It's Not Just An eBook, It's A Free Book

The Ad Contrarian ebook is finally available. It's free and worth every penny.

You can download it by clicking here.

Some things you should know:

1. It's short. You can read it in about an hour. Since most ad people have nothing to do now anyway, you can be done with it by lunch.

2. I apologize to those who have been waiting patiently. Like everything ever created for the web, this has taken way longer than anticipated.

3. Most of the content of the book can be found on the blog, but it takes a lot of rummaging and clicking to find the non-turds in this mess. The book is easier.

4. The book does exist in hard copy, but it's become too damn expensive to print and mail and I don't like the idea of charging for it. If you really need a hard copy or two (like if you teach a class or if you've run out of fire wood) we'll send you some.

5. If you are an advertiser and you read the book and at some point you say to yourself, "This is the first freakin' thing about advertising I've ever read that makes any sense," you have an obligation to call me to talk about your advertising. (Hey, it's a recession. We all need to hustle a little.)

After you read it, please send comments to adcontrarian@gmail.com. I'll publish the nice ones.

Some nice comments from smart people:

“I loved [this] book. It’s nice to find a real thinker in the ad business these days.”
— Jack Trout, Forbes.com

"You say what we all say when we're together in a room and the doors are shut...Then we all talk publicly exactly the same crap we railed against in private. Thanks for restoring a bit of my sanity."
- Dave Trott (if you don't know who Dave Trott is, go back to ad school)

“This is full of fresh, surprising, in-your-face insights into how just about everything we take as gospel in advertising is wrong. I guess what Bob Hoffman is saying is that if we want to talk sense to our clients and set reasonable goals for our work, we’re going to have to come up with a whole new language and belief system for what advertising is supposed to do, based not on clichés, but on how things really are.”
— Andrew Jaffe, Executive Director, Clio Awards; President, Compass Consulting

“Bob’s approach to the ideas of simplicity and focus is refreshing. I began discussing these with agencies and staff the day after finishing the book.”
— Neil Golden, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s USA

“It’s mercifully short.”
— Sharon Krinsky, President, Hoffman/Lewis