Microtrends by Mark J. Penn, E. Kinney Zalesne, 1846140420, Lowest Book Price Finder

Add your review	Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today's Big Changes Author: Mark J Penn E Kinney Zalesne ISBN-10: 1846140420 ISBN-13: 9781846140426 / Hardcover Publisher: Allen Lane / 2007-10-04 List Price: £20.00 Similar Books More Details from Amazon.co.uk

Customer Reviews:

Measuring Tiny Trends Provides a Complex Mosaic of American Society

A friend of mine used to tell me that what most attracted him to a nonfiction book was the opportunity to learn something that would make for good dinner table conversation. My friend would rate Microtrends at five stars for sure. I don't recall a book with so many factoids that highlight minor trends in society. Here are a few examples:

1. There are more Christian Zionists than Jewish ones.

2. One percent of young Californians want to grow up to be military snipers.

3. As a result of the crime crackdown, one of the fastest growing population segments is newly released ex-convicts.

4. Knitting is making a revival among young people.

5. Those who love technology are more outgoing than those who hate technology.

The book also has some international examples. One of my favorites is that 82 percent of men aged 18-30 in Italy live at home with their parents. I felt like calling my sons to congratulate them on having moved out.

Mark J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne argue that you can build political conclusions from looking at such small trends. It's a lot easier to switch an independent voter than to attract a first-time voter . . . or to switch a voter who is loyal to the other party. Be spot-on with an issue that creates excitement for a small group of swing voters, and you may carry an election. The book is filled with references to the 1996 role that Soccer Moms played in Bill Clinton's re-election.

Beyond that, this is a book of trivia. There's not much analysis of products or positions that such groups might like. There's also no attempt to tie these small trends back to these people being independent voters.

Mark J. Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne also argue that contrary to what many Republican pollsters believe that swing voters are more interested in positions than in personality and character. I found that the book did more asserting of that point than proving of it.

In the brief concluding section there's a tiny effort to pull it all together: In a world with more choices, people will fragment in their selections. If you've read The Long Tail, you already knew that.

This is much too lightweight a book to have much significance. But it is fun to read. Don't feel like you need to read all of the sections.

I only found four tiny trends described that I hadn't already noticed, but I did find it convenient to see some estimate of how important the size of the trend is and a few reasons for the trend.

An engaging read on human behavior with a bit of a liberal bias

Microtrends is a collection of essays, grouped in categories ranging from technology,to politics, lifestyle, teens and many others. A microtrend is in essence a synonym for a niche, a losely defined group of individuals that exhibit a number of common characteristics in the concept of statistical/sociological studies. What the book does for the reader, is basically provide a study of numerous such groups in an engaging and often humorous way.

It is interesting to see that some of the "microtrends" discussed in the book can initially be incospicuous but yet powerful. Also entertaining is the fact that there is a really good chance you will identify with at least one of the described groups (for example i'm a caffeine crazy social geek) and also find interesting suggestions when it comes to marketing to such specific audiences.

There are only two issues I had with this book. The first one is that I would like to see some deeper delving into the numbers supporting the theories here. But given that I do have a mathematical bent, it can also be argued that this makes this book accessible to the non-statistician/ numerically-minded parties. The second thing to note is that the book may at times appear to have a liberal bias. Given Mark Penn's track record of working under the Clinton administration this isn't something unforeseen, and to tell the truth, these days almost every other piece of published work sets some political tone or another, and at least the author does not make any false claims of objectivity.

Overall it is a very pleasant and engaging read, wich given its structure of separation in small essays can be a good reading supplement for any moment. I higly recommend taking a look, if only to identify some of the microtrends you may belong to.

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