Super Searchers on Madison Avenue: Top Advertising and Marketing Professionals Share Their Online Research Strategies

Citation

Hooper, V. (2003), "Super Searchers on Madison Avenue: Top Advertising and Marketing Professionals Share Their Online Research Strategies", The Electronic Library, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 613-613. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470310509180

This is an interesting volume insofar as it provides a good overview of the approaches of a number of research professionals. Some good guidelines are given and helpful references to many online resources. It certainly is a handy reference guide.

The sampling was good. It covered an appropriate range of types of research required by the advertising and marketing industry.

The interview guidelines were good. The additional personal information and photographs helped to paint a more complete picture of the interviewee as well as understand any emphases that might be apparent. The flexibility of the guidelines allowed for relevant adaptation as in the case of Marsha Appel.

The layout is good and so is the sequencing – especially placing Marsha Appel last. This provided a good conclusion that placed the 4As in perspective, particularly after the frequent references to the organization.

However, as the volume appears, it seems to be a collection of interviews. There is very, very little added value. The only smidgen of added value appears in pages 6‐8. First, this is inappropriately placed – the reader has not yet been able to absorb and synthesize the interview texts. Secondly, it is severely lacking. It is left to the reader to analyze and synthesize the information – to determine similarities, differences, and so on. This defeats one of the assumed main purposes of the book having 13 interviews – to see how similar or different approaches can be and thereby try to determine some sort of best practices list. At the very least, some sort of table of responses to questions that provided more easily comparable responses would have been desirable.

The “Referenced sites and Sources” are generally good, but the “Books, etc.” section is poorly referenced – see 236 and 237, for instance, with no places of publication. The Index is good.

The first sentence on the back cover is misleading – actually incorrect. A huge amount of advertising and marketing consists of research – both primary and secondary.

In conclusion – a good collection of interview transcripts, but the added value will have to be provided by the reader. A pity – going the extra mile would not have meant going too far at all.