you decorate your tree. Each day's theme also comes with one or more Scriptures, a brief "lesson" and a prayer. For families used to starting the day with a devotional, this puts a different spin on it. For families that aren't, it's a great way to start. I've found a wonderful way of reducing the stress and reminding my family what's really important.

Average customer rating:

Handbook of Recreational Games
Neva L. Boyd
Manufacturer: Dover Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O5VQZE

Married to the Brand: Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life
Average customer rating:

Chapters survey pride levels, common brand dilemmas, and more.

Great understanding of a Brand

Based on Sixty Years of Research

About time

A Great Read For Anyone!

Married to the Brand: Why Consumers Bond with Some Brands for Life
William J. McEwen
Manufacturer: Gallup Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Consumer Behavior | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Research | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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BRAND sense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound

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12: The Elements of Great Managing

How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding

ASIN: 1595620052

Amazon.com

How does a brand--a company or one of its products--stand out in an ever-louder and more chaotic marketplace? Why do customers develop intense and lasting bonds with some products they consume, but not others? What do winning brands do better than their competitors? Generations of marketers have pondered these questions, and Married to the Brand offers thought-provoking answers.

Based on 60 years of research from the Gallup Organization, the book combines a thoughtful, data-driven approach with a playful metaphor. Author and Gallup researcher William McEwen sees customers' interactions with brands as markedly similar to the in-depth, extended relationships we see in marriages. From his opening pages, McEwen draws parallels between customers' feelings about brands and romantic relationships. For example, he points to the differences between "dating" and "long-term engagement". He explains how both commercial and romantic relationships require trust to start and build, but passion to flourish and sustain. He describes situations in which people might fall in love, then later seek a "divorce".

Like other recent classics about brand marketing, like Scott Bedbury's A New Brand World and Al and Laura Ries' The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, McEwen's book makes good use of anecdotal personal examples. He uses stories about individual consumers' interactions with the Starbucks (coffee) or Morton's (salt) brands, for example, to illustrate one of his central points: that brands grow not just from products, but from an overall customer experience which may include the original advertising that first drew attention to the brand, personal memories tied to the product, interactions with sales staff, the appearance and location of the physical store in which the product was purchased, and so on. He summarizes by describing a framework of "5 P's" that drive customers' perceptions of brands: product, place, promotion, price, and people.

Taken as a whole, this book's lessons provide a provocative and interesting rethinking of brand management for marketers in a wide variety of industries. As McEwen himself writes, emotions connected to brands "aren't merely warm and fuzzy, nor should they be relegated to the world of greeting card poetry and Hollywood scripts. Emotions are both powerful and profitable, whether a company is marketing hamburgers or microprocessors." McEwen challenges his readers to build their brands patiently, over time. He attacks the conventional wisdom behind most companies' customer relationship management (CRM) or loyalty-marketing programs. Perhaps most importantly, he is realistic in stating from the book's outset that even the best brands will engage only a minority of their customers in true "marriage"-like relationships. But for the readers willing to invest the effort, in this book and then in the brand building that follows, the payoff appears worthwhile. --Peter Han

Book Description

Although American companies spend a staggering $500 billion on advertising annually, many fail to establish an emotional connection with consumers. Married to the Brand examines why some companies develop this most desirable consumer connection, and why others don't. Using Gallup's 60 years of global consumer data and tons of consumer stories, William McEwen shows that many marketers are great at wooing a "first date" with consumers, but only the best can create a lasting marriage between buyer and brand. The book explores how emotions such as confidence, integrity, pride, and passion can make consumers want to stand by a brand, and shows how skillful brand management can keep a consumer-brand marriage fresh and satisfying. Tools to rate Engagement Potential and Customer Engagement are also provided, allowing marketers to quickly and objectively rate their own brand's performance.

Customer Reviews:

Chapters survey pride levels, common brand dilemmas, and more........2007-01-07

Why do some consumers bond to brand names for life? Sixty years of Gallup research into consumer habits and their psychology lend to MARRIED TO THE BRAND: WHY CONSUMERS BOND WITH SOME BRANDS FOR LIFE. Many marketers work on first impressions without considering the reasons why consumers will stick with a brand. MARRIED TO THE BRAND tells how the most successful marketer not only creates the bond, but strengthens it over the years so that consumers come to equate the brand with quality and value. Chapters survey pride levels, common brand dilemmas, and more.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Great understanding of a Brand.......2006-03-16

This book gives you a good insight about a brand and the marriage it has with its customers. Its very easy to read and enjoyable.

Based on Sixty Years of Research.......2006-01-11

Dr. McEwen is a consultant with the Gallup polling people. For over sixty years they have researched brands and branding. In this book he analyzes and explains what he has discovered.

His comparison is that branding is a lot like marrying. It is a merger of company and customer and both have obligations to the other. The company has most of the responsibilities because they are the ones that have the power to change things that attract or drive away the customer. But like any marriage, the customer also has the obligation to buy the brand so long as it meets their needs.

And if brands are a marriage, he also talks about divorce. My family has always used Crest toothpaste. I go to the store, I want the same old Crest I used as a kid. Now there's Gel Crest, Mint Crest, Crest with special this, and special that. New is a magic word in marketing, but I don't want NEW, I want the same old stuff I had before. I honestly couldn't tell which was the same old stuff. I bought Colgate.

Sears was a great brand, then they went all goofy. But the Craftsman brand of Sears tool has held it's place. I bought some tools for Christmas presents. They were Craftsman -- but it was the only thing I bought in the Sears store.

This is the best book on understanding brands and branding I've ever seen.

About time.......2005-12-04

Disney has a brand loyalty that is the envy of Hollywood. (Ever hear anyone say, "Let's go see the lastest Columbia movie?" But ask a dad on Saturday what he's doing, and you may hear, "Taking the kids to the new Disney flic.") How did they do it? And how can they keep it?

This book delves into the mystery of brand loyalty with interesting anecdotes and examples from the marketing kings: McDonalds in America, Coca Cola in Asia, and of course, Disney. But the author doesn't pull punches. McDonalds marketing, once so effective, now reeks of 40 year olds in suits trying to sound "hip." That's where the book is well worth a read: the author's discussion of how brand loyalty is built is carefully balanced with how it can be lost.

Fascinating reading for anyone--marketing pros or consumers who enjoy the ride.

A Great Read For Anyone!.......2005-10-14

This book is a great read for market researchers and the general population alike. Dr. McEwen has put together a truly compelling "tale" of how certain brands entice followings, and how or why said followings are either maintained and groomed, or discarded. A fascinating cultural study, as well as a meticulous scientific one, this is a great present for anyone who's ever wondered how Disney or Coca Cola has come to the prominence they enjoy today. To have put together so much information in such a fun, readable way is Dr. McEwen's true gift, and he should be lauded for it. Bravo!

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