(Book Review) Baked In

It’s been a while since the last time I read a good marketing book. Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid reader but there is something about 300 pages of intellectual bullshit – like many books out there - that sounds awfully unattractive to me.

Well, I just finished reading Baked In from John Winsor and Alex Bogusky and I must say it is one of the best read I’ve had in a long time. It’s as simple to read as my kindergarten’s textbooks yet loaded with sexy and clever storytelling that walk us through a rare blend of practical and brilliant thinking.

These guys do a great job at reminding us the need to eliminate the barriers between marketing and product design, and the role we have to make that happen. It is a call to redefine organizations, their cultures and their vision. But what gives it extra clout and puts it on the "deserves to be read" category is its quite actionable call to management to unleash the creative potential within their own hallways, and the fact that it offers them the chance to continue the conversation well beyond the paper via its WikiBlog. Brilliant.

Personally, I found this book as enlightening and delightful as sitting and having a drink with two great visionaries of the industry… you know, just one of those rarely seen ones that will make you feel extremely jealous.

Thanks once again to John for sending me an advance copy. And thanks to both himself and Alex for inviting us to bake in a bit. The timing is good, the message is right on.