Rating: 
Summary: ignore the personal attacks - focus on the central theme!
Review: I worked at a (supposedly) top ad agency for years. I always felt there was something wrong with our work...some clients' business results continued to drop as we increased spending. We were more focused on a funny SuperBowl ad then selling the client's product. So true, about the focus on creative awards...we never once talked to any retail people. Our marketing was formulated in a vacuum. Now I know the problem - our marketing sucked! And this at the hottest agency, no less. This book doesn't represent a revolutionary leap forward in marketing - it represents a reality check. Consider Mr. Steven's points. Your marketing probably sucks, and you think nothing is wrong! Try watching TV tonight (or reading the paper, listening to the radio)...do any of the ads you see there have anything to do with selling a product? Really selling it?! Think of the millions of wasted dollars!! Time for a reality check...thanks to Mr. Stevens.
Rating: 
Summary: Catchy Title, No Real Substance
Review: The only thing this book has going for it, is the title. Those who know nothing about marketing will buy on this title alone. But should you be one of these individuals, let me spare you, save your money.I inquired into client results for this company and found there were none. Strategies are based on the whims of Mark Stevens and nothing else. There are no proven methods here at all. Just a madman who wants to take your money, so he can spend it on luxury items to make himself feel better. This may sound like a personal attack, but is the truth. Please save your money and your sanity, do not get involved with this man.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the trees that were killed to print it
Review: If Mark Stevens is so smart, didn't he realize the inherent danger of writing a book with the word "sucks" in the title and how it could be turned back upon him in a heartbeat? If not, it's just another example of the short-sighted thinking in this book. What a waste. The title is all this book has going for it. If anything can be said, it's that it's just like a lot of other books on marketing that are out there and that we poor saps in the business world buy thinking they are going to solve all of our problems when they always end up a complete dog and pony show with nothing to offer (Literally! Stevens actually uses his DOG as an example of what makes a poor salesman!) Well, fool me twice, shame on me. All this book proves is that Stevens knows how to market himself as an author, but don't let that fool you. There's absolutely nothing here that would prove useful unless you decided to write a book that appeared to provide pertinent information and put all of the thinking and strategy into the title. I'd try selling this as a used copy but my conscience would bother me too much.
Rating:
Summary: His Marketing Sucks!
Review: Did anyone ever stop and wonder why Stevens wrote this book? If his ideas and strategies were so wonderful, why is he not a successful marketing consultant with successful clients? Why would he need to write this book - to share all of his insight and knowledge with the business world? I highly doubt it. It seems to me that it is for the paycheck! If anyone would take the time to look into the business history of Mark Stevens they would find out that he has no more expertise or success in marketing than a recent college graduate with a marketing degree. Nothing that he says in his book is new, and in fact, I don't see any case studies in the book where he gives the reader examples of his successful marketing campaigns. As a businessperson, I would not take any advice from someone who cannot prove his success!
Rating:
Summary: If Slightly Thicker, Might Work as a Doorstop
Review: My opening line is already taken by another smart reviewer: "buyer beware." Examples of bad marketing are everywhere; citing them endlessly throughout this book offers little value to the reader. Stevens pushes for "extreme marketing," but offers few details beyond generalized, almost motivational-sounding exhortations. Stevens misses the opportunity to explore and analyze successful case studies, and his "detailed" case study at the end of the book is a lightweight, bulleted list of routine programs-- hardly the example of "extreme" marketing he has touted throughout the book. From cover to cover, Stevens continually confuses "marketing" with "marketing communications"-- a distinction the reader is left wondering whether Stevens himself understands.
Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware!!!
Review: The title alone should warn all potential buyers, Mark Stevens has been making money off the Your Marketing Sucks campaign for years and in the fast past marketing world he of all people should know that what was happened yesterday happened yesterday. Its time for a new catch pharse instead of profiting off the same stupid one liner which NEVER generated new business let alone assist in retaining exisiting business, or satisfying exisiting clients needs. When he discusse ROI it makes me physically sick because personally knowing the man I know ROI was never as much of a priority as $$$ was for Mark. Dont let me man fool you, his advise is as phony as his hair plugs.
Rating:
Summary: A complete waste
Review: I bought this book over the weekend out of curiousity despite the bad reviews on amazon.com. After the first two chapters, I stopped. I returned it to the bookstore and got my money back. I should have paid attention when the titled screamed, "I need attention, buy me!" The only purpose of this book to generate sales with its title (smart? maybe). Bottomline is that it offers no real value (Stupid? definitely). Save your money and go with your gut instinct. Any business person with worth, will know that marketing starts with examining what the ROI will be.
Rating:
Summary: How to make your ego bigger
Review: This "author" calls himself a "marketing guru?" I don't think so. The only thing he is a guru in is "how to make your ego bigger." My advice to anyone considering calling him is to ask for real client results. The ones in this book are obviously fictional and created in the mind of one warped individual whose only "mission" in life is to compensate for no ability and satisfy his ego. Beware - "Author" (and I use this term lightly) Mark Stevens - Sucks! Pardon the pun.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, A Book With Its Own Review on the Cover: IT SUCKS!
Review: The best thing one can say about this pathetic book it that the warning is right there on the cover- IT SUCKS! The latest in a long line of pathetic books by Mark Stevens, a wanna-be guru and self-proclaimed marketing expert. His latest collection of simplistic hype rounds out a long list of gems including How to Borrow a Million Dollars (credit card schemes?), Extreme Management (extreme confusion), How to Pyramid Small Business Ventures into a Personal Fortune (pyramid schemes?) - you get the idea. Characteristically unoriginal, pompous, and lacking substance, this latest mess is designed to impress the easily duped into using Mark Stevens as a consultant. The book is hollow, a rehash of basic marketing and sales principles. Based on Stevens' stressing ROI, one would have expected him to litter his work with testimonials from what should be hundreds of thrilled and fawning clients? And one has to wonder what his real clients have to say. If he's so amazing, his clients must have the best marketing in the world! He's the expert and he puts these principles to work every day right? For zillions of clients, right? What? No willing droves of converts or devotees? Aren't there any real-world examples with verified ROI results? Why not? Instead, it is quickly obvious that the author has had no real successes or he would have mentioned them. Maybe he's just really upset his firm has never won any real awards. All one can deduce is that Stevens' own marketing sucked so much he had the time to kick back and write a book. Doesn't sound like a guy that's all that busy working with real clients. Or maybe his prospects prefer more substance and less snake oil. Like they say, those that can - do. Those that suck - write stupid books.
Rating: 
Summary: Applied knowledge is power!
Review: Peter Drucker, noted management guru and author of many great management books, once said, "I never predict. I just look out the window and see what is visible but not yet seen." Thousands of companies have failed doing things poorly despite all the public knowledge which, if heeded, would have kept them alive. Mark Stevens has done us all a great favor: his book takes marketing away from the conceptual and pulls it into the realm of application. Someone once said, "Knowledge is NOT power; APPLIED knowledge IS Power." I see that some reviewers are disappointed because they bought the book in search of new concepts. They are akin to the many ad agencies the book derides for putting creativity over return-on-investment. Mark Stevens makes marketing come alive for us CEO types, and since we're responsible for P&L, that's what really matters to us. Take a serious look at your marketing departments!
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