Purple Cow, by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is one of those marketing specialists whose visionary theories are quickly tested.


Purple Cow was first published in the U.S. in 2003. However, it is only now that this prophetic book reveals its full scope, relevance, and applicability.

Godin describes advertising in three phases:
“Before Advertising:” advertising operated only by word-of-mouth, but each person had limited outreach power. Result: The main asset of a business was its reputation.
“During Advertising:” The magic formula was created. Advertising targets the consumer directly (A to C); product sales go up, and new revenue enables to buy more advertising space.
Result: a good advertising agency together with a good banker is the key to success.
“After Advertising:” Back to square one. Word-of-mouth is all-powerful, but with a major difference: it spreads much faster and its scope is much larger.

This book fascinated me because after exposing theories very clearly, Godin offers case studies based on ten companies. He concludes with these words: “The old ways of marketing are dead and being safe is now too risky.”

I recommend this book to those of you who want to do marketing and aim at increasing your market shares, and not just grow within your industry.

Purple Cow, by Seth Godin (Portfolio Hardcover, New edition 2009).

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