Disappointment: I has it.

[eleneariel]

Last night I brought home from the library the book Buying In: the secret dialogue between what we buy and who we are by Rob Walker. Perfect weekend reading, I thought. I love the intricacies of branding and marketing and why people buy what they do and how we are influenced without even realizing it. I couldn't wait to start reading.

Except when I read the opening chapter about an advertising stunt by Red Bull, it sounded awfully familiar. So I flipped ahead and ... hm, the chapter about Etsy, I'd read that somewhere too. And the discussion about Pabst beer? Definitely familiar.

I didn't recognize the cover, though, and I certainly didn't remember reading the book before. Maybe I heard the author interviewed somewhere, or read excerpts online.

Then I checked back in my reading log, and saw that I'd read Buying In last November. *headdesk*

So I think you should read it. It's so good I almost read it twice.

Comments

[ruthette.livejournal.com]

I've so done that.

[thetsuruchi.livejournal.com]

Is the part about Pabst how it has been adopted by the hipster crowd?

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

Adopted, hijacked ... yep. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/patrick___/]

LOL! :-D
I guess that's what happens when you read so many books each year. ;-) Sounds like a fascinating book, though!

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

It might be one that would interest you - lots of well-presented info about branding, especially the brands that advertise in a more grassroots or nontraditional way.