Readers of Advertising Age have voted “How Brands Grow” the best read of Summer 2013.
The competition was large, many books, some awful, but also some very worthy research-based books such as:
Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
Decoded by Phil Barden
Applying Scientific Thinking to Marketing by Terry Grapentine
Everything is Obvious by Duncan Watts
Viral Marketing: the science of sharing by Karen Nelson-Field

Marketing Science 
Congratulations, Byron! For you and your team…
Read it and learn.
Great news! I couldn’t agree more with Ad Age. Your book is most likely the best I’ve read in my 20 years in advertising and branding, and I recommend it to everyone I talk to about brands, consumers and communication.
The Halo Effect is also in my top five, so I’m glad to see it too made the list.
Yes! There is some sanity in our world. Well done Byron and team.
Congrats Byron, very well deserved and thank-you for your recommendation of ‘Decoded’. Two books I wish I’d had during my 25 years in client-side marketing! But it’s never too late to change our paradigms, and change we must.
Congrats, Byron. You and the team at EI really, really deserve this. Thanks for all your great work.
Kudos, Professor Sharp! In my opinion, it is in fact the best marketing book in at least 20 years.
Thank you, it’s very nice of you to say that.
Congratulations, Mr Sharp! Your book truly opened my eyes to what marketing should be like and I see it as a must-read for anyone wanting to work in this business.
Well done, and thanks for the other recommendations. I read The Halo Effect a couple of years ago and it really changed my thinking and how I evaluate a lot of material written on marketing and management.
Ian
Hi Byron,
Thanks for providing further readings. I have found all of these very useful in my work as a media planner. I am wondering if you have any other further recommendations for readings for the effectiveness of advertising overtime and also in particular cognitive science relating to advertising.
Thanks,
Ben Lynch
There is Decoded, and The Advertising Effect.
And, of course, our textbook.