Armed with only her magic Spirit Fire bicycle, Susan takes on the owner of a toy shop who is offering free toys to children in order to lure them into the Deeper World.

This book offers rich critical perspectives on the marketing of a variety of toys, brands, and product categories. Topics include marketing undertaken by specific children’s toy brands such as American Girl, Barbie, Disney, GoldieBlox, Fisher-Price, and LEGO, and marketing trends characterizing broader toy categories such as on-trend grotesque toys; toy firearms; minimalist toys; toyetics; toys meant to offer diverse representation; STEM toys; and unboxing videos. Toy marketing warrants a sustained scholarly critique because of toys’ cultural significance and their roles in children’s lives, as well as the industry’s economic importance. Discourses surrounding toys—including who certain toys are meant for and what various toys and brands can signify about their owners’ identities—have implications for our understandings of adults’ expectations of children and of broader societal norms into which children are being socialized.

In Radical Play Rob Goldberg recovers a little-known history of American children’s culture in the 1960s and 1970s by showing how dolls, guns, action figures, and other toys galvanized and symbolized new visions of social, racial, and gender justice. From a nationwide movement to oppose the sale of war toys during the Vietnam War to the founding of the company Shindana Toys by Black Power movement activists and the efforts of feminist groups to promote and produce nonsexist and racially diverse toys, Goldberg returns readers to a defining moment in the history of childhood when politics, parenting, and purchasing converged. Goldberg traces not only how movement activists brought their progressive politics to the playroom by enlisting toys in the era’s culture wars but also how the children’s culture industry navigated the explosive politics and turmoil of the time in creative and socially conscious ways. Outlining how toys shaped and were shaped by radical visions, Goldberg locates the moment Americans first came to understand the world of toys—from Barbie to G.I. Joe—as much more than child’s play.

Evaluating marketing performance and decision making more fairly Marketing has long been considered an art and not a science, but that perception is beginning to change as increasingly sophisticated methods of quantifying marketing success are developed. In Measuring Marketing: 103 Key Metrics Every Marketer Needs, Second Edition, one of the world's leading experts in the field presents the key marketing ratios and metrics. Applying these metrics will enable marketers to make better decisions and increase their accountability for their strategies and activities. This fully revised and updated new edition discusses the key marketing metrics needed for successfully measuring the performance of an organization's marketing investments. CEOs and CFOs regularly ask for one simple way to assess the efficacy of marketing campaigns, but the fact is that there isn't one single measure of performance. Measuring Marketing helps marketers figure out what they can and should be measuring and when. Marketers are increasingly being held accountable for the corporate bottom line, and this book helps both marketers, as well as the business leaders who employ them, to measure performance fairly and accurately Measuring marketing success is difficult, but this book shows what and when to assess Designed to increase accountability and improve everyday decisions, the book includes ratios illustrated with actual marketing cases from leading companies The first book to address growing demands that marketers be accountable for their strategies and decisions, Measuring Marketing explains how to assess marketing success in more meaningful ways.

With its practical orientation and scope, Applied Public Relations is the ideal text for any public relations case studies or public relations management course that places an emphasis on stakeholder groups. Through the presentation of current cases covering a wide variety of industries, locations, and settings, Kathy Richardson and Marcie Hinton examine how real organizations develop and maintain their relationships, offering valuable insights into business and organizational management practices. The book’s organization of case studies allows instructors to use the text in several ways: instructors can focus on specific stakeholders by using the chapters presented; they can focus on particular issues, such as labor relations or crisis management by selecting cases from within several chapters; or they can select cases that contrast campaigns with ongoing programs or managerial behaviors. A focus on ethics and social responsibility underlies the book, and students are challenged to assess the effectiveness of the practices outlined and understand the ethical implications of those choices. This Third Edition features: 25 new and current domestic and international case studies specifically chosen for their relevancy and relatability to students New "Professional Insights" commentaries where practitioners respond to a set of questions relating to their work Increased emphasis on ethics and social responsibility Fully enhanced companion website that is connected with the text, including a test bank and PowerPoint presentations for instructors, and chapter-specific discussion questions and additional readings for students

Artificial intelligence (AI) has driven businesses to adopt new business practices rapidly, enhance product development and services, has helped to power AI-based market intelligence and customer insights, and improve customer relationship management. This timely book addresses the use of AI in marketing. This book also explores the dark side of AI in marketing management and discusses ethics and transparency of automated decision-making in AI applications, data privacy, cyber security issues, and biases in various facets of marketing. Emerging applications of AI such as DeepFakes which use deep learning technology could increase risks of manipulation and deception. Hence, apart from leveraging AI capabilities and advantages, the book cautions the need for prevention strategies to deal with potential issues that could arise from the adoption of AI in marketing management. This book will provide practical insights into the role of AI in marketing management. It will be a useful reference for those researching marketing and marketing professionals.

This comprehensive text provides an in-depth appreciation of the theory and practice of international marketing from a European perspective, while considering the role of Europe within global marketing.