How did the Grateful Dead use its fanatical following to build a $100 millionbrand that still thrives today? How did upstart Boston Beer Company—makers of Sam Adams—prevail over rival Anheuser-Busch without an advertising budget? And how did lams create the premium pet food market and leap from $16 million to $600 million in sales in just fifteen years, while charging twice the price of competitor Ralston-Purina? The answer: radical marketing. In this fresh, provocative book, Sam Hill and Glenn Rifkin identify the mar-keting strategies that have enabled ten innovative companies to emerge asindustry leaders. What do these organizations have in common? Each is intune emotionally with its customer base, allowing them to glean superior marketing insight without spending millions of dollars. Each is more focused on the big picture—growth and expansion—rather than short-term profits. And,despite their current success, each started out with little more than a passion for their product. Engrossing, informative, and invaluable, Radical Marketing demonstrates how any company, large or small, can achieve unprecedented success through inventive and revolutionary tactics. So-called radical marketers stand out from the corporate crowd because they view the marketplace much differently from their more traditional peers. Not coincidentally, marketing consultant Sam Hill and business journalist Glenn Rifkin argue that the most advanced of these unorthodox companies--represented by diverse business ventures like Virgin Atlantic Airways, Iams pet food, Snap-on tools, and Samuel Adams beer--also tend to be wildly successful. In Radical Marketing , Hill and Rifkin examine these businesses and a half-dozen others with an eye toward the practices leading to their prosperity that could be adapted elsewhere. Some choices may raise eyebrows, such as the National Basketball Association (which lost half its 1998 to 1999 season to a contentious labor dispute) and the Grateful Dead rock band (long criticized for glorifying recreational drug use), but all nonetheless support the authors' hypotheses and reveal through detailed profiles and careful analyses precisely what their experiences offer other firms. Thankfully the authors end by explaining how such practices can be used also by mature companies in less freewheeling fields. --Howard Rothman Hill, a veteran marketing consultant, and Rifkin, a business writer for the New York Times, discuss how ten companies or entities (including Harley Davidson, The Grateful Dead, Harvard Business School, the Boston Beer Company, Iams Company, and Virgin Atlantic Airways) view the market differently than do traditional marketers with huge departments, big budgets, and standard techniques. In a very readable style, the authors define and compare traditional and radical marketing practices. This analysis is followed by ten informative case studies. The final chapter examines how some of these marketing innovations can be applied to traditional marketing, possibly turning some marketing professionals into "trad/rads." Marketing managers and business students alike will find many timely and thought-provoking ideas here. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. This is a fascinating, must-read marketing book by a consultant and a business journalist who urge companies not only to break traditional marketing rules but also to design a whole new game. The authors describe radical marketers and identify 10 notable ones, including Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, Iams Company, Boston Beer, EMC Corp., Snap-On-Tools, and the Harvard Business School. Traditional marketing is big, expensive, complex, and heavily reliant on advertising. Radical marketing has a strong visceral tie to a specific audience--radical marketeers "look" like their market. Their only reality is a quality product and the person using the product. The authors' 10 rules for radical marketing include the CEO's owning the marketing function; a small marketing department; seeking growth and expansion over profits; and respect for the customers while meeting with them personally to develop new ideas. Radical marketers do something different, something impossible that bucks tradition in their industry. Although some of the advice is not new, the authors skillfully challenge the common understanding of marketing with valuable new rules. Mary Whaley "Great premise. Fabulous case studies. Startlingly original. Exactly right for the times." -- -- Tom Peters Passion cannot be taught, but I believe it can be motivated and with great success. Radical Marketing demonstrates how any company in a resource-constrained environment can employ unconventional strategies and go from underdog to top dog in a highly competitive industry. -- Keith Ferrazzi, Chief Marketing Officer, Deloite & Touche Radical Marketing is about real marketing; understand