Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control

by Christopher Vollmer and Geoffrey Precourt

The Wall Street Journal Bestseller

The Future is Now--Get Ready to Reap the Profits.

We stand at the beginning of a consumer-centric age--an era with potentially enormous returns for leaders in marketing, advertising and media--if they get their approach right. The new media environment is "always on," digitally accessible to audiences from anywhere at any time, and responsive to their control. As consumers get used...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071508287
• ISBN13: 9780071508285
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

So far, the Best Marketing Book of 2009

This is a fantastic book for executives who need to understand next-generation marketing. It's well-written, with concrete examples, and you can read it in less time than it takes to fly cross-country. At least 20 pages of my copy have the corners turned down so that I can use the quotes with clients. Congratulations to Christopher Vollmer for a meaty and compelling manual for a new customer-centered world.

Always On: Spot On

A marketing professor friend passed me her copy of Always On after I asked "what's the best marketing book you've read this year ?" I am blown away and have referred this book to at least 6 people in the last 5 days. I'm considering getting 25 copies and mailing it to my clients and prospects; and I've not even gotten all the way through it yet. Thought provoking. Forward thinking. Well done. This should be required reading for every ad agency in the country.

Marketing and advertising executives beware! Either abandon taglines and logos, or be put out to pas

I liked this book. I thought it read pretty well. And I suppose writing about its topic is kind of timely. The business world is shifting. It's in a state of pretty rapid change. 15 years ago business was pretty predictable. But since then, we have been moving away from bricks and mortor shops and in-your-face advertising to e-commerce and Internet marketing. The funny thing is we are kind of in between the two extremes at present. There are lots of companies, large and small, that still hang on to tradition. If it ain't broke, then don't fix it. They operate bricks and mortor. And their sales are declining. Then there are those who operate their companies online exclusively, or near exclusively. There companies are expanding, often at the expense of the bricks and mortor companies. And there are the businesses that do a little of both. This book is aimed at marketing and advertising executives, especially the ones who have their head in the sand and still hang on to tradition. This book shouts at them that times are changing and you MUST accept reality that the new media environment is digital and it is always on. This means that the old tools and techniques they are comfortable with aren't working too well today and they won't work at all tomorrow. Either go with the flow (and adapt/change) or be put out to pasture as not being worth much, if anything. The reason I didn't give this book a 5-star rating is much of what it says could have been said 5 years ago - and was. Why did the author wait 5 years to write it? And since what we get in this book is not so eloquently stated, I doubt readers will find much value included in its pages? Sure, the material is accurate and fairly well documented. But can the reader take action after she turns the last page and puts the book down? I think not. I suspect all the reader will say is that I have a lot of changing to do, and I'm not sure where to start. Another problem I had with the book is at the end of each chapter there was a "Resources" section. Normally this would be great. But when I looked closer at the resources cited they were all dated - not particularly current or recently written. And I suspect the contents of the book were based on these readings. Nobody has a definitive answer as to how a marketing professional should proceed in the Internet Age, and how to engage the consumer. But more ink could have been used in this book to cover that topic so the reader could find some real value in this book. 4 stars!

The elimination of media downtime in a "flat" world

This is one of the volumes in "The Future of Business from Booz & Company" series in which the firm's senior-level executives explain especially significant developments and emerging trends within major sectors of the global marketplace. (Booz & Company is the new name for the commercial side of Booz Allen Hamilton.) In this instance, Christopher Vollmer with Gregory Precourt focus on advertising, marketing, and media during "an era of consumer control." Moreover, that control is pervasive and expanding throughout a world that has become "flat." As Thomas Friedman explains, "It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of the world." That is to say, it is now possible for almost everyone and everything in today's world to be connected in all manner of relationships. To what does the title refer? According to Vollmer, "As with the Internet that helped to shape it, the new environment is `always on' because the consumer is always present: constantly seeking opportunities and value, taking advantage of the multiplying media around it, and (at the same time) being bombarded with ever more media in ever more forms." What about marketers? They are "'always on' as well: they have no respite or downtime because the rapidly changing nature of their audiences - and the means of connecting with them - requires continual experimentation, innovation, and shifts in strategy." All of the authors of volumes in this series have the full benefit of a wealth of resources that have been accumulated during the completion of Booz's client assignments throughout the world. The specific observations and recommendations that Vollmer offers are research-driven and based on real-world information. For example: How the 21st century marketing mix has developed and how marketing initiatives must change to take full advantage of it (Chapter 1) Why an understanding of the 21st century is "the currency that trumps all others"; also, lessons to be learned from Procter & Gamble, one of the most successful digital age pioneers (Chapter 2) How several media giants (e.g. ESPN, Time Warner, Vogue magazine, MTV, E.W. Scripps Company, and NBC Universal) have responded effectively to the "post-analog, always-on mandate"(Chapter 3) How metrics that are both behavior-specific and action-specific (if applied correctly) can create a significant - if not decisive -- competitive advantage after completing a transition from exposure to engagement (Chapter 4) Why advertising agencies need to understand what marketers now expect, indeed demand: "how much their actual value to marketers has shifted fro `the big creative idea' and `the most efficient media buy' to `the most sophisticated and innovative media planning.'"; also, why and how the agency of the future must be more than an ad

Insightful View of the Digital Marketing Age

As a VP of Sales for many different technology companies including Red Hat and an investor in multiple start up companies, "Always On" provides an insightful and comprehensive view of the digital marketing age. "Always On" also indicates what is required to win in the market. Don Langley Director of Sales ConnectAndSell, Inc.