First in the interest of full disclosure I must mention that I worked for John who worked for Rich at Microsoft during the time when they started assembling the concepts for The Marketing Playbook. And, yes I think they're great guys. More importantly, they are brilliant marketers. They are a big reason why Microsoft was successful in many markets and this book explains their unique technique for winning in competitive marketing.
This is just a pre-review since I've only read the inital chapters Zag-man sent me as a sneak preview. But from what I've read the book is going to be a must read. They clearly describe their system for marketing through countless examples not just from Microsoft or technology but from dozens of industries. The examples alone put into this context are worth the read.
The language is plain and easy to read, and even though a bit of jargon sneaks in at times, it has no trace of the pedantic puffery of so many such books. The book is funny at times, but deadly serious about how to develop a winning strategy for beating the competition.
Until I read the rest of the book I won't say more, but I encourage anyone managing a business through competitive battle to read this book.
http://www.marketingplaybook.com/
P.S. Since there is so much conflict of interest in this "review" I'm leaving this post open to comments.
