The most recommended advertising books

Who picked these books? Meet our 61 experts.

61 authors created a book list connected to advertising, and here are their favorite advertising books.
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Book cover of The Hidden Power of Advertising

Daryl Weber Author Of Brand Seduction: How Neuroscience Can Help Marketers Build Memorable Brands

From my list on to help you understand the mind of your customer.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since I was young, I was fascinated with how the mind works; how all of our thoughts, feelings, memories, decisions, and actions come out of this lump of flesh in our heads. I studied consciousness, psychology, and neuroscience both at university, and on my own for decades. Once I started working in marketing, for many of the biggest and best brands in the world, I realized that marketers tend to have deep misconceptions and misunderstandings for how the mind actually works. My goal is to bridge the gap between all of the knowledge we have about the brain, and how that could be helpful to brands and marketers. 

Daryl's book list on to help you understand the mind of your customer

Daryl Weber Why did Daryl love this book?

The Hidden Power of Advertising opened my eyes to a whole new way of understanding brands and marketing. He makes a compelling case for how advertising works at an unconscious level, and how marketers mostly ignore this powerful and hidden side of brands. He shares powerful, eye-opening studies done directly on advertising campaigns, and uses real-world examples to give practical advice that’s far from the usual marketing advice. 

By Robert Heath,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Hidden Power of Advertising as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The way advertising works is not so transparent after all. Advertising does have some sort of hidden power which enables it to influence us without our realising it.

The Hidden Power of Advertising presents a radical new challenge to traditional thinking about the way consumers interact with and process brand communication. For over 70 years the universal assumption has been that advertising is only effective if it consciously persuades consumers to choose a particular brand. In such circumstances attention is critical, which is why most of the advertising industry's creative resource is focused on achieving the highest possible levels of…


Book cover of The Hidden Persuaders

Jean Kilbourne Author Of Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel

From my list on books critiquing advertising and the popular culture.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1968, I saw an ad that changed my life. It was typical—insulting to women, demeaning. Yet, at that moment, it somehow crystallized so many of my experiencesthe sexist slights, the terrible jobs, the sexual harassment, the catcalls, the objectification. I thought, “This is atrocious … and it is not trivial.” I started collecting ads and lecturing on the topic.  I made my first film, “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women” in 1979 (and have remade it three times since). Eventually I wrote and made films about alcohol and tobacco advertising. In 2015, I was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Jean's book list on books critiquing advertising and the popular culture

Jean Kilbourne Why did Jean love this book?

I read this classic, published in 1957 when I was in high school. It was perhaps the first critique of advertising, and I found it fascinating.

Packard identified eight “compelling needs” that advertisers promise products will fulfill. Years later, I recognized how some of these needs were used to sell addictive products.

Although he didn’t address the objectification of women, he opened my eyes to the manipulative power of advertisers and the subconscious meaning of ads.  

By Vance Packard,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Hidden Persuaders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"One of the best books around for demystifying the deliberately mysterious arts of advertising."--Salon

"Fascinating, entertaining and thought-stimulating."--The New York Times Book Review

"A brisk, authoritative and frightening report on how manufacturers, fundraisers and politicians are attempting to turn the American mind into a kind of catatonic dough that will buy, give or vote at their command--The New Yorker

Originally published in 1957 and now back in print to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, The Hidden Persuaders is Vance Packard’s pioneering and prescient work revealing how advertisers use psychological methods to tap into our unconscious desires in order to "persuade" us…


Book cover of The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man

William J. Buxton Author Of Harold Innis on Peter Pond: Biography, Cultural Memory, and the Continental Fur Trade

From my list on By or about the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan (.

Why am I passionate about this?

William J. Buxton is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies and Senior Fellow, Centre for Sensory Studies, at Concordia University Montreal, Qc, Canada. He is also professeur associé au Département d’information et de communication de l’Université Laval, Québec City, Québec, Canada. He has edited and co-edited five books related to the life and works of the Canadian political economist and media theorist, Harold Adams Innis.

William's book list on By or about the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan (

William J. Buxton Why did William love this book?

Largely recognized as McLuhan’s first major work, this book provides a trenchant analysis of 1940’s popular culture in the United States, with particular reference to print-media advertising. To this end, it consists of x chapters, each of which consists of an image culled from newspapers and magazines, accompanied by an insightful—and often ironictext. Dismissed by some as lacking in direction and coherence, the book actually has a tightly woven narrative that sheds considerable light on the gender issues, technology, and power structures of the day. 

By Marshall McLuhan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mechanical Bride as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OURS is the first age in wruch many thousands of the
best-trained individual minds have made it a full-time
business to get inside the collective public mind. To
get inside in order to manipulate, exploit, control is
the object now. And to generate heat not light is the
intention. To keep everybody in the helpless state
engendered by prolonged mental rutting is the effect
of many ads and much entertainment alike.
Since so many minds are engaged in bringing
about this condition of public helplessness, and since
these programs of commercial education are so much
more expensive and influential than…


Book cover of Old Age Comes at a Bad Time: Wit and Wisdom for the Young at Heart

E.J. Lamprey Author Of The Christmas Caper

From my list on getting older with style and panache.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a columnist in a national magazine, book reviewer on a daily newspaper, journalist on a small rural paper, commercial blogger for hire, copy-editor, and critiquer, usually alongside more conventional roles in the not entirely thrilling world of corporate finance. In my fifties, I took a belated gap year courtesy of a good redundancy package and started writing full-time under a couple of different names, mainly EJ Lamprey but here as Clarissa. The gap year never really ended . . . At the heart of all my books is the exuberant celebration of finding in autumn the best season of our lives.

E.J.'s book list on getting older with style and panache

E.J. Lamprey Why did E.J. love this book?

It’s a little book of quotes, the sort of book you could keep in the guest loo (if you don’t mind losing your guests for half an hour), but it is stuffed full of oomph and I’ve carted it with me through three migrations because it has been giving me quotes, when I needed something pithy and to the point, for thirty years. I really hope it is still in print because nobody’s getting their hands on my copy. Relevance to my theme? Picked at random – “the first forty years of life gives us the text, the next thirty years supply the commentary” (Arthur Schopenhauer). “If I had my life to live again, I’d make the same mistakes – only sooner”. (Tallulah Bankhead)   

By Eliakim Katz (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Old Age Comes at a Bad Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book by Katz, Eliakim


Book cover of A Cannes Lions Jury Presents: The Art of Branded Entertainment

Robin Landa Author Of Advertising by Design: Generating and Designing Creative Ideas Across Media

From my list on creative advertising, art direction, and typography.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a Distinguished Professor in the Michael Graves College, Kean University. I’ve written over twenty books about advertising, graphic design, branding, personal branding, creativity, and drawing. On May 17, 2022, Routledge will publish my new book, Strategic Creativity: A Business Field Guide to Advertising, Branding, and Design. I’ve won numerous awards for my design, writing, and research, including awards from the National Society of Arts and Letters and the National League of Pen Women. In 2015, I received the Human Rights Educator award, 2016 Kean Presidential Excellence award for research, 2013 Teacher of the Year, and the Carnegie Foundation lists me among the great teachers of our time.

Robin's book list on creative advertising, art direction, and typography

Robin Landa Why did Robin love this book?

Anyone in advertising or interested in advertising should read anything PJ Pereira (co-founder and Creative Chairman of Pereria O’Dell) has to say. Period. That should be enough reason to read this tome but there are more.

Content is everything. Advertising competes with entertainment online and everywhere 24/7. This book is a collection of essays from jurors on the 2017 Lions Entertainment award jury—therefore these folks know what they’re talking about.

By PJ Pereira, Monica Chun, Jules Daly

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Cannes Lions Jury Presents as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A special, première release of this groundbreaking book on the art of advertising and brand management to coincide with the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

A collection of essays from jurors on the 2017 Lions Entertainment award. Drawing on years of experience and expertise, working for brands such as Mini, Coca-Cola, Lego, Google, Skype and Intel and for media and advertising giants such as Bartle Bogle Hegarty and MediaCom, the contributors provide a fun and far-reaching study of the evolution of branding and the future of advertising.

Live television viewing is decreasing as audiences choose to stream television…


Book cover of Marketing For Dummies

Jackie Jarvis Author Of Quick Wins in Sales and Marketing: 50 inspiring ideas to grow your business

From my list on marketing strategies for small business owners.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a business development coach and mentor with a strong background in sales and marketing roles in the SME and small business world, I have always been passionate about learning as much as I can about what works well in sales and marketing. Practicing what I preach has always been important, and I love books that align with my belief that sales and marketing need not be complex or onerous to get results. From my experience Small Business Owners do not have the band width to wade through complex marketing speak, they appreciate it when it is straight forward and simple. 

Jackie's book list on marketing strategies for small business owners

Jackie Jarvis Why did Jackie love this book?

I love this book as it was one of the first books I read about marketing when I was working for a small business in marketing. I wasn’t a dummy, but I wanted to make sure I hit the ground running, so this was an excellent refresher for me.

I particularly like books that make the complex simple, and this book did that. It put all aspects of marketing in front of my mind and helped me make a success of my new job. 

By Ruth Mortimer, Gregory Brooks, Craig Smith , Alexander Hiam

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Marketing For Dummies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Smart marketing techniques to get your business noticed.

Plan a successful marketing campaign and move your business forward with this fully updated edition of an established bestseller. Packed with practical advice from a team of industry experts, this readable guide features all the latest tools and techniques to help you connect with new customers and retain existing ones. From choosing the right strategy and preparing a marketing plan, to igniting your imagination and producing compelling advertising, you'll be creating a buzz and increasing profits in no time.


Book cover of Advertising Empire: Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany

Helmut Walser Smith Author Of Germany: A Nation in Its Time: Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500-2000

From my list on Imperial Germany before World War I.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian of modern Germany at Vanderbilt University and have followed this field for more than thirty years. After a bit of respite, interest in Imperial Germany is suddenly chic again, as 2021 Germany looks back on the past 150 years of its unification in 1871. These five books, all published since 2000, are major recent contributions to the history of Imperial Germany’s prewar period; they also raise questions about the extent to which this conflict-ridden era represents a distant if imperfect mirror for our own contentious times.

Helmut's book list on Imperial Germany before World War I

Helmut Walser Smith Why did Helmut love this book?

Full with arresting interpretations of visual material, this book shows how modern advertising subtly influenced racist templates. The prose is carefully-wrought and elegant. The dissection of racist images is done with patience and subtlety. And in the process, we learn how,  in the age of high imperialism, advertising reinforced ordinary racism and white supremacy became a default position.

By David Ciarlo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Advertising Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the end of the nineteenth century, Germany turned toward colonialism, establishing protectorates in Africa, and toward a mass consumer society, mapping the meaning of commodities through advertising. These developments, distinct in the world of political economy, were intertwined in the world of visual culture.

David Ciarlo offers an innovative visual history of each of these transformations. Tracing commercial imagery across different products and media, Ciarlo shows how and why the "African native" had emerged by 1900 to become a familiar figure in the German landscape, selling everything from soap to shirts to coffee. The racialization of black figures, first…


Book cover of Changing the World Is the Only Fit Work for a Grown Man

George Felton Author Of Advertising: Concept and Copy

From my list on copywriters on the rise.

Why am I passionate about this?

I taught writing and copywriting at Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio for thirty-seven years (retiring as an ancient-but-somehow-still-living fossil in 2014). I taught all our majors, but most of my copywriting students were advertising and design majors. During those decades I wrote nonfiction for newspapers and magazines and copy as a freelancer for ad agencies and design studios. My copywriting book emerged from my experiences in and out of the classroom. I hope I’ve given good advice on advertising: how to think about it and how to write it. But you’ll be the judge.

George's book list on copywriters on the rise

George Felton Why did George love this book?

Howard Luck Gossage was an advertising innovator—a genius, really—whose ideas leapt far ahead of traditional advertising. Working in San Francisco during the Mad Men era, he created unusual campaigns that got people involved, inviting them to reply, assist, and even create the ads themselves; in short, he devised interactive advertising before there was such a thing. His iconoclastic, liberating ideas influenced everyone. As Jeff Goodby put it, “When Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein was opened in 1983, we ran an ad with Howard’s picture and the headline: 'An advertising agency founded by a man who’s been dead for 14 years.' Gossage was the plastic guy on our dashboard and we were out there hitting the gas in his honor.” When you read about how he worked, how he thought, and what he created, you’ll press the pedal to the metal yourself.

By Steve Harrison,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Changing the World Is the Only Fit Work for a Grown Man as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the story of a 'sixties adman who harnessed the big ideas of his age and set out to reinvent advertising - and then change the world. In so doing he introduced interactive, PR-generating stunts, and social media - way back in the 1960s. Then he used them to save the Grand Canyon, kick-start the Green Movement, free a Caribbean island and launch Wired magazine's 'patron saint', Marshall McLuhan. And he did it all with a flamboyance that inspired the likes of Tom Wolfe, John Steinbeck and the makers of the counterculture. His name was Howard Luck Gossage. These…


Book cover of The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters

Henneke Duistermaat Author Of How to Write Seductive Web Copy: An Easy Guide to Picking Up More Customers

From my list on writing for the web.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2012, I escaped my corporate job to found Enchanting Marketing. I had discovered I love writing and I love teaching people how to write even more. I help small business owners and solo flyers find their voice and share their ideas with gusto, so they can captivate, educate, and inspire their audience. I created this list with 5 book recommendations as a mini-course on writing for the web. There’s little overlap between the books; they all complement each other. Happy reading and happy writing! 

Henneke's book list on writing for the web

Henneke Duistermaat Why did Henneke love this book?

This book is a comprehensive guide on copywriting and selling by a legendary direct response writer. It’s not specific to writing for the web but covers the basic principles of persuasion such as how to sell on emotion and help people justify a purchase with logic. It also includes many useful writing tips such as how to write the first sentence and how to sow seeds of curiosity to keep readers engaged. 

I’ve probably highlighted more quotes in this book than in any other book on writing. Highly recommended! 

By Joseph Sugarman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Adweek Copywriting Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Great copy is the heart and soul of the advertising business. In this practical guide, legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman provides proven guidelines and expert advice on what it takes to write copy that will entice, motivate, and move customers to buy. For anyone who wants to break into the business, this is the ultimate companion resource for unlimited success.


Book cover of Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe?

Julie Shackman Author Of A Secret Scottish Escape

From my list on romance books with an irresistible hero.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a feel-good romance author from Scotland, published with the HarperCollins imprint One More Chapter. I trained as a journalist and studied Communication and Media, but I always wanted to write romance novels. When I’m not doing that, I write verses and captions for greeting card companies. I’m also a huge music fan, which gave me the idea for my first published novel with One More Chapter, A Secret Scottish Escape.

Julie's book list on romance books with an irresistible hero

Julie Shackman Why did Julie love this book?

This is definitely one of my all-time favourite romances.

I read it years ago, and the hero, Jack Wolfe, left a lasting impression on me. Flawed, passionate, complex, ambitious, and gorgeous, I crushed after Jack and still do! He sprung to life from the page.

By Hazel Osmond,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ellie Somerset's high-flying job as an advertising copywriter is hard work, but she's got it under control. Her sexy, devil-may-care new boss, on the other hand? She'll try her best...A perfect romantic comedy for fans of Holly Martin and Cathy Bramley.

Ellie Somerset loves her career-obsessed boyfriend Sam and she loves her job as an advertising copywriter. But Sam is always at work and her fresh ideas keep being overlooked. Her life gets more complicated when new boss Jack Wolfe - Heathcliff in jeans - arrives at the agency. With his brooding good looks, trademark scowl and plans for change,…


Book cover of The Hidden Power of Advertising
Book cover of The Hidden Persuaders
Book cover of The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man

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