Interview with Andy Nulman Author of the Power of Surprise

Most marketers’ messages fall on deaf ears. Nothing shocks us anymore. It’s all been done, and marketers rarely step outside of their comfort zone to shake things up. Andy Nulman wants to change this and teach marketers how to profit by taking chances. Nulman’s new marketing book, Pow! Right Between the Eyes! Profiting From the Power of Surprise, shows the value of brand authenticity in today’s saturated information economy. Nulman is a marketing guru who has years of expertise in delighting customers as former CEO of Montreal’s renowned Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival, the world’s first and largest comedy event, working with comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. Nulman knows the values of a surprise, which he describes as “the growth-spurting teenage boy at the big family wedding; loud, suitably impressive and potent on his own, but simultaneously too sophisticated for the kids’ table and not established enough to sit with the grown ups.” In his book Nulman makes the business case for ROI for surprise marketing campaigns (return on investment and return on interest). Why do some marketing campaigns knock your socks off and others put you to sleep? Nulman addresses this question in his ground-breaking business book. Detailing case studies from Target, Harvard University, Nintendo Wii, Kraft, P&G and Oprah, Nulman describes how to create pow!-erful, attention-grabbing campaigns. In this podcast interview, Nulman expands on ideas from his book tells Customer Management IQ’s Blake Landau what it takes for a knockout surprise marketing campaign and how we can keep customers on their toes even in an economic downturn.