Ice to the Eskimos: How to Market a Product Nobody Wants

Jon Spoelstra. "Ice to the Eskimos: How to Market a Product Nobody Wants." HarperCollins (1997).Reviewed by: Amy Rubin, Colin Murphy, Zach Korman, Matt Swan, Jose Alvarado, University of South Florida."Ice To The Eskimos", by Jon Spoelstra delivers a positive and supportive view of marketing in the sports industry with ideas that can be applied across all areas of business. Spoelstra, who worked for several NBA teams, writes about his impactful experiences in the business world with the use of his marketing tactics. “There comes a time in the life of every business when a product or service does not sell up to expectations.” This problem that Spoelstra speaks about in his book specifically relates to the sports industry, but clearly can also be applied to any business. Spoelstra’s work ethic was identified throughout the book as he told the readers his journey through the New Jersey Nets, Portland Trail Blazers, and more. Spoelstra’s tactics made significant strides within the marketing industry by applying tactics nobody would ever think to do, which proved to be beneficial.One of the main points covered throughout the book is the concept of “Jump-Start Marketing.” This idea is engraved throughout the book as it relates to “marketing a product that nobody wants.” "Ice to the Eskimos" identifies ways to sell a product that does not live up to consumer expectations by making it more attractive to those same consumers. Spoelstra’s recommendations revolve around the idea of reshaping and retooling the way the product is being marketed to its target audience. For example, while at the New Jersey Nets, Spoelstra changed his positioning on how to sell Nets games. He targeted the visiting team’s stars like Michael Jordan, Shaq, and Hakeem Olajuwon using their popularity and star power to create a “Monster Ticket Package.” This generated tremendous success and even resulted in the Nets recording sellouts at the arena, which they had never had in the past. By doing this, Spoelstra repositioned the Nets from trying to sell their own product into now selling other teams’ products. Spoelstra calls this positioning of the product the “Quick-Fix Silver Bullet.” This is the idea of increasing the frequency of purchases by your customers. We clearly see him do this with his repositioning of the marketing behind the Nets ticket sales. Spoelstra’s tactics are very much alive today, as when teams market towards opposing players coming into town. For example, the power trio of the Miami Heat which included NBA superstars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh sold out almost every visiting team’s arenas when they played.While this book has many positives, it is also vulnerable to its criticisms. One of these criticisms is that "Ice To The Eskimos" was written in 1997, and can definitely be seen as outdated. For example, he mentions how Ticketmaster had to manually retrieve names and addresses of season ticket holders from previous years, because at the time there were no digital databases. It is clear that technology has evolved tremendously since the time this book was written and processes such as the above are now automated. Another example is when Spoelstra speaks about a solution for doing whatever it takes to make sponsorships successful. He explains that a team should create an annual report that is an “inch-thick full of documentation…[has] colorful samples…[and is] professionally bound”. This idea of a “professionally” bound, lengthy report is nonexistent in today’s business environment. Currently, most business operations are computerized and there rarely are large paper reports, and these reports are also much more concise.This book should be required reading for any business reader trying to establish a baseline understand of marketing and how to sell a product in a unique fashion. The tactics that Jon Spoelstra explains can be applied to any business trying to market a product or service. The outdated ideas within the book are only considered as such due to the fact that so many of his ideas have been implemented across the board within business fields. Every reader will be able to make connections between this book and their already established understanding of the business world and use those connections to build upon Spoelstra’s marketing ideas.

This book is fun to read. Lots of real life examples. Great for someone who is approaching marketing and wants to have a general knowledge of what gets people to buy products.However it was not very helpful in other areas like getting a company to even read one proposal or look at your stuff.The "rubber chicken" theory works when a company send it to an individual customer but cannot be reversed with the same results. In theses cases it doesn't work so well in real life, where companies mail goes thru multiple channels before it gets to the right individual. They could care less what you send them......I tried that as well.Also, another fault of the book is that does not really address international marketing. This is an area a bit obscure. Most books take reference using the USA/Canada model and completely neglect the rest of the world.What is true in this country does not work in others.I bought this book to educate myself about companies and the way they view marketing and revenues. I actually wanted a book who addressed the issue of individual sponsorship and endorsement in the sport world.I find most of the material out there is not good, incomplete or too generic to be applied in specific cases.However, the book is a MUST read for everyone who is on either side of the marketing field. The more you know, the better.

The author used what he learned while marketing for the Nets for this book and these same ideas and principles you can apply to any product.The author indicates it’s better to jump-start your marketing techniques than to lay off employees.After each chapter the author provides you with a test to get your ideas flowing.Ground rules are:1) You’ve got to want to clip on the wires and turn up the juice.2) Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re somebody else.3) Increase the frequency of purchases by your customers.4) Get the name and address of the end user of your product.5) The janitor isn’t going to lead the charge for new customers.6) Create big change with little experiments.7) Don’t wait for a new product to bail you out – use innovative marketing now.8) To get your ideas approved by this boss, prepare as if you were defending yourself in front of the Supreme Court.9) Only try to sell a product the customer wants to buy.10) Get the feel for jump-starting outside the ivory tower.11) Only target people who are interested in your product.12) Don’t let research make the decision for you.13) Make your client a bonafide, real-life hero.14) Run interference for your budding superstars.15) Make it too good of a deal on purpose.16) Feel free to butt into other departments.17) Differentiate between big and little customers.18) When the going gets rough, increase expenses that are not fixed, like salespeople.19) Jumping higher than you think you can is possible with jump-start marketing.Bottom line:The book is outdated. The beginning of the chapters include stories that may or may not (mostly aren’t) relevant to the marketing point that the author is trying to make.

I love this book. Very easy to read and full of interesting ideas.Highly recommended.R.

This book has a lot of good tips for marketing. It is very easy and enjoyable to read. Highly recommended.

De bonnes idées - mais délayées - que l'on peut appliquer dans son business ou celui des autres. Des concepts élégants et intéressants.

I was attracted first by the title of the book I’ve heard of before. Working at a startup, I need to make a jump start marketing worldwide. Will recommend this book to people struggling in sales and marketing.