Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead | Books
It’s been 15 years since my buddy Brian Halligan and I published the first edition of our book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History. Tons have happened since 2010, so we were eager to do a revised and updated edition which will be published on Tuesday November 25!
The ideas from a sixty-year-old band that we write about in Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead certainly can be applied to business today.
In fact, Brian used Grateful Dead style marketing to build HubSpot (he’s co-founder and former CEO). Brian writes in a new introduction: “The Grateful Dead, and particularly Jerry Garcia, profoundly influenced me—not just in designing HubSpot but also in understanding how to lead the team and the community.”
The Grateful Dead has been a huge influence on me too. The band’s commitment to its fans shaped how I think about fandom and helped inform the ideas in my book Fanocracy.
I’m intrigued by the ways that Bobby Weir of the Grateful Dead has continued the band’s legacy since our first edition was published back in 2010. He co-founded Dead & Company with John Mayer, a move that was certainly controversial. I spoke with many people who couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea of a 30-something pop star joining three of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. Yet, the combination proved infectious with older enthusiasts like me and brought many new fans into the scene.
Bringing on new talent is a business strategy we talk about in the book!
The original Grateful Dead were one of the highest-grossing music acts of the early 1990s, selling over nine million tickets and grossing about $227 million in that decade. The Dead & Company final tour in summer 2023 alone drew about 850,000 fans across 28 shows, grossing over $100 million. So, yeah, they continue to be a major concert draw by every measure.
Original members of the Grateful Dead continue to build fans six decades after the band was formed. Organizations of all kinds can learn how to change and adapt for the times.
Recently, our friend Bill Walton, who wrote the fabulous forward to Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, passed away. We loved our Bill and miss him terribly.
The new edition will ship from booksellers on Tuesday November 25.
