Why Does the Pedlar Sing?

Throughout history, selling and entertainment have gone hand in hand - from the medieval pedlar and the medicine show, to generations of TV commercials featuring song and dance, comedy, and cartoon animals, right up to today’s celebrities who launch their own multimillion dollar brands. There are good reasons for this; we now understand better than ever before the psychological and sociological reasons why apparent frivolity creates serious business benefits.

And yet, the advertising business today seems reluctant to embrace its powerful links with popular culture. Misled on one side by managerial myths of rationality and logic, and on the other by a cultish misunderstanding of ‘creativity’, it risks forgetting how to appeal to the public, and how to build successful brands. As a result, evidence suggests, today’s advertising is less liked and less effective than ever before.

But it is not too late to reverse this trend. Advertisers and agencies who read this book will rediscover why the pedlar sings, and despite what we’ve all been told, why people do buy from clowns. They will be inspired to make their advertising more popular, more famous, more fun again - and much more effective.

"This is a fabulous book.... It is possibly the book I would most highly recommend to anyone in marketing." (Rory Sutherland, vice chairman, Ogilvy)