Millions of Canadians have tuned in to Terry O’Reilly’s hugely engaging take on advertising on CBC Radio’s

THE AGE OF PERSUASION. Now O’Reilly and co-creator (and fellow ad man) Mike Tennant have packed the funniest bits, the biggest moments, legendary industry anecdotes, never before revealed behind-the-ads stories and musings into one fascinating ride of a book.

Persuasion is a whisper in your ear so faint you barely know it’s there. It’s the celebrity spokesperson, the anti-ad that is itself an ad, the well-placed product placement, the art of being noticed with purpose, and the craft of guiding your hard-to-reach desires to a lucrative destination.

But things don’t always go this smoothly. O’Reilly and Tennant take us inside ad company decisions (some good, some not so good), through commercial studios, and into some of the most creative minds in the business. They show us what works (funny is a good place to start) and what doesn’t (sometimes funny, but not in a good way) and then effortlessly connect these findings to our everyday lives.

And there’s more.

The authors map the key aha moments in an industry that has evolved from straightforward print ads in the nineteenth century to the glossy undertakings of the ad men of Madison Avenue, to our own quickly changing time when PVR, Facebook, and Twitter leave many advertisers out in the cold, pawing longingly at the window.

It’s is a feast of enlightening ideas and entertaining stories well told.

Published by Knopf in Canada, and Counterpoint Press in the United States.

(And coming to China later this year)

Visit these online retailers to get your copy:

Chapters-Indigo

Amazon.ca

Borders