Agents and Dealers

Stephen Brown

Stephen Brown, no relation whatsoever of Dan Brown, has produced another rip-roaring tale of sex shops and stabbings, twists and tirades, and needless to say, murder and marketing. Packed with wit, wise cracks and wickedness, Brown’s tongue-in-cheek thriller throws light on the hidden mysteries of marketing in this unforgettable and unputdownable page-turner.

This superb prequel to his sensational book, The Marketing Code, takes place five weeks beforehand, in an amazing adventure that roams the Emerald Isle, Edinburgh and Nuremberg, and yet again bears uncanny parallels with one of Dan Brown’s novels.

Brown weaves his marketing masterclass into the fabric of the action-packed thriller, as his heroes, marketing student Abby and her lecturer David Kelley, are drawn into a murderous mystery that explores the magic of marketing.

Through the characters and story, he pokes fun at the marketing gimmicks many organisations use, and pores scorn on marketing orthodoxy.

For those who like their marketing lessons a little more orthodox, the book explores three key themes.

Firstly, he argues that marketing is inherently magical.

Marketing is a form of magic. And just as there is black magic and white magic, so too there is black marketing and white marketing. Black marketing involves the sale of unnecessary or unsafe or exploitative or wasteful products or the invention of non-existent ailments or anxieties or concerns that marketers then relieve for a price.

White marketing, on the other hand, is when our powers of persuasion are used for good causes or socially responsible actions or in order to better inform consumer choice.

Secondly, he argues that the significance of revenge is often overlooked. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs were failures at school or dismissed as hopeless, and so became strongly motivated to prove the system that wrote them off wrong. He even develops the Revenge Life Cycle: Rejection, Retribution, Rivalry, Regret.

Thirdly, he argues that there are no holy grails, spears of destiny, or magic bullets – despite what people promise. For Brown, marketers are frequently no more than alchemists, trying to turn base metal into gold. Alchemists and management consultants alike promise the elixir of life, the secret of success,

but their panaceas are useless snake oil, usually harmless, occasionally poisonous.

Brown remains the funniest man in marketing by a mile, and his wonderful writing style continues to engage the reader. With chapters such as ‘Phishers of Men’, ‘The Plaid Piper’, ‘A Room with a Pew’, and ‘The Eejit has Landed’, I can guarantee that you won’t find a more entertaining or enjoyable marketing book this year.