I inhaled this book in one seating. It is a much-needed look at reality.

It very clearly puts into words the feelings I've been struggling with as I make the transition from adman to sponsored-content creator. I only wish I'd had pages 255 and 256 all those years that I tried to persuade my clients that the way to reach out to Hispanic (or any other) consumers was through relevance, respect and relationship.

I wish I'd had the perspective in "Relevance" years ago. And I wish I'd had some of the contributors as clients!

This is an excellent and insightful book. Anyone in business should read this as it provides useful insight from the prospective of many well know and respected members of the business community. It's the simple things that can make a business more successful.

I was fortunate to be awarded a copy of the book for sharing my thoughts about the brand most relevant to me. As I started reading, I found myself nodding in acknowledgment of these basic nuggets of wisdom as to why traditional advertising just "ain't what it used to be." At last, the idea that it is time to let go of demographics is upon us! What an insightful book. I so appreciated the fact that the book itself was relevant in its clarity and simplicity regarding what sound marketing today is all about. I've got shelves of business tomes that are overwritten with so many parenthetical expressions I can't go back and find the actual beginning of the sentence. I especially appreciated the story on radio since my son also began his aspired career in radio. Happily he wound up in health care public relations earning far more than the "four and out the door" salary of a small station radio. But back to Relevance; the one-on-one discussions with brand leaders were great sound bites that made sense and provided meaningful information.
As an avid Cool News fan I had a feeling the tenor of the book would have the same crispness and punch. Tim Manners did not disappoint.
As a writer and marketing consultant, the actually proved beneficial since I used it to recommend a nontraditional, consumer relevant marketing strategy to a new client. Lastly, thought it was great that Tim acknowledged his Dad for teaching him to cook, sew and iron. I look forward more Relevance. Keep up the great work.
Joan Mansbach

Organizations entering a new era which is calling for changes in how they approach their branding. Many of the trivial ideas about marketing and branding are being tossed to the wayside and a more focused and relevant approach to branding is emerging.

Bottom-line: You're Nothing If You're Not Relevant. Look at the Segway. Over 5 years later and the company MAY have finally reached their predicted 10,000 units sold mark, which was expected to come in just months.

Tim looks at what relevance is and how brands are finding it. Some of his stories and examples surprise you.

Albright & O'Malley Consults country music radio stations around the world, and after reading "Relevance," I bought a copy for each of our clients. Today, radio reaches almost 95% of the population in an average week. Yet, as new media emerge, there's only one way to keep that listening level and that's by understanding the power of "Relevance." The book is a great teaching tool, for example, for radio personalities to be sure that their personal brand story, as well as that of their radio station, remains relevant to an increasingly-values-driven audience.

Bravo!!!! - you really did the marketing world and, by extension, their collective consumers a service with Relevance.

Here's why this book is so valuable to me. The book outlines example after example of winning marketing strategies and tactics across a range of industries that serve as case studies for easy application to your own company/brand. Every marketer gets stuck, lamenting (usually quietly) that they need to do something different and better to become more valuable to their customers. Regrettably, most change the packaging, advertising, agency or try the flavor of the week because they are not aware of success models to follow. Tim's deep reservoir of RELEVANT examples and insight about consumer-rewarding marketing practices gives the needed models to follow to better serve your current and potential audience and consumers. If your marketing team is "stuck", share examples in this book with them and simply ask ... what would our business strategy look like if we followed the successful example of company/brand x?

By the way, Tim will be publishing bonus chapters to this book and you can read them by subscribing to his newsletter "Cool News of the Day". Yes, I am a devoted fan because Tim "keeps it relevant".

I have read dozens of books on marketing. No one quite gets it like Manners.
A couple of reasons why this is an absolute "must read":
-There are a ton of stories and lessons you can apply to your own organization.
-This is not a "new marketing,""new media,""change or die" sort of book. It is a practical examination of how the profession of marketing is changing and what you must do to remain relevant.
-Manners storytelling and analysis really resonate. You will be smarter for reading this.

This is a book on marketing. Maybe the subtitle should have read "providing stuff that matters" rather than "making stuff that matters" because what Tim Manners has to say applies to service companies, and non-manufacturing vendors as it does to the companies that actually make products.

The book warns you against getting caught up in ideas that seem cool but actually take you out of the sweet spot of your business. For example, in the first chapter on demographics, he shows you how companies get into trying to craft products for certain niches in their demographics and either waste a really good product that could have been used broadly, create a product the niche doesn't want, or one that can't earn any money because the niche is so small and the share of the product in that space is even smaller, or that the nice doesn't even exist. It is an illusion created by your database.

Each chapter begins with a series of micro-case studies on the topic, has a series of paragraph or two insights from well placed business people on that topic and a series of boldface bullet points that make the author's point about that chapter.

The ten chapters are on:
Demographics - Marketing, Not Apartheid
Aspirations - The Happiness Factor
Advertising - Accountable to Whom?
Insights - Controlling the Conversation
Innovation - Suit Yourself
Investment - Spare Not Expense
Design - Yellow is Number One
Experience - What Would Warhol Do?
Value - The Value of Value
Growth - Zen-Master Profits
And a Coda on What's the Point?

He also provides a page of "Secrets of Relevant Brands". You could actually begin the book with this section of the book.

Easy to read, breezy in style (it's marketing, after all), with some useful points.

Review by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

I've been reading Tim Manners' Cool News of the Day and Hub Magazine for years now, and so I eagerly anticipated reading his book. I'm happy to report that Tim has done a great job of taking a huge body of material and distilling it into a simple message that being relevant is the key to success in marketing today.

Okay, that sounds pretty obvious, but as Tim points out, most of what happens in marketing today is not relevant. He outlines six principles that define relevant brands today and then uses all kinds of interesting examples, vignettes and short case studies as support.

The result is a fun, quick read, offered up in bite-sized pieces. I'd even go as far as say that you wouldn't have to be in marketing to enjoy it and benefit from reading it. And for those in marketing, it is like a blueprint for the future.

For the past few years Tim Manners has been leading a crusade to move marketers beyond the traditional "we need more GRP's"/hard-sell approach. It's an approach I learned many years ago as a fledgling P&G brand manager and it worked extremely well... many years ago! But today's consumer is armed with new interactive technologies, new sources of information, and a whole new attitude about making decisions on purchasing products and services. The marketing community is fortunate that Tim has finally assembled his thoughts in a very articulate new book. It's well worth reading, especially if you're still obsessed with running television advertising. Take it from a retired marketing guy who "saw the light" (largely due to Tim's advice).

As a seasoned marketing observer and as a prominent on-line and print marketing publisher, Manners shares a wealth of experience in a crisply written, laser-focused book. What dramatically increases its importance are the current observations of almost 100 chief marketing officers who are gatekeepers of the world's reading brands.

This is a book that should be on every marketer's bookshelf and in the hands of their subordinates. It lays out a clear road map of what makes a brand relevant ... and how it can be accomplished.