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Marketing Saves The World: Stories about why capitalism works. Kindle Edition
by Bill Matassoni (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars 47 ratings
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Length: 157 pages Word Wise: Enabled Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
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Product details
File Size: 4218 KB
Print Length: 157 pages
Publisher: FIRMSconsulting LLC; 1 edition (December 2, 2018)
Publication Date: December 2, 2018
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Biography
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Bill joined Porter Novelli, a small consulting firm that was pioneering the concept of social marketing. His first client was the National High Blood Pressure Education Program.
“Instead of selling soap I learned how to sell and keep selling people the benefits of compliance.
Not easy. You can’t scare them forever. We needed to convince them that treating their blood pressure was an act of love,” says Bill. His next client was United Way of America, where he soon became VP of Marketing. He produced and wrote a nationally televised advertising campaign that featured every NFL team. “Two years out of HBS and I’m writing football spots. But the players did a great job and the ads ran for years.”
Then, to his surprise Bill got a call from McKinsey. The recruiter asked him if he was interested in creating a marketing program for the “preeminent” consulting firm. He said no. They called back a few months later. This time he said yes. It was time, he thought, to re-enter the private sector. And to broaden his experience selling ephemeral things. “There was no job description. I decided not to try to impose some sort of marketing strategy worldwide. Instead I found 20 partners in different countries who were ready to make things happen and had something to say.” Two years after joining McKinsey Bill was elected a partner. For almost two decades he was responsible for advancing McKinsey’s reputation and protecting its brand. In doing so he worked closely with many of his colleagues worldwide. He was also responsible for McKinsey’s internal communications. This included the creation of McKinsey’s systems to manage and disseminate its practice knowledge.
In 1999 Bill left McKinsey to join Mitchell Madison Group, a strategy consulting firm. He helped to take the firm public through its sale to USWeb/CKS. He then joined The Boston Consulting Group, where he headed for over five years a group responsible for integrating innovation, marketing and communications. Bill worked closely with several of BCG’s thought leaders to develop their ideas and turn them into consulting assignments. After retiring from BCG he founded The Glass House Group, a consulting firm that helps professional services firms on branding and marketing issues.
Bill is a graduate of Phillips Andover (1964), Harvard College (B.A. Literature, 1968) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., 1975). He and his wife, Pamela, live in New Canaan, Connecticut in a glass house designed by Philip Johnson (the Boissonnas house). The house and their renovation of it have been featured in several magazines and newspapers including Town and Country, Metropolitan Home, and The New York Times. Their current interests include contemporary Chinese painting (black ink on paper) and “as much good wine as their budget can tolerate.”
For many years Bill was on the board of trustees of United Way of America and United Way International. He is now on the board of trustees of First Book and a senior advisor to Ashoka, an organization that invests in social entrepreneurs. He remains interested in the management and marketing of professional services firms and social marketing. “Marketing,” he says, “can help us make real progress against complex, multi-stakeholder challenges. Don’t become a finance guy. You can have much more impact and fun as a marketer.”
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Then, to his surprise Bill got a call from McKinsey. The recruiter asked him if he was interested in creating a marketing program for the “preeminent” consulting firm. He said no. They called back a few months later. This time he said yes. It was time, he thought, to re-enter the private sector. And to broaden his experience selling ephemeral things. “There was no job description. I decided not to try to impose some sort of marketing strategy worldwide. Instead I found 20 partners in different countries who were ready to make things happen and had something to say.” Two years after joining McKinsey Bill was elected a partner. For almost two decades he was responsible for advancing McKinsey’s reputation and protecting its brand. In doing so he worked closely with many of his colleagues worldwide. He was also responsible for McKinsey’s internal communications. This included the creation of McKinsey’s systems to manage and disseminate its practice knowledge.
In 1999 Bill left McKinsey to join Mitchell Madison Group, a strategy consulting firm. He helped to take the firm public through its sale to USWeb/CKS. He then joined The Boston Consulting Group, where he headed for over five years a group responsible for integrating innovation, marketing and communications. Bill worked closely with several of BCG’s thought leaders to develop their ideas and turn them into consulting assignments. After retiring from BCG he founded The Glass House Group, a consulting firm that helps professional services firms on branding and marketing issues.
Bill is a graduate of Phillips Andover (1964), Harvard College (B.A. Literature, 1968) and Harvard Business School (M.B.A., 1975). He and his wife, Pamela, live in New Canaan, Connecticut in a glass house designed by Philip Johnson (the Boissonnas house). The house and their renovation of it have been featured in several magazines and newspapers including Town and Country, Metropolitan Home, and The New York Times. Their current interests include contemporary Chinese painting (black ink on paper) and “as much good wine as their budget can tolerate.”
For many years Bill was on the board of trustees of United Way of America and United Way International. He is now on the board of trustees of First Book and a senior advisor to Ashoka, an organization that invests in social entrepreneurs. He remains interested in the management and marketing of professional services firms and social marketing. “Marketing,” he says, “can help us make real progress against complex, multi-stakeholder challenges. Don’t become a finance guy. You can have much more impact and fun as a marketer.”
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Brian H
5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining, illuminating, and inspiring call to actionReviewed in the United States on December 3, 2018
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This is an excellent book. But it is not about “marketing” as we know it. The “Four Ps” – synonymous with the discipline in most circles – make only a cameo appearance in a one-paragraph story about a small initiative from forty years ago. Students cramming for a test or an interview will be disappointed. They shouldn’t be. Bill Matassoni is taking marketing “out of the ring” just like McKinsey decades ago.
Likewise, although the author shares many entertaining and insightful stories from a long and accomplished career, this is not really a memoir. Marketing Saves the World is about helping future generations of leaders decide what to do with their lives.
That’s not to say that practitioners and observers will be bored. Matassoni takes the reader on a unique adventure, from filming commercials with NFL stars to redesigning the approval process for life-saving drugs. His story is enjoyable, and I was consistently touched by his warm, amusing, and often moving stories of friendship with former colleagues. His genuine adoration of his wife Pamela also shines through.
The management consulting industry provides the setting for most chapters. Matassoni covers some impressive highs – particularly at McKinsey & Co., where he spent two decades – as well as personal and professional setbacks. While we have become accustomed to oversimplified frameworks and toolkits at the end of management books, Matassoni stays true to his belief that it is “better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.” Readers are encouraged to be “conceptual architects” who identify new dimensions of potential value.
The book ends with a section on marketing for social problems, bringing us full circle given Matassoni’s start at a social marketing firm. He makes a compelling case that these principles can generate progress against longstanding social issues. However, I cannot fully endorse his casual dismissal of diplomats and regulators who produce “patchwork answers” that he deems “pathetic and corrupt.” Far better to imagine a system in which those parties embrace the principles of marketing rather than dismissing them as irredeemably separate from it.
And if Matassoni is too dismissive of politics, he likewise fails to recognize that in practice, capitalism is not only a potential solution to social problems but also a partial cause – particularly to the extent that a pure system is corrupted by, say, clients of McKinsey and BCG wielding undue influence to support their own interests at the expense of the broader system.
Nevertheless, his plea for “imaginative and determined people” to create social value is why this is best understood as a forward-looking call to action rather than (only) a retrospective account of his career. And while Matassoni claims to be going out with a “whimper and not a bang,” I think he is being too modest. This book has the potential to inspire a new generation of problem-solvers and equip them to see and pursue new dimensions of value on important issues.
I do not read many memoirs, and I never read books about marketing. But this one is choice stuff.
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Az Copper
5.0 out of 5 stars Like Having Dinner with the Man Hired to Help McKinsey formulate their OWN Marketing StrategyReviewed in the United States on December 3, 2018
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As Jerry Garcia said; “You do not merely want to be considered the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones that do what you do.” Bill Mattasoni is a true original. A philosopher poet meets wildly successful strategy partner.
This memoir is the opportunity to sit at the feet of a master and learn as he reflects on a successful career helping some of the world's largest organizations solve real problems. Bill says simply; that Marketing can solve the worlds problems. Which is entirely true. As a trusted advisor (consultant) to firms; the concept of "marketing is systems redesign" shifts how I think about strategy problems. Do yourself and the people you serve a favor, and buy the book but more importantly, study it. Rich lessons are here.
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R
5.0 out of 5 stars A fresh view of marketing from the person that made Mckinsey and BCG who they areReviewed in the United States on December 2, 2018
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It is not often that a book comes along that re-defines a well established idea in a way that makes you re-think everything that you once thought you knew.
This one of those books - Bill brings you on his journey as he re-thinks marketing from idea generation to execution. As you join Bill on this journey - you be right next to him as he comes up with these ideas, how his ideas were not immediately accepted and how he had to fight to get them implemented, and finally you get to see how his ideas started to deliver results and ultimately gain acceptance.
As an added benefit - this book will give you an insiders view of both Mckinsey and BCG - Bill's stories of the key players from those companies will make you feel like you were a part of the key decisions each firm made.
I fully recommend that you give this book a chance - you will be a better person afterwards.
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Bill Graca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2018
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This book was a hard one to put down. While I read it in only a few short hours, the lessons from this book - taken from Bill's career experiences - are bound to influence the trajectory of my own career for years to come.
Bill's perspective on Marketing and his experience both in and beyond the world of management consulting left me inspired, hopeful, and energized. I loved how "real" Bill was in his memoir. The author is a man of exceptional education, experience, and influence (someone who was mentored by Marvin Bower himself and who shaped the thinking and trajectory of today's McKinsey & Company) yet he chose to share his life and thinking in an approachable, relevant, witty, and motivating way. It's very unique.
Reading this memoir has given me a new perspective on business and the world. It's helped me to build up a mental model of how I might think differently about the challenges that organizations face. It encouraged me to think outside of the box, to challenge the status quo, and to look for experiences that matter - to be a world changer.
While it might seem like a simple read chocked full of witty anecdotes take time to process this book and think about the role that marketing plays in your context. It's an easy read filled with some outstanding wisdom that will last a lifetime.
mike s.
5.0 out of 5 stars Bill is brilliant and truthfulReviewed in the United States on December 6, 2018
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Bill speaks from the heart and from his many years of driving success. He knows that marketing is about truth and innovation. And he has a track record for over 40 years of innovating, changing the frame, clearly saying what matters. This book is a toast to all those who believe a great idea needs to be boiled down to a message, a headline that can get in your head. Thank you Bill for assembling your best stories in a single volume. I wait with anticipation to the sequel.
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veritas
5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable career and life story with practical takeawaysReviewed in the United States on December 5, 2018
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I don't typically read memoirs (usually full of self-aggrandizement and axe-grinding) but am glad I happened upon this one. One-third of the way into it and it's already been well worth it to me. It provides a unique first-hand account of marketing the management consulting industry from someone who was a significant player in it for decades. I have already made many highlights on my Kindle to come back to. Easy, enjoyable read.
Gustavo Henrique Carvalho
5.0 out of 5 stars "Find great people who want to make a change"Reviewed in Brazil on December 2, 2018
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Bill is one of those people. I thought I understood marketing. Then I read this book. My mind changed.
In my opinion this book target three broad audiences (everyone who wants to learn more about marketing should read it): consultants, executives, and marketers. I do have subgroups on those 3 broad categories but I'm not going to specify for the sake of simplicity. It's a really fun book to read and you might read it in one sit. But fun is not the same as not insightful or vague. You might want to re-read it to grab even more the underlying rich principles and concepts about marketing and strategy.
Marketing Saves the World tells you a little bit of Bill's life, and his anecdotes are rich and insightful! He states that marketing is the essential ingredient for successful companies and the people who run them and that really makes you think. It's the cornerstone of strategy because you need to know your market space, you need to know your market dimensions (two concepts Bill raised), in order to make a substantial change. And you don't need to change the entire company talking about marketing everywhere to everyone, you just need the right people, people who want to make a change, and work with them in order to transform it. Marketing is not only about the outside, it's about the inside too, so you must change twice in order to be successful in your endeavors.
Bill worked with heavy brands: McKinsey, BCG, United Way of America, etc. and got really great histories within each one. For example, he was the Global-Head of Marketing at McKinsey and was responsible for getting it out of the "ring of thugs" they were in back at 1982. His efforts were responsible for putting McKinsey ahead of other consulting firms. In my opinion, that is something really complex and difficult to do.
Selling the hard stuff is already difficult, now imagine selling a treatment for an incurable disease? Ephemeral things are difficult to sell, it brings other dimensions on the table, you need to learn how to bend those dimensions and find new ones. This book can give you the insights to find just that but remember, it is not an instruction book, with steps in order to solve it, you need to grab those underlying principles.
If you are a consultant, you need to read this book. If you want to be a consultants, you must read this book. If you are curious about marketing, you should read this book. If you want to learn a little bit more about McKinsey and BCG you should read this book. If you work with marketing, you should definitely read this book. You will be amazed by the stories and how fun it is to learn a little bit more about marketing.
Thank you Bill, for writing this memoir and sharing a little bit of your life!
The only thing I do not like is not being able to grab one of the Limited Editions myself.
I really recommend this book. In my opinion, you will not regret reading it.
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Bruno Freire
5.0 out of 5 stars "If you want to change, you must change twice"Reviewed in Brazil on December 7, 2018
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At first, I was very skeptical about whether I would be able to extract insights from this book and apply them in my career. I was wrong about that. It is a very easy read, but it also has a lot of substance, and I'll certainly find new insights when I read it a second and third time.
Bill tells us this quote of one of his friends, a BCG partner. It says that if you want to change, you will have to change twice: your attitude or actions, to make it happen, but also your perception of that habit/attitude, as it is necessary for it to be longlasting.
Just that quote already impacted my attitude towards reading in general: I want to read a lot of books, but am struggling a little to implement this in a regular basis because I have not yet changed twice. And that is only one of the insights I have found in this book. There are many other bigger ones ready to be extracted by the reader.
I also thought it would be a book filled with amazing stories and interesting people. This time I got it right. The narrative is very engaging and you always feel like you are part of the scenes he describes.
There are six things that I really enjoyed about this book:
*His writing style, that is very concise and to the point, while still being very funny and engaging;
*Insights about marketing and strategy, which permeate the whole book, spanning from his stories about convincing people to take care of their blood pressure to the ones about revolutionizing the image of McKinsey;
*A very insightful and honest view about McKinsey and BCG's culture and problems;
*The stories and views on very famous and interesting people, such as Kenichi Ohmae, Marvin Bower, and even Leslie Nielsen!
*His passion about marketing, which is almost contagious and made me a lot more interested in the subject;
*A very humble and grounded tone, which is already valuable by itself, and coming from such an amazing and accomplished person, it's even more so;
Bill's definition of marketing is very unique - it enables us to think about marketing in a much broader way, expanding its applicability. It is not a common definition you would find in regular marketing books. It does link to spacial geometry in a sense, and also talks about three key elements: technical, functional and emotional, as well as its ability to be applied to copletely change "market spaces" (not marketplaces) as he always reiterates.
So, if you would like to learn about marketing, strategy and consulting firms and chuckle a little bit along the way, this book is for you. Too bad the book is a bit short.
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Lucas Augusto Machado
5.0 out of 5 stars Leitura obrigatória para quem gosta de entender sobre como o mundo funcionaReviewed in Brazil on January 7, 2019
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Leitura leve e divertida, onde Bill expõe de maneira honesta e íntima seus maiores desafios e conquistas ao longo de sua carreira. É o tipo de livro em que "everything seems worth highlighting"!
O livro te faz pensar sobre como os conceitos de marketing permeiam nossas vidas, e traz aplicações para todos os campos do conhecimento, seja você médico querendo melhor atender seus pacientes ou artista querendo melhor vender sua arte.
Pra quem gosta ou trabalha com consultoria ou gestão, é uma obra ímpar de grande raridade, dado que vários detalhes são publicados de maneira aberta - e respeitosa. Para os demais, vale entender como os conceitos de administração e marketing se aplicam a todos os campos do conhecimento.
Por fim, a abordagem sobre o capitalismo é genial - ainda mais para um país como nosso, cuja herança colonial ainda carrega o conceito de que "ganhar dinheiro é errado". É uma visão menos financeira/"gananciosa", mas sim sobre como as vantagens competitivas e trabalho duro beneficiam a sociedade como um todo - daí o subtítulo.
Único problema é que o livro é curto! Já estou ansioso por mais do autor!
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Light and fun reading, where Bill honestly and intimately exposes his greatest challenges and achievements throughout his career. It's the kind of book where "everything seems worth highlighting"! The book makes you think about how marketing concepts permeate our lives, and brings applications to all fields of knowledge, whether you are a doctor wanting to better serve your patients or an artist wanting to better sell your art. For those who like or work with consultancy or management, it is a unique work of great rarity, given that several details are published in an open - and respectful way. For the others, it is worth understanding how the concepts of administration and marketing apply to all fields of knowledge.
Finally, the approach to capitalism is brilliant - even more so for a country like ours, whose colonial heritage still bears the concept that "making money is wrong". It is a less financial / "greedy" view, but about how competitive advantages and hard work benefit society as a whole - hence the subtitle. Only problem is that the book is short! I'm already looking forward to more from the author!
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Balaji S.G
5.0 out of 5 stars Knowing The Real Meaning Of the Dimension Changes The Way You lead , Think & Make DecisionReviewed in India on December 19, 2018
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This is one of the phenomenal book added to my library. One of the vital concepts that helped me is about the Dimension, and one of the theme Bill emphasizes in his book. It took some time to understand. Once you get the core concept of Dimension and if you apply that philosophy, it will work and it did work for me when I want to launch new innovative services to the market in the Technology sector.
The book also encourages us to think , visualize and craft the path that leads us to success. His experience in dealing with the problem, solving techniques, communication, and interpersonal skills are amazing. His are of experience also provides us to think about what we can do in the social sector which was unique and eye-opening.
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Jawad Arif
5.0 out of 5 stars Not a shortcut - Its a Mind SetReviewed in Australia on January 11, 2019
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Read this book to Understand Marketing mindset.
This book is not a quick repicie to prepare 2 minute Marketing Noodles by taking 5 steps.
Read this book to develop and understand the Practical Marketing Philosophy to start new or stear a well established business from Marketing Perspective.
Find and Define New Marketing Dimensions for your business and then it should be All Systems Go!!!
Thank You Bill Matassoni to make me THINK In Terms of Marketing.
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