Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History

題名からも分かるように、マーケティングに関する本です。具体例が豊富で、Grateful Dead というバンドから学べることが、ポイント毎にとても分かり易く書かれていました。David Meerman Scott さんの本は、どれも理解し易くていいですね！ 内容に関して、特に興味をもったのは次のところ。 【Chapter 5】Experiment, Experiment, Experiment Instead of seeing failure as something to be avoided, CEOs and management teams need to free their marketers to experiment, quickly learn from failure, and experiment again. → どんどん実験（失敗）して、どんどん学ぼう！ 【Chapter 10】Put Fans in the Front Row Give your best deals to existing customers. Communicate to this loyal group first. → 今いるお客さん、自分達のファンを大事にしよう！ 【Chapter 13】Free Your Content While your marketplace has stopped listening to your ads, they have fundamentally changed the way they learn about new products. They use search engines, blogs, and social media sites. → 今までの広告・ＣＭは、見向きされなくなってきているぞ！ 【Chapter 19】Do What You Love You're much better off working in an industry in decline that you're passionate about (i.e., even the car business) than you are working in a hot, growing industry for which you have no passion (i.e., management consulting) → 好きなら、ゼネコンでもいいのさ！（私、ゼネコン勤務です…） 楽しくマーケティングの勉強ができる良い本だと思います、お勧め。 ちなみに、９月には翻訳版が出るそうです！

It's no surprise that a key to innovation is rejecting conventional wisdom. And innovation thrives in many businesses, particularly those in the technology space. But whether in silicon valley or silicon alley, marketing is still largely done in the same way it has for decades. Companies hire PR firms who push out press releases, while marketers post product info to web sites and create factsheets for their sales staff. Marketers may dabble with new approaches, sticking a toe into the social media space by creating a Facebook fan page or setting up an official Twitter account, but even then most apply old approaches to new platforms. Knowledge is shared through boring white papers which sit behind a registration wall while Twitter accounts push out links to bland press releases or staid marketing messages. When it comes to breaking the rules of marketing and rejecting conventional wisdom, David Meerman Scott (literally) has written the book. And now, he's joined together with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan to author a new book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. In this new book, David and Brian take a look back at how the Dead worked to develop and nurture an active community of fans, then show how to apply many of those same techniques to today's marketing platforms. For example: Rethink traditional industry assumptions - Rather than focus on record albums as a primary revenue source (with touring to support album sales), the Dead created a business model focused on touring. Bypass accepted channels and go direct - The Grateful Dead created a mailing list in the early 1970s where they announced tours to fans first. Later,they established their own ticketing office, providing the most loyal fans with the best seats in the house. The book is a quick read, but packs many tangible examples of how companies are building communities of fans, leveraging social media and bypassing middlemen in order to build their business. Highly recommended.

Am I in marketing? - NO Am I in business? - No, as I am retired. Am I interested in the Grateful Dead? - You've guessed it, YES!! Anyone interested in the GD or in the music industry will enjoy this book, and how a band did everything "the wrong way" in conventional marketing terms, yet went on to be one of the most successful bands, and indeed their marketing machine continues to this day. How many bands have ever created a "tapers" section (near the mixing desk in the optimum position) so that their concerts might be taped and encouraged their fans to trade taped freely. Contrary to harming the band's income, it "spread the word" and increased their popularity and produced a massive "audience" for high quality live recordings which the band eventually released. As often is the way, by "giving", they received more in return. The book is highly readable, and for someone like me who has many books on the GD, gave a different slant on the whole GD culture. An amusing quote from the book and in some ways kind of sums it up is: "The eccentric reads instead of watching television. The eccentric rides a bike instead of driving. The eccentric is us. And the eccentric is you (after all, you're reading this really weird book on Grateful Dead marketing! What would they think if they knew?!). In other words, eccentrics are a huge market". So if you want an entertaining read, written by a couple of Deadheads that know marketing, yet often make you smile, give this little book a try - I bet you will enjoy it!

「ほぼ日」のHubSpotのコンテンツの中で本書を知り、早速読みました。 マーケティングのケーススタディとしてGRATEFUL DEADという伝説的なバンドを題材にしている本書ですが、とにかくGRATEFUL DEADのユニークさに圧倒されます。 「ライブで何を演奏するかが分からない・毎回違うライブなのでツアー中に何度もライブに足を運びたくなる」 「ライブの録音を奨励し、ファンの間で敢えてライブ音源をどんどん流通させる」「ライブを高品質の音源で録音できるよう特別な席を用意」 「間にチケットエージェンシーを介さず、熱狂的なファンほど良いライブチケットが確実に手に入るように、直接チケッティングをマネージ」 などなど、あらゆる面において通常のミュージシャン、バンドとは真逆のアプローチをとっているため、GRATEFUL DEADが絶対的な人気を集めていることが分かります。そして、GRATEFUL DEADの歴史・ストーリーを知れば知るほど、このバンドへの興味が沸いてきます（私は、恥ずかしながら本書を手に取るまで、GRATEFUL DEADのことを知りませんでした）。特にライブが本当に魅力的に描かれていて、やはりミュージシャンはライブが命なんだということを改めて実感しました。ImprovisationはGRATEFUL DEADのキーワードのように思います。 マーケティングの観点で言えば、1) 熱狂的なファンのことを愛し、彼ら・彼女らを本当によく理解している、2) ポジショニングが類を見ないほど差別化されていて全く競合がいない、3) 即興演奏をふんだんに取り入れたライブや新しい試みの連続で、ブランドイメージが常に新鮮、といったあたりが本質的かつ見習うべき点だと思いました。古くからCause Marketingをやっている点やCommunitizationをサポートしている点も、marketing3.0的でもちろん素晴らしいですが。 そして何よりも、本書は著者二人のGRATEFUL DEADへの愛情がとてもよく伝わり、読んでいて心地良いです。日本語版ももうすぐ出るようですが、平易な英語で書かれていてとてもコンパクトにまとまっているので、本書はとてもオススメです（装丁もかわいいです）。YouTubeでGRATEFUL DEADのLiveを見なくては！と思うこと間違いないですよ。

I don't write many reviews but I have to do this one. Like many other reviewers, I too was/am a Dead fanatic. I have seen hundreds of shows and was one of the tapers. I met Jerry, Bobby, Billy and Phil in the early 80's. The reason I offer this background is because after meeting these guys (or if you were really into it and followed them closely) you know they were anything but savant business guys. I love them as much as the next guy but to think they did any of this with an eye on building a successful brand and business is laughable. Jerry himself would laugh. In fact, their own record label failed miserably. They will tell you that it was an interesting project and they got to carry briefcases like businessmen but it was a distraction from the music. That said, this book is great. Professionally I'm a marketing exec so this book combines two of my favorite topics. Scott and Halligan do a great job of weaving their personal and professional experiences into a coherent read which is admirable considering that some of their personal experiences are probably incoherent. While I picked up the book out of curiosity, I started reading it with apprehension and finished it with admiration. These guys figured out how to write a book about their passions in a way that makes sense. If they make money at it, wow.