An excellent rapid fire collection of hundreds of ideas and anecdotes designed to build a brand or design a marketing campaign. Currently head of advertising for Citigroup Wealth Management, Steve Cone is among the most highly regarded marketers in financial services, and his book is refreshingly nuts and bolts. Rather than tell self-aggrandising personal anecdotes or offer vague generalisations, he tackles the real nitty gritty of marketing from a client's point of view, including areas such as handling your advertising agency, selecting a suitable spokesperson, creating a USP, even how to present advertising copy on a print ad. 

Although he covers all forms of branding and advertising in the book, Cone's particular area of strength is in upscale services and products. Not just financial services but also luxury goods, airlines and so on. That sets Steal These Ideas apart from other more general books in this segment, which usually concentrate on the fast-moving packaged goods sector. It's especially worth bearing in mind when considering some of Cone's most important lessons. For example, the closing chapter summarizes "the ten secrets you really need to steal" and "six reasons to advertise". The latter list offers, in order of importance, motivate your staff and make them feel proud, remind existing customers why they are customers, generate new leads, recruit great people from competitors, get noticed by the press and gain more awareness from the public in doing so, and build the brand. Few FMCG marketers would offer the same list, but for clients in the service sector, Cone's ideas are inspirational, to-the-point, and refreshingly memorable.

Added 12th January 2006