Uprising by Scott Goodson (Book Review)

We live in an era of sweeping change and uncertainty. There's economic nervousness and under-employment, climate change and wild weather, concern over peak oil and the future of energy, globalism and a flat world, and a dizzying array of social networking tools for connecting like never before.

Such a mix creates both strain in the system and new opportunities to connect, and this has led to a dramatic rise in cultural movements, including the recent Arab Spring and Occupy movement.

In Uprising: How to Build a Brand--and Change the World--By Sparking Cultural Movements, author Scott Goodson looks at movements from a marketing perspective and offers a fascinating survey of recent movements as well as an elaboration of how marketing and business are beginning to add value and collaborate with movements, without co-opting them. Goodson terms this new marketing "movement marketing" and cites several examples, including the Pepsi Refresh project, the InnoCentive movement, Tom's Shoes, and the massively popular Livestrong movement.

I've only scratched the surface of what you'll find in Uprising, but if you have any interest in cultural movements or branding, you'll probably find this compelling. The book also built well on previous works about social technologies and branding, especially Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody and Rob Walker's Buying In.

You can also learn more about the author and the text at http://www.uprisingmovements.com.

Full disclosure: The author did send me a complimentary copy of the book, although he never mandated or requested that I review the book. These comments and opinions are mine and mine alone.

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