Breakthrough Marketing Plans

Almost every company creates a marketing plan each year, and many spend hundreds of employee hours researching, preparing and presenting their tomes to senior executives. But most marketing plans are a waste of time; they are too long, too complicated and too dense. They end up sitting on a shelf, unread and unrealized. Breakthrough Marketing Plans is an essential tool for people who create marketing plans and people who review them. The book provides simple, clear frameworks that are easy to apply, and highlights why marketing plans matter, where they go wrong and how to create a powerful plan that will help build a strong, profitable business.

"Tim Calkins tells what really goes on, and what should go on to on to prepare a winning marketing plan. I highly recommend this book to marketing and brand managers to help them create really pointed and impactful marketing plans." - Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management

"Tim Calkins provides the practical guidance that marketers are longing for. This book lays out a clear path to creating marketing plans that will get supported, and more importantly, drive results." - Ed Buckley, VP Marketing, UPS

"For new marketers and experienced practitioners, Breakthrough Marketing Plans, provides a practical roadmap for developing effective marketing plans that actually serve as daily action guides rather than dusty shelf ornaments." - M. Carl Johnson III, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Campbell Soup Company

"Tim Calkins is an award-winning professor and marketer. He knows why most plansfails and what needs to be done to make them useful: set measurable goals, choose a strategy and support it, develop key tactics, and keep it short. Breakthrough Marketing Plans is a wonderfully useful book that will change the way marketers and marketing students operate. Read it: it will make you a better marketer!" - Pierre Chandon, Associate Professor of Marketing, INSEAD

"A simple, powerful roadmap to creating a simple, powerful marketing plan." - Professor John Quelch, Senior Associate Dean, Harvard Business School

"Stunningly simple. A great guide for anyone who strives to have clarity and impact from their marketing strategies - from the CEO to an entry level marketer. Tim Calkins is an academic with a real world view." - Randy Gier, Chief Consumer Officer, Dr Pepper Snapple Group

"Tim demystifies and simplifies the critical exercise of driving out world class marketing strategies and executional plans . . .a must-read for any marketer needing help in articulating a strategy that is about both words and actions, and a must read for any CEO or CMO looking to establish a consistent marketing dialog throughout their organization." - Scott M. Davis, Senior Partner, Prophet

"Tim Calkins offers an invaluable resource in the time-starved lives of today's marketing professionals." - Jeffrey Cohen, Global Vice President of Marketing, CIBA VISION

"Tim Calkins has successfully distilled all the marketing theory behind powerful marketing plans into a very pragmatic approach that will not only help guide novice marketers but also will remind experienced marketing leaders of the core fundamentals to driving business growth." - Paul Groundwater, Vice President, Global Brand Leader, Trane, Inc.

"Practical, action-oriented, to the point. Breakthrough Marketing Plans is a valuable tool for marketing professionals and business leaders alike." - Pete Georgiadis, President & CEO, Synetro Group

TIM CALKINS is Clinical Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, USA. He teaches marketing strategy, biomedical marketing and branding. He is the author of Breakthrough Marketing Plans (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) and co-editor of Kellogg on Branding (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). Prior to joining the Kellogg faculty, Tim spent 11 years at Kraft Foods leading businesses including A.1. Steak Sauce, Kraft BBQ sauce, Miracle Whip and Taco Bell Home Originals. In addition to teaching at Kellogg, Tim works with major corporations around the world on marketing strategy and branding issues. He is managing director of Class 5 Consulting, a marketing strategy firm. Tim is frequently cited by the media; he has been quoted in publications including BusinessWeek, Newsweek, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He has appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and CNBC.