Purpose – To extract the secrets of the marketing of Dan Brown's world‐wide bestseller, The Da Vinci Code . Design/methodology/approach – Case study research based on secondary sources and close reading of relevant texts. Findings – The staggering success of The Da Vinci Code is contrary...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the widely‐held belief that marketing holds customers in thrall and persuades them to buy things they otherwise would not. Design/methodology/approach – Rather than adopt a scientific approach to the mesmeric marketing phenomenon, it...

Purpose – Reading and writing are crucial components of the research process and academic life as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to ask if conventional reading and writing practices are fit for marketing purpose. Design/methodology/approach – The paper consists of an extended...

Purpose – Dark marketing is the “the application or adaptation of marketing principles and practices to domains of death, destruction and the ostensibly reprehensible”. This paper examines the nature, character and extent of dark marketing, noting that it is made manifest in manifold...