shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Original Essays | November 9, 2009

Jesse Bullington: IMG Abash'd the Devil Stood



I don't believe in evil. It's a word I use, certainly, because words are shortcuts and we all take the short way round from time to time, but that's... Continue »
  1. $10.49 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$26.95
New Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Airport Business- General
1 Beaverton Business- Advertising
4 Burnside Business- Marketing
1 Hawthorne Economics- General
25 Local Warehouse Business- Advertising
25 Remote Warehouse Business- Advertising

Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet

by James P Othmer

Adland: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Liar's Poker meets The Tipping Point meets Mad Men-a hilarious, personal, and sneakily profound chronicle of the past, present, and future of the advertising business.

Adland is a book about advertising. Which is to say, it's a book about every issue and aspect of life on our morally conflicted, culturally challenged, ubiquitously branded planet.

On one level it's the wickedly funny, compelling personal chronicle of the rise and fall of a modern-day ad man; a riveting insider's look at the astonishing transformation taking place in advertising's hottest idea factories; and an introduction to the people whose job is to know what makes us tick, what makes us lean in, what we think we need and don't know that we want.

But take a step back from the tales of lavish shoots, agencies on the brink, and pampered mega-brands and Adland becomes much more: a snapshot of how we live our lives on this earth at this particular moment . . . thirty seconds at a time.

Funny, profound, deeply thoughtful, and utterly unique, this book is both a wildly amusing ride in Adland, brilliantly recounted, and an exploration of the value of life in the information age.

Review:

"The life of an advertising executive couldn't be further from the glamorous world of Mad Men, according to this entertaining, albeit meandering, memoir. After a giddy beginning banging out copy for a small ad agency, Othmer, a longtime creative director and copywriter, worked his way to the top in 2000 only to discover that his traditional agency was being abandoned in favor of forward-thinking brand stewards who wanted hip new ideas from smaller shops well-versed in new media and digital marketing. Fascinated by groundbreaking interactive campaigns like the 2007 Nine Inch Nails Internet Easter egg hunt and Burger King's 'Subservient Chicken' gag, he found his love for advertising reinvigorated, and his book is an effort to better understand the inescapable industry's influence on culture. Though there's no particular conclusion drawn, and the story itself wanders, the humor and genuine excitement that shine through may keep some media-world readers interested — most tellingly when, at a swanky party full of advertising executives, the author wistfully observes that even real life has begun to feel fake. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

A hilarious, personal, and sneakily profound chronicle of the past, present, and future of the advertising business, "Adland" is the wickedly funny, compelling, and personal chronicle of the rise and fall of a modern-day ad man as well as a riveting insider's look at the astonishing transformation taking place in advertising's hottest idea factories.

Video

Product Details

ISBN:
9780385524964
Subtitle:
Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet
Author:
Othmer, James P
Author:
James P. Othmer
Publisher:
Doubleday Books
Location:
Basel ;
Subject:
Blood plasma substitutes.
Subject:
Biological products -- Standards -- Congresses.
Subject:
Plasmapheresis -- Congresses.
Subject:
Serum albumin -- Therapeutic use -- Congresses.
Subject:
Pharmacology
Subject:
Advertising & Promotion
Subject:
Topic - Business and Professional
Subject:
Advertising
Subject:
Internet advertising
Edition Description:
Includes bibliographies and indexes.
Publication Date:
September 2009
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
320
Dimensions:
9.52x6.42x1.23 in. 1.30 lbs.

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.