Welcome to Wavemaker’s Reading List, a monthly blog post series curated by our team where we provide a list of books we’re currently reading at a collective. As avid learners, the books we recommend provide us with a wider perspective on the world as well as support our ways of creating impactful marketing strategies.
This month, our reading list is curated by our CEO and Marketing Maestro, Nadzirah Hashim – who recommends three books that tap into the shifts in consumer behaviors. Happy reading!
Context Marketing Revolution: How to Motivate Buyers in the Age of Infinite Media by Matthew Sweezey
Why this book:
With his extensive research and career as Director of Market Strategy at Salesforce, Matthew Sweezey shares his findings on why marketers today need to shift towards contextual marketing. The book highlights the shifts in how consumers receive information in the 21st century (defined as “infinite media”) which ultimately means marketers cannot utilize the same marketing strategies as before. Unlike the 20th century, the average consumer now receives information in multiple ways (such as their mobile phones, laptops, push notifications, etc). This essentially means marketers must find supported, seamless, and dynamic ways to achieve “Permission Status” from consumers to succeed at marketing. The compelling examples and case studies offered are a must-read for any marketer who is keen to understand the evolving ways people make buying decisions.
Marketing 5.0: Technology for Humanity by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and Iwan Setiawan
Why this book:
Providing a more structured approach, Kotler et al.’s Marketing 5.0 is a good introduction for new marketers to understand the differences in market segmentations and how these segments receive and engage with information. The book discusses the various motivations that each generation (Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha) has and how these motivations impact their decisions to purchase a product. Compared to its previous versions, Marketing 5.0 is a marketing strategy served for Generation Z and Generation Alpha (the children of Gen Y) where brands need to integrate human-centric marketing (which is a byproduct of Marketing 3.0 for Gen Ys) with technology (to accommodate the digital savviness of Gen Ys and Zs from Marketing 4.0). These different (or in this case ‘upgraded’) styles of marketing teach us that there is no one size fits all when it comes to tapping into an audience and that as a marketer, we must keep evolving our strategies with time and place.
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier
Why this book:
The book gives us a glimpse into Silicon Valley, the world of the founders of Instagram Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the original intentions of the app, and how it evolved to where it is today (well, as far as the book was published at least!). It shares the story of how it was acquired by Mark Zuckerberg and the control Facebook had over Instagram which is absolutely intriguing if you’re fascinated with founders and how they think. It is a timely book to read because the evolution of Instagram’s features has always been somewhat controversial. For die-hard fans of Snapchat, the introduction of Stories on Instagram was met with resistance in the beginning – and though it seemed like it was done in spite (re: Snapchat didn’t want to be bought over by Facebook for $3 billion), the book shares the complexity of that journey for Systrom and we get to uncover the backstory of it. At present, Instagram certainly has managed to win over the audience with Stories (we’re not sure about Reels under current CEO Adam Mosseri though!) but what makes this book worth reading is discovering the journey of the app and how it has shaped society including the multi-billion dollar industry of influencers to venues that deliberately create spaces that are “Insta Worthy”.
Read any of these books to date? Let us know what you thought about them by leaving us a comment!
