CHARLESTON, SC - September 24, 2004—The American Marketing Association (AMA) Foundation has announced the 2004 winner of the Berry-AMA Book Prize for the Best Book in Marketing. Established by Leonard L. Berry, distinguished author and professor, as a tangible way to convey the valuable role of books in marketing, this annual award recognizes the top marketing work in innovation of ideas and overall impact on marketing and related fields.

The 2004 winner, Trading Up: The New American Luxury (Portfolio), by Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske, explores the trading-up phenomenon – the willingness of America’s middle-market consumers to pay a premium price for goods and services that are emotionally important to them and deliver perceived values of quality, performance and engagement. The authors examine the demographic and behavioral changes that drive the trading-up phenomenon and offer examples of how companies create a successful mass luxury product or service.

Silverstein is Senior Vice President at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and the coauthor of Breaking Compromises. Neil Fiske is CEO of Bath and Body Works.

Four Berry-AMA Book Prize finalists were named as runners-up:
• How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market (Harvard Business School Press), by Gerald Zaltman
• Marketing ROI: The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability (McGraw-Hill), by James D. Lenskold
• The Influentials (The Free Press), by Ed Keller and Jon Berry
• The Rule of Three: Surviving and Thriving in Competitive Markets (The Free Press), by Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia

The Berry-AMA Book Prize selection process has two phases. First, a six-member screening panel selects the finalists. The members of this year’s screening panel included Jack Covert (800CEOREAD), Erik Gordon (Warrington College of Business, University of Florida); Jack Hollfelder (AMA Group Publisher); Phil Kotler (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University); and Sybil F. Stershic (Quality Service Marketing).

Next, a panel of current and past members of the executive board of the Marketing Science Institute (MSI), a not-for-profit institute that acts as a bridge between business and academia, serves as the Prize’s selection committee and chooses the winner. Members of the selection committee included Michael Lotti (Eastman Kodak); Don Lehmann (Columbia University); Leigh McAlister (MSI and University of Texas at
Austin); Paul Root (MSI); and Gordon Wyner (Millward Brown).

Exceptional marketing books that have set the standard for excellence and that were published within the previous three years (copyright 2001, 2002 or 2003) were eligible for consideration to receive the 2004 Berry-AMA Book Prize. Nominations for next year’s 2005 Berry-AMA Book Prize will be accepted by the AMA Foundation via mail and online (at www.themarketingfoundation.org/berrybookprize) through May 1, 2005.

The philanthropic arm of the American Marketing Association, the AMA Foundation (www.themarketingfoundation.org) serves as a catalyst for making a difference through marketing. The Foundation positively impacts communities locally and globally by helping nonprofits market more effectively, promoting and recognizing excellence in marketing, and enhancing diversity in the marketing profession.

The AMA, located in Chicago, IL, has 38,000 members worldwide involved in the practice, study and teaching of marketing. Support of the Berry-AMA Book Prize is consistent with AMA’s commitment to empowering marketers through information and education. For over six decades the AMA has been an essential resource providing relevant marketing information that experienced marketers turn to every day.

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Contact: Jan Pomerantz
Executive Director
American Marketing Association Foundation
(843) 216-1962
jpomerantz@ama.org