Abstract
Michael R. Solomon's Conquering Consumerspace reviews many of the key challenges in dealing with today's very sophisticated consumers in a breezy, readable style. Published by AMA, this book is geared toward marketing decision-makers who need to get up-to-speed on what's going on in “consumerspace,” the arena where consumers are smarter than companies and “reality is branded.”
While many of Solomon's assertions may strike those who follow consumer behavior as simplistic, Conquering Consumerspace would be a useful supplemental text for a strategy development course or a campaigns course, particularly if students haven't had any other exposure to the study of consumer behavior. Drawing on a mix of published research, work done for his consulting firm's clients, and industry studies, Solomon does a nice job of sorting through many important trends and helps to make sense of what you really need to know to be effective today. There are also enough references to consumer behavior theories to make this an appropriate book for an academic audience.
Solomon argues fairly effectively that today's consumers want greater product involvement than in the past, as long as it's on the consumers' own terms. Consumers worry about abuses of their privacy, but they want companies to know them well enough to know what they want and need in products (or to know to ask them about it). They have short attention spans (especially if they're younger and have grown up with technology), but can be entertained into spending time with brand messages. They use brands to help define themselves—both to others and to themselves—but they don't like brands that try too hard to be their friend. It's a lot for a marketer, or student of marketing, to sort through, but Solomon sorts it out in an engaging, easy-to-follow manner.
Perhaps in a salute to those short attention spans, the book's 10 chapters are interspersed with boxes (called “The Bottom Line”) that summarize key points in two or three sentences. There's a lot more here than what's in the boxes, but they would probably serve as helpful study aids for students.
Conquering Consumerspace does a better job of addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by the internet and other technological advances than just about any textbook currently available, and many other trade books. Solomon offers truly useful advice for using technology to the marketer's advantage, and his examples, drawn from other cultures (particularly Japan), paint a compelling picture of where the U.S. may be heading in terms of consumer applications of new technologies. I can imagine lively class discussions arising from some of the “what ifs” this book suggests.
Students might also benefit from discussing Solomon's take on their generation of consumers and the generation to follow. Several chapters are devoted to talking about what adolescents, teens and young adults find cool and not cool, and how to reach these groups effectively. Some of Solomon's answers here seem a bit pat, and it would be interesting to see how students react to the ways in which they and their contemporaries are described.
While Conquering Consumerspace is too much of an executive-oriented trade book to serve as a text in a consumer behavior course (which Solomon probably wouldn't want anyway, given his very successful consumer behavior textbook), it's a good overview of current applications of consumer behavior for students who won't get other exposure to the field. It's also a very useful compendium for instructors in search of good examples, or those trying to sort out what to talk about in terms of new technology. Fundamental textbook for a course? No. A supplement or on the recommended reading list? Yes.