A Master Class In Brand Planning: The Timeless Works Of Stephen King by Judie Lannon,Merry Baskin,.. details from uread

Martin Mayer, the well-known investigative journalist, has described the present-day American advertising business more accurately than any other writer. He did this in his book Whatever Happened to Madison Avenue? Advertising in the '90s. I quote from page 191: "Thompson in London had become what Ogilvy was the first to call 'a teaching hospital, ' where the researcher Stephen King developed philosophies of branding that were carried to America by John Philip Jones and Timothy Joyce."

There is very little doubt today that branding is at the top of most marketing professionals' minds in the United States. But "top of mind" is not quite the same as "in the bloodstream." Packaged goods advertisers in the United States are currently forced to spend three timesas much money below the line on price cutting, as above the line on brand-building media advertising. It is to be hoped that the book of Stephen's papers will inject a powerful serum into the bloodstream of American marketers, to help them develop a strategic response to the power of the retail trade which is at the moment debilitating and even emasculating many American brands. --John Philip Jones, Professor, S.I. Newhouse School ofPublic Communications, Syracuse University, New York, USA

King's relentless thirst to understand, rigour of questioning and breadth of learning remain an inspiration. A profoundly rewarding, and rather humbling read. --Adam Morgan, author of "Eat the Big Fish," and "The Pirate Inside"

In a world of greasers and drama queens, Stephen King was the still small voice of reason. Ever polite and ever intelligent, his analysis provided real insights. We all learned from him and this book should enable many more to do so. --Tim Ambler, MA (Oxford) SM (MIT), Senior Fellow, Marketing, LBS

Stephen was a great interpreter of research and a great judge of when to use specific methodologies whether they were qualitative or quantitative. He was comfortable with both. He was and remains a very great inspiration to market researchers in companies and in research and ad agencies. Dr Liz Nelson OBE

King writes of our industry, at its best, representing "Creative imagination subjected to critical control." He could have been describing his own mind and approach, which have inspired generations of brand managers and planners and remain deeply relevant today. This book should be required reading for everyone entering the business, and serve as a reminder to the rest of us that however high we think we have set our standards, they are probably not high enough. --Jon Steel, Planning Director, WPP

In 1988, on Stephen King's retirement JWT published 'The King Papers' a small collection of Stephen King's published writings spanning 1967-1985. They remain timelessly potentially valuable but are an almost unexploited gold mine. This book is comprised of a selection of 20-25 of Stephen King's most important articles, each one introduced by a known and respected practitioner who, in turn, describes the relevance of the particular original idea to the communications environment of today.

The worth of this material is that, although the context in which the original papers were written is different, the principles themselves are appropriate to marketing communications in today's more complex media environment.

The book will serve as a valuable reference book for today's practitioners, as well as a unique source of sophisticated, contemporary thinking.