Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-197) and index.

Introduction. The Mess That Marketing Is In. -- In Search of The Obvious. -- This is the most important chapter in the book. It is simple, profound, and a secret because few know of it. And someone else wrote most of it. -- What gets in the way of the "Obvious". -- There are forces in play that don't make the search easy or sometimes even possible. They tend to obstruct clear thinking. Some forces are external. Some are internal. They all are things of which you must be aware. Forewarned is forearmed. -- The Internet Can Be An "Obvious" Problem. -- Nothing in the marketing and business world has received so much hype. But be careful, it is not the be all and end all. All it's about are new ways to reach people with your obvious idea. It's just another tool but it can confuse things. -- Advertising People Can Be An "Obvious" Problem. -- Unfortunately, most advertising people look for the creative, not the obvious. For them, the obvious is too simple and not clever enough. The old guard of Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy and Bill Bernbach understood this. The new guard, whomever they are, don't. -- Marketing People Can Be An "Obvious" Problem. -- I'm afraid that marketing people often don't appreciate on what they should be focusing. Most get hopelessly entangled in corporate egos and complicated projects. It's no wonder that the job tenure of a chief marketing officer is less than two years.

An "Obvious" Look At The Marketing Process. -- If marketing people are to do a better job, they have to have a clear understanding of the marketing process. What's important and how to evaluate and operate the functions in which they are in charge. -- Some Help In That Search For The "Obvious". -- The search should generally start with the competition. It's not what you want to do. It's what your competition will let you do. Also, you have to avoid making the kinds of mistakes often made. I'll also let you in on two of my favorite obvious strategies. -- Some "Obvious" Ground Rules Of Which You Must Be Aware. -- Long ago I wrote about the laws of marketing.* A number of these are very important in the search for the obvious. As we wrote, ignore them at your risk. -- Some Observations About "Obvious" Marketing Problems. -- To make this interesting, this section outlines the obvious ideas that could be used to solve some highly publicized marketing problems. Some are observations. Several were searches for the obvious that I conducted. -- The Future Is Never "Obvious". -- A search for the obvious is about today, not tomorrow. You cannot predict the future and you should never try. Today is today. Tomorrow is tomorrow.