Wizard of Ads Book Review
The Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams may be the most unique audio book I’ve ever listened to. With lots of inflection in the narrator’s voice, accompanied by sound effects and even occasional jingles, it was interesting to listen to. There’s a part where an old ad jingle for the Slinky starts to play and it even got the attention of my 7-month old son as I listened. My first criticism of this book is that there are TOO MANY CHAPTERS! (100) I’m not a fan of a lot of short chapters in a book. I prefer longer chapters that expound more profoundly on the subject. This makes Wizard of Ads feel more like the kind of book you would put on the back of your toilet to distract yourself for a few minutes while you take care of business. As I sat through the entire program, it changed subjects so quickly that there were many that I completely missed. My business colleague, Anthony Johnson of Web Rhyno absolutely loves this book. I took it up mostly on his recommendation. Is the content good? Yes, I’ll say the content is good. It’s not fluffy nor does it ramble but it felt like a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ was trying to tell me everything he’s capable of. By trying to do everything poorly, nothing is done well. Good advertising principles are taught, but they aren’t right for every business. Some examples include the fact that the author favors audio advertising, claiming it “sticks” better. Just like the Slinky jingle got my baby son’s attention, however, just because it gets our attention doesn’t make it good advertising. The author is also against short term promotional strategies. I’ve come to believe that myself, however, sometimes it’s necessary and although it’s poor for long term business, it’s not poor long term for EVERY business. Wizard of Ads gets one thumb up from me. I think it’s worth reading and considering some of the advertising principles, however, the brevity of explanations and the large number of chapters keeps it out of a two thumbs up. It doesn’t go on my list of essential trainings, but could be worthwhile to generate some fresh ideas for stale businesses. 
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