Nov. 30, 2006 -- Strategy + Business Magazine hails a new book by Darden Professors Paul Farris and Phil Pfeifer as the best marketing book of the year. 

In a crowded field of marketing tomes, Marketing Metrics: 50 Metrics Every Executive Should Master (Wharton School press 2006) delivers on its promises. The book offers clear explanations of the key metrics for evaluating virtually every aspect of marketing and sales, including customer perception, product strategy, channel management, promotion, and revenue and cost structures. The book was co-written by David Reibstein and Neil Bendle. Reibstein is Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School. Bendle isa doctoral student in marketing at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.

"In a category that suffers from a surfeit of books related to personal experiences, one-off success stories made possible by budgets and resources unavailable to most firms, outdated theories as quaint as bloodletting, or mantras devoted to 'big ideas' or 'exceeding expectations,' 50+ metrics crackles like new money," writes Strategy + Business writer Nick Wreden in his "By the numbers" column. "For CEOs and those in marketing trenches needing accountability, this is the best marketing book of the year."
 
From a review on the back cover, "Marketing, as a function, is under increasing pressure to develop business-oriented metrics to justify marketing mix investments," writes Anil Menon, vice president of the marketing, systems and technology group at IBM. "Marketing Metrics offers clear advice on how to develop common marketing metrics that are relevant and accessible to both marketing and non-marketing decision makers."