The Influentials: One American in Ten Tells the Other Nine How to Vote, Where to Eat, and What to Buy

by Edward B. Keller, Edward A. Keller, Jonathan Berry

Book Overview

One American in ten tells the other nine where to shop, what to buy...even how to vote. The Influentials tells who they are, and how they can be influenced. Who are they? The most influential... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743227298
• ISBN13: 9780743227292
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

The Influentials

The Roper organization has long been known for the quality and reliability of its data. Now it has given us a remarkable distillation of information in order to show how a select group of people carry more weight in the decision-making processes of the rest of us.In "The Influentials: One American in Ten Tells the Other Nine How to Vote, Where to Eat and What to Buy," Jon Berry and Ed Keller of Roper ASW tell us how certain people stay ahead of the curve and, essentially, create and maintain that most precious of marketing commodities: "word of mouth." Of course, the real trick is discover how channels of influence weave their way through the popular culture and subtly induce us to buy. The "Influentials" among us have mastered this because, according to Berry and Keller, they are more likely to accept new ideas, to ask questions, and to listen carefully. With its fact-based approach, "The Influentials" brings us into the lives of people whose habits, desires and innate characteristics enable them to create the "buzz" that will lead to product success.The book is extremely well documented, with lots of charts and graphs that go back through 30 years or Roper research. As a marketing professional, I was impressed with their arguments and their proven methods. Great book. I say, go for it !.

Statistics of the politically and socially active

I agree with the other reviewer that the "influential" 10% selected for this book consists of people who are socially and/or politically active. That's how they were chosen. In my view, it wasn't really shown that this 10% of the population strongly influences the other 90%. Many statistics of this active 10% are given.Influentials do tend to talk a lot.Keller and Berry write "Influentials seem to have an aversion to keep things to themselves. ... They believe it's important to give others information that could help them." (p. 148).So, what do we learn about Influentials?* They are two times more likely to buy online than the average consumer. They like the convenience.* They like to travel and tend to like to cook.* They tend to be "tactical consumers," who shop around to get the best deal.* Influentials tend to be interested in news, politics, the environment, health, technology, and science. They focus upon important "substantive, meaty areas."* Influentials aren't particularly interested in celebrities, sports, fashion or TV culture. (They don't mind public television, because it's educational.)* They value learning and tend to have active minds.* They're not into bowling or extreme sports.* Influentials feel they can control their destiny.* 3 to 1, they would prefer to be entrepreneurs to top executives at big companies.* They don't want to be extremely rich (not more so than non-influentials anyway). But, they want financial security.* Influentials were early adopters of IRA's, 401(k), cell phones, and the Internet.* Influentials read a lot, especially magazines and newspapers.So, for marketers looking for information about the politically/socially active 10% of the population, this book provides many insights. Plus, I think it's interesting reading. However, for marketers looking for specific ways to reach this audience, "The Influentials" seems to offer only a few broad marketing ideas. For example, Keller and Berry write: "If there's a secret to advertising to Influentials, it is to be creative and informative." And, the authors say companies must provide useful information. Keller and Berry write: "Succeeding with Influentials begins with information. A salient, meaningful piece of information is at the very least a conversation starter."Another idea offered is sponsoring a community event or worthy cause. However, the authors point out that Influentials tend to be skeptical of advertising and messages can't just flow down from a company to Influentials. Influentials won't just blindly accept them. Influentials will listen to those they know, incorporating their experiences and their own personal experiences to determine the quality or usefulness of a product. Influentials tend to be good listeners and get feedback from others. Partially, it's their wide experience though personal feedback that makes them a valuable source of information to others.The book points out that Influentials represent an early majority of the market. Whether

Great insights, terrific read

I read a fair number of business books in a given year, and The Influentials is perhaps the best I?ve read in a very long time. The book is an in-depth examination of that segment of Americans--influentials, early adopters, trend setters, pick your label--marketers drool over. After reading this book, I feel I really have new insights into who these people are, what makes them tick, and what drives their purchasing decisions, among other things. The book sets itself apart in a number of ways. It is grounded in fact, based largely on findings from real research (the authors work for RoperASW, a large marketing research company), not on some fashionable and disposable management theory. At the same time, it is very well written: clear, jargon-free, practical, and fun to read. Also, throughout the book the authors profile real-life ?Influentials? to illustrate their points, which adds a nice human touch so often missing from business books. The authors really know their stuff and synthesize an amazing amount of information into a cohesive, engaging narrative. Highly recommended to marketers who want to reach a desirable segment of the public, and to anyone else interested in consumer trends.

Real Insight

For one simple, powerful reason THE INFLUENTIALS stands head and shoulders above the field in the marketing trends book sweepstakes. Its insights are based on data, long-term empirical data, judiciously considered. Facts. Numbers. A real departure from most books about the American consumer which base their hypotheses, and thus their recommendations, on anecdotes, renovated B-school doctrine, all plumped up with a few chunks of data culled willy nilly from any variety of sources. (Has anybody else noticed that the same warmed-over statistics show up again and again in the most marketing books? Shall we blame the Internet and Lexis/Nexis searches for this sudden homogeneity?). THE INFLUENTIALS, on the other hand, shares primary research data on the American consumer going back 30 years or more. Berry's and Keller's insights and recommendations are shaped by the evolving opinions of Americans. The horse is before the cart where the horse belongs. Interspersed with the data and trend analysis, Berry and Keller introduce in mini-bios to actual Influentials. These particularly well-written sections serve to embody the data, (the data sections can get a little overwhelming at times) and show us how an Influential lives, thinks and leads. Most are local community leaders, or have real involvement in their communities, and and as such are the nodes of wide personal networks. They are the people who get things done, the people to whom others look to for advice or counsel. By the way, over the years, about 10% of Americans have ?qualified? by their behavior to be counted as Influentials. The definition of an Influential is based on a question about people's political and other civic behavior that Roper has been asking since the 1920s, and has been updating ever since to reflect changing times. Now it could be argued that the Roper definition of what constitutes an influential American is antiquated, no longer applicable in the post-modern era. For instance it could be said that the influence of super-empowered individuals (to use Thomas Friedman's term) has been magnified in our hypermediated age to such an extent that "celebrities" now have exponentially more sway over how we choose to think, to live, to dream than any local influential. A good point, but Keller and Berry do not reject the influence of the celebrity and celebrity brand culture. They answer that that Roper Influentials are not only leaders in the sense that others look to them for political or community leadership, but that non-Influentials also look to them for guidance on most consumer goods and entertainment because Influentials also tend to be early adopters of new goods, services and culture. In other words, Influentials serve as an early warning system for those trends that other Americans will get to a six months to a year or so later. What's really impressive about THE INFLUENTIALS is that Berry and Keller share so much data. That runs counter to another kind

tipping point + anatomy of buzz + the influentials

Excellent reading that is supported by years of research. The Tipping Point and the Anatomy of Buzz are great reads but this book takes the subject to the next level. Building on the theory that buzz and tipping points are vital to the success of business, political campaigns etc, The Influentials shows who the "influentials" really are and how they can be reached. The influentials are the individuals who will determine the eventual success or failure of many goods and services. You may be surprised who they are!