By Simon Veksner

216 pages, softcover, $29.95, published by Laurence King Publishing, laurenceking.com

Maybe you remember that Kodak commercial. The one where the museum guide walks a class of school kids through a gallery of photographs, each of which said something so poignant about the human experience, you could almost hear it whispering to you. Welcome to the written equivalent of that spot. Simon Veksner’s writing is succinct and crisp and avoids the quasi-academic speak that books like this so often can’t seem to avoid. It’s all here, from advertising’s earliest sparks of genius to the 1960s revolution to current platforms like branded content and experiential. Veksner even hints at new ideas looming on the horizon, like neuromarketing and behavioral economics. With more than 300 examples of award-winning work from around the world, I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a crossroads moment in advertising that isn’t covered in the book. Although I’m not sure how useful it will be for industry veterans, if I were running an ad school, I wouldn’t hesitate to include 100 Ideas That Changed Advertising on the required reading list. If ever there were an Advertising History 101, this is it. It departs from most books that cover the evolution of the business in the connections it makes between each seminal idea, layering them to form a conceptual tapestry that has changed not just advertising, but society and culture as well—in ways that few could have predicted. I can predict one thing, though. The next time your long-lost uncle shows up for Thanksgiving and asks what you do, you’ll give him 100 Ideas That Changed Advertising, then go back to your cranberry sauce. —Ernie Schenck