Where the Suckers Moon

Randall Rothenberg, a former New York Times advertising columnist, follows a single campaign from its birth to its end. In the recession year of 1991, Subaru of America put its account up for grabs, six agencies competed, and the winner, Wieden & Kennedy, set out to find the big idea that would lodge the brand in the national mind. Rothenberg watched closely, recording the comedy, creativity, egotism and chaos, and the short, troubled partnership between a struggling carmaker and a hip agency whose creative director despised cars. Running alongside the case study is a history of American advertising, from the cheerful Helps Build Strong Bodies 12 Ways era to the cool minimalism of Bo Knows.

It appears on Bogdana Butnar's Ultimate Books to Read list, which the Poke strategist started because she felt young people were missing essential advertising books.