Come say hell-o
Come say hell-o
An invitation to the book launch, some social proof, a prod for shares and reviews, and my venture into the lions' den of WARC.
First, the invitation
The Road to Hell is out (buy it here!) and I’m having a book launch in London. Entry is free but you need to book on Eventbrite. Open invite so pass on if you like—just need to have your name down to come in.
If you book and subsequently can’t make it, please unbook on Eventbrite or let me know so that I’m not talking to an empty hall.
Cover designer David Pearson will make a cameo appearance. (If you think you don’t know his work, you actually probably do.)
Mainly I’ll talk about purpose and how the book came about and merge seamlessly into a bit of Q&A.
Next, some social proof
Look at all these other people who’ve bought The Road to Hell!
Do you feel the subtle reinforcement of social proof, nudging you to make a decision on the basis of the opinions and decisions of your wider peer group? I hope so.
Now, a prod
If you’ve bought it, read it, skim-read it, or just vaguely liked these posts and reckon the book is probably decent, then it really helps to leave a rating and/or review on Amazon. This will push me further to the top of Jeff Bezos’s mind. And the better it does in his shop, the more likely independent shops are to order their own stock. I think that’s how it works.
K. Baxter has reviewed it and K. is right about everything.
Finally, a proper read
Given that I’m not always the kindest observer of Cannes, I greatly appreciate being invited to write on the WARC website, where I lay out some of the arguments of the book. I was also invited to talk on their podcast alongside purpose advocate Thomas Kolster—that should be out next week. Not quite a full-on ‘debate’, but a good conversation that goes places most advertising conversations avoid.
I have a few podcast appearances lined up in the coming weeks and hope to place a few more articles. If any readers out there want to point me in useful directions, I’m all ears. (Or 0.01% ears if we go by bodyweight.)
Many thanks for reading. For anyone new here, I’m a writer of poetry, downbeat diaries, branding and advertising projects, articles for Creative Review and The Guardian, books about design, and occasional songs. The Road to Hell is out now.