In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters - Hardcover

Chapman, Merrill R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590591046 ISBN 13: 9781590591048

Publisher: APress, 2003

Synopsis

In Search of Stupidity is National Lampoon meets Peter Drucker. In Search of Stupidity is a funny and well written business book that takes a look at some of the most influential marketing and business philosophies of the last twenty years and, through the dark glass of hindsight, provides a educational and vastly entertaining examination of why they didn't work. And make no mistake, most of them did not work. Richly illustrated with cartoons and reproductions of many of the actual campaigns used at the time marketing wizard Richard Chapman takes readers on a hilarious ride through the last twenty years. Filled with personal anecdotes spanning Chapman's remarkable career (he was present at many now famous meetings and events) In Search of Stupidity takes a no holds barred look at the uncreative and hopeless marketing ideas surrounding the technology industry. It offers clear, detailed analysis of what happened, why, and what you can do to avoid acting stupidly in the future. This book offers unique insights into the avoidable mistakes made by some of the country's largest and best known high tech companies as well as succinct, to-the-point advice on how companies can avoid acting stupidly. It is aimed at people in the high tech industries, both software and hardware sides of the business. The software side is more heavily represented since software is more glamorous and highly covered than the hardware. Because it is a business book, I believe it also has appeal to the general business book market and the title should attract anyone interested in the various marketing disciplines.

About this title

About the Author

Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman is the author of the first edition of In Search of Stupidity. He has worked in the software industry since 1978 as a programmer, salesman, support representative, senior marketing manager, and consultant for many different companies, including WordStar (really MicroPro, but no one remembers the name of the company), Ashton-Tate, IBM, Inso, Novell, Bentley Systems, Berlitz, Hewlett-Packard, and Ziff-Davis. His first computer was a Trash One (you antiques out there know what that is), and he began his career writing software inventory management systems for beer and soda distributors in New York City. He is the author of The Product Marketing Handbook for Software, coauthor of the Software Industry and Information Association's U.S. Software Channel Marketing and Distribution Guide, and periodically writes articles about software and high-tech marketing for a variety of publications.

Edition details

• Publisher: APress
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1590591046
• ISBN 13: 9781590591048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256