Synopses & Reviews
2013 Book of the Year, Visual Communication Division, National Communication Association
“It is a truism that, in media, everyone knows they are being sold something all the time. It is exactly because of this that we become blind to the subtle seductions of contemporary commercial culture—and Michael Serazio is here to open our eyes.” —Mark Deuze, author of Media Life and Media Work “Michael Serazio has produced an extremely important and engaging book: well researched and highly readable, it provides a detailed and compelling account of the mechanisms of consumer governance at work in the digital age. It deserves a wide readership among scholars and students alike.” —Liz Moor, Goldsmiths, University of London Amidst the profound upheavals in technology, economics, and culture that mark the contemporary moment, marketing strategies have multiplied, as brand messages creep ever deeper into our private lives. In Your Ad Here, an engaging and timely new book, Michael Serazio investigates the rise of “guerrilla marketing” as a way of understanding increasingly covert and interactive flows of commercial persuasion. Digging through a decade of trade press coverage and interviewing dozens of agency CEOs, brand managers, and creative directors, Serazio illuminates a diverse and fascinating set of campaign examples: from the Americas Army video game to Pabst Blue Ribbons “hipster hijack,” from buzz agent bloggers and tweeters to The Dark Knights “Why So Serious?” social labyrinth. Blending rigorous analysis with eye-opening reporting and lively prose, Your Ad Here reveals the changing ways that commercial culture is produced today. Serazio goes behind-the-scenes with symbolic creators to appreciate the professional logic informing their work, while giving readers a glimpse into this new breed of “hidden persuaders” optimized for 21st-century media content, social patterns, and digital platforms. Ultimately, this new form of marketing adds up to a subtle, sophisticated orchestration of consumer conduct and heralds a world of advertising that pretends to have nothing to sell. Michael Serazio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University. An award-winning former journalist, he continues to write about popular culture, advertising, and new media for The Atlantic, among other publications. In the Postmillennial Pop series
Review
"It is a truism that, in media, everyone knows they are being sold something all the time. It is exactly because of this that we become blind to the subtle seductions of contemporary commercial culture—and Michael Serazio is here to open our eyes."-Mark Deuze,author of Media Life and Media Work
Review
"Michael Serazio has produced an extremely important and engaging book: well researched and highly readable, it provides a detailed and compelling account of the mechanisms of consumer governance at work in the digital age. It deserves a wide readership among scholars and students alike."-Liz Moor,Goldsmiths, University of London
Review
"The relationship between brands and consumers is one of great conflict, according to Serazio. This former journalist and assistant professor in the department of communication at Fairfield University uses the term “guerilla” as a war metaphor to describe marketings new attempt at virtual invisibility. Serazio boldly tosses around phrases like “appearing to abdicate a traditional position of more didactic authority when negotiating consumer behavior” or “thus emerges a regime of governance that accommodates yet structures participatory agency; self-effaces its own authority and intent through disinterested spaces and anti-establishment formats...” In other words, this is a fairly scholarly treatise. Serazio enlists Che Guevara, Michel Foucault, the Frankfurt School, and a variety of media studies theorists to fight for his cause. Underneath its dissertation language, the book attempts to resolve the mystery of whether power really has shifted from brands to consumers in the new media, word-of-mouth, consumer-generated, self-publishing promotional environment. Are new audience members “empowered” to choose their brand exposure? Or are marketers using us? The book ends on a cautionary note, with a warning that, despite the concerns of the ad men and women, they still have the upper hand in this newest fight for hearts and minds." -Publishers Weekly,
Review
"Serazio gets as much value out of the [McLuhan's ideas] as seems humanly possible by adapting it to the contrast between the old-school 'hot' ad campaign - with its clear, strong message that you should buy Acme brand whatchamacallits, and heres why - and a variety of newer, 'cooler' approaches that are more seductive, self-effacing, or canny about dealing with widespread cynicism about corporate hype."-Inside Higher Ed,
Review
Guerrilla advertising is the use of nontraditional channels, such as product placement, alternative outdoor advertising, word-of-mouth, and social media. These stealthy promotional practices--as reflective of public relations as conventional advertising--covertly influence purchase desire by communicating product information predominantly to young consumers, the early adopters and trendsetters, in a seemingly authentic manner. Serazio (Fairfield Univ.) provides a well-written, extensively referenced and footnoted book that is reminiscent of, yet more ethically neutral than, texts by Stuart Ewen, Michael Schudson, Thomas Frank, and James Twitchell. In addition to scholarly sources, Serazio's broad reliance on trade and the popular press supports many detailed examples that emphasize his arguments and enhance readability. The numerous insightful and extended quotes sprinkled throughout the text were drawn from 46 semistructured, in-depth telephone interviews with prominent practitioners, creatives, executives, trade journalists, and other relevant professionals who are knowledgeable about guerrilla marketing campaigns. Chapters 4 and 5 will be particularly interesting to practitioners in this field. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, students at all levels, researchers, faculty, and professionals.-CHOICE,
Synopsis
2015 Susanne K. Langer Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Media Ecology Association2013 Book of the Year, Visual Communication Division, National Communication AssociationAmidst the profound upheavals in technology, economics, and culture that mark the contemporary moment, marketing strategies have multiplied, as brand messages creep ever deeper into our private lives. In Your Ad Here, an engaging and timely new book, Michael Serazio investigates the rise of guerrilla marketing as a way of understanding increasingly covert and interactive flows of commercial persuasion. Digging through a decade of trade press coverage and interviewing dozens of agency CEOs, brand managers, and creative directors, Serazio illuminates a diverse and fascinating set of campaign examples: from the America s Army video game to Pabst Blue Ribbon s hipster hijack, from buzz agent bloggers and tweeters to The Dark Knight s Why So Serious? social labyrinth. Blending rigorous analysis with eye-opening reporting and lively prose, Your Ad Here reveals the changing ways that commercial culture is produced today. Serazio goes behind-the-scenes with symbolic creators to appreciate the professional logic informing their work, while giving readers a glimpse into this new breed of hidden persuaders optimized for 21st-century media content, social patterns, and digital platforms. Ultimately, this new form of marketing adds up to a subtle, sophisticated orchestration of consumer conduct and heralds a world of advertising that pretends to have nothing to sell. "
About the Author
Michael Serazio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University. An award-winning former journalist, he continues to write about popular culture, advertising, and new media for The Atlantic, among other publications.
Table of Contents
C o n t e n t s Acknowledgments ix1 Buying into the Cool Sell 12 The Ambient Governance of Advertainment 303 Street Spectacle and Subculture Jamming 604 Buzz Agency and the Regime of Dialogue 925 Crowd-Sourced Marketing and the Freedom to Labor 1226 Managing Agency in the Regime of Engagement 154 Appendix 171Notes 177Bibliography 203Index 217About the Author 22