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Liked It “This book is useful, entertaining and, at times, a little strange. These qualities all arise from its core premise. Mark. J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne set out to reveal dozens of “microtrends” they say are reshaping U.S. and global society. They group these contained trends by topical clusters...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “Synopsis: In/famous Clinton pollster, Burson-Marsteller CEO and Bowser look alike claims that small-scale, niche trends, identifiable through statistical analysis, are the key drivers for societal change. A long bow, stretched WAY too far for its own good. |
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“This book is an entertaining, easy reading on the statistics and interesting sub-groups of the American society. Don't believe the claims about "trends changing our lives" on the back cover: most of the trends are interesting, amusing, unexpected - but do not seem likely to bring a cataclysmal change about. Some conclusions are debatable, but others can be a literal guide to action for politicos, marketers, planners and policy makers.”
MaxVT wrote this review Friday, September 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Synopsis: In/famous Clinton pollster, Burson-Marsteller CEO and Bowser look alike claims that small-scale, niche trends, identifiable through statistical analysis, are the key drivers for societal change. A long bow, stretched WAY too far for its own good.
Tim W wrote this review Wednesday, September 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
My Take: Love him or hate him (and let’s face it, most people hate him these days), Mark Penn has played a pretty central role in progressive campaigning in the US over the past 15 years. As on e of the most influential pollsters/strategists of the Clinton wing of the Democratic party, Penn can claim to have contributed to the successes of Bill Clinton (in particular his identification of “Soccer Moms” as a key demographic in the 1996 US Presidential election), and the relative failures Hillary Clinton.
Microtrends is a bit of a microcosm of the good and the bad of Penn’s tactics in particular, but also pollsters and strategists in general (here’s a link to the Introduction). In a narrow sense, the basic principle of the ‘Microtrend’ is both sensible and important, if not revolutionary to any seasoned campaigner. Penn reasonably defines a ‘Microtrend’ as:
a small but growing group of people, who share an intense choice or preference, that is often counterintuitive and has sometimes been missed or undercounted by the companies, marketers, policymakers, and others.
He similarly quite sensibly identifies the importance of these groups to political campaigning:
The art of trend-spotting, through polls, is to find groups that are pursuing common activities and desires, and that have either started to come together or can be brought together by the right appeal that crystallizes their needs.
…
It is those groups that can tip an election, make or break a business, or trigger a social movement. They make a huge difference, and yet many conventional commentators on society either don’t see them or deny them outright.
All of which I agree with. All too often political analysts confuse popular support for an issue with vote changing support. 15% of voters who are willing to change their vote on a single issue can be far more politically important than 85% of voters with an opinion on an issue,
Further, the 75 ‘Microtrends’ that Penn identifies are both amusing and illuminating. The book is probably worth reading just for these case studies. Incidentally, there’s a reasonably good promotional Facebook app you can run to see what ‘Microtrend’ you’re likely to fall into which is moderately amusing.
However, things start to go seriously astray when Penn begins to apply this sensible observation as a catch-all explanation of ALL social and political movements. For example, Penn claims that:
The whole idea that there are a few huge trends that determine how America and the world work is breaking down. There are no longer a couple of megaforces sweeping us all along. Instead, America and the world are being pulled apart by an intricate maze of choices, accumulating in “microtrends” – small, under-the-radar forcse that can involve as little as 1 per cent of the population, but which are powerfully shaping our society… Small is the new big.
This is where Penn loses me. It’s one thing to say that many people are strongly motivated by niche concerns that are common to few other people. It might even be fair to suggest that as a result of the emergence of a fragmented, ‘new media’, these ‘microtrends’ are more important than in the past. However, it’s entirely another thing to say that there aren’t equally important, broader, society wide influences on voter behaviour.
In fact, it’s ironic that this book was released in the lead up to the 2008, US Presidential election, an election in which a single mega-trend, the mass voter movement towards the ‘Change’ represented by Barack Obama, largely determined the outcome. You only have to read his claims in Microtrends that:
There is no One America anymore, or Two, or Three, or eight. In fact, there are hundreds of Americas, hundreds of new niches made up of people drawn together by common interests.
to see how out of touch Penn was with the US Electorate in 2008. The fact is that electorates are more than just the sum of the individual interests of the various groupings within it. There are common issues (patriotism, justice, change, security) that cut across niches and influence votes across the electorate. Penn makes the fundamental consultant’s mistake of believing his own bullshit in Microtrends and as a result, blows their influence totally out of proportion. Which is a shame, because ironically, in a narrow sense, Microtrends has a lot of small, but interesting points to make.”
“Nice book, but too restricted to American trends. I've missed some global an regional trends.”
Rodrigoleme wrote this review Monday, August 24 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book is useful, entertaining and, at times, a little strange. These qualities all arise from its core premise. Mark. J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne set out to reveal dozens of “microtrends” they say are reshaping U.S. and global society. They group these contained trends by topical clusters (work, health, etc.), and argue that Americans’ freedom of choice is allowing social fragmentation into more distinct niches. The result is snapshot after snapshot of 70 or more niche groups. The book provides just a few pages on each one. If you’re familiar with a trend or, conversely, find it too quirky (“Young Knitters”), these few pages may seem long. If you haven’t encountered some of these trends, the entries will seem tantalizingly short. No matter what your niche, Penn and Zalesne will surprise you at some point, and their explanations of the forces shaping society are detailed and often quite original. As a result, getAbstract recommends their book to all marketers, especially those seeking niche audiences, and to everyone whose business requires planning for social change. ”
getAbstract wrote this review Wednesday, July 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Very interesting. Lots of numbers, stats and funny coincidences. You look at life differently after reading. Quite uplifting. Anything really is possible”
Suzi H wrote this review Monday, March 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“You pick up a book with a title like this and a back cover listing:
Johanna wrote this review Wednesday, October 15 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
*”People are retiring but continuing to work.”
*”Teens are turning to knitting.”
*“Geeks are becoming the most sociable people around.” …. You think: “Hey, this sounds just like my friend, Charlie…”
*”Women are driving technology.” …. and wonder, “I am…?”
*Dads are older than ever and spending more time with their kids than in the past.”
You flip to a page and soon become so engrossed in it that you don’t know you’re beginning to smile. Then you start to chuckle. Wait, you do know someone just like that---yourself! Before you know it, you've chortled your way through a humorous chapter. A lot of the details are plain hilarious!
Mark Penn just has a way with words. His wit lends a lot of levity to what easily could have been one of those tedious analytical tomes for intellectual heavyweights (just a nice euphemism for pedantic bores). He could write fiction and be a hit! He is just that funny.
But don’t let this lead you to thinking that this book is too breezy to be serious reading. Microtrends is a serious analysis. It’s a fascinating account of emerging social behaviors that are or will be powerful enough to influence how society will think, act, and be in the next several years.
Microtrends is really about “small ideas that can lead to large changes”. “A microtrend is an intense identity group, that is growing, which has needs and wants unmet by the current crop of companies, marketers, policymakers, and others who would influence society’s behavior.”
Although Penn’s focus is trending American society, he does go further to include similar global behavior. In a global economy, trends spread fast and could become international driving forces that may, in the future, upset or enhance established social norms around the world.
Who should read this book? Those who need to be one step ahead of competition have to watch and be aware of these growing groups whose unique requirements are changing the way things are. But it would do most of us, “go with the flow” people, a lot of good to be enlightened. Let us not wake up one day and say, “What’s the world gotten into?” ; but say, “ “We've known , we’ve read, and we’ve been watching.”
So, grab a copy. I guarantee an easy, fast read---a page-turner! For a non-fiction novel on sociology, that’s saying a lot! If only more analytical books were written like this, we would all be more “in the know”. Well, hey, maybe Penn just started a trend!
My Mark : Excellent”
“Microtrends are meaningful.
Keimos L wrote this review Monday, August 25 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
But for me, just so so..”
“This book deals with some interesting facts and several possible future outcomes. Whether we like it or not, we are influenced daily by what we hear and read in the media. This books details and illustrates several cases where the point of view put forward by the media are counter-indicative of what is really happening in the world today. I think everyone can and will gain a new perspective after reading this book.”
Ramanan R wrote this review Wednesday, August 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Really enjoyed this. A great book to keep on your bedside table as the chapters are all very short and you can just pick it up and read a few here and there. ”
Seta V wrote this review Saturday, August 16 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I love books like this. It connects the dots between trends and events in our culture and puts them into perspective. The 1% factor of the population having such an impact on society reinforces the meaning that change can begin with one person.”
Tim O wrote this review Sunday, August 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
