Brand Planning
Mountains of creativity. Lessons from Making Digital Work II
The drive from Denver International Airport to Boulder Digital Works frames the rise of some of the most dramatic peaks – a fitting setting for one of the most innovative workshops in our industry of digiraditional marketing. For an industry that preaches words like evolution, revolution and “game-changing” (ugh) innovation to our clients, we are [...]
// read moreWhat the Funnel…?
Enough already with the arguments about the death of the so-called Purchase Funnel and its relevance or not, for the digital age. Because maybe the real issue is not whether the funnel is obsolete – but that agencies and marketers have been looking at the funnel the wrong way? So, take a deep breath. Take [...]
// read moreWatch out, here comes Wonder-Woman
Brands beware. There’s a highly powerful and increasingly influential segment of women fast emerging. She’s confident, she’s ambitious. She’s strong-willed and well educated. She’s married. And she earns significantly more than her husband. In short, we call her Wonder-Woman. She represents a large chunk of consumer spending power. And it’s time for brands to take [...]
// read moreHeaded for a breakup with your best customers?
They’re looking for someone who gets them. Think of it as a personal ad … from one of your best customers. For most service marketers, it’s a pretty chilling message, one that reflects an important truth that we uncovered in our recent study, Service Marketing in the Era of Brand Vulnerability. More than ever, the [...]
// read more2010: A smarter, wiser and responsibly indulgent consumer
Based on our studies, we anticipate the consumer will transition into recovery mode in 2010 and start spending again, but with some degree of moderation. By contrast to the free-spending days of old, the post-apocalyptic consumer will be more savvy, responsible and prudent – although interestingly, as the year progresses, they’ll be increasingly more likely [...]
// read moreMullen’s new director of strategic analytics builds technology for personalized communication
Mullen announced today that Dinesh Gopinath, Ph.D., has joined the agency as executive vice president, director of strategic analytics. Gopinath, who was selected after a review of 35 candidates, will lead the agency’s analytics practice, which plays a key role in modeling, predicting and optimizing communications strategies across a wide range of client businesses. Gopinath [...]
// read moreMarketing service brands: the toughest branding challenge today?
When it comes to building and maintaining a strong and distinctive brand in any category, the marketing terrain has never been more challenging. Arguably, the challenge is even more daunting for service brands. In part this reflects the power of today’s better-connected, highly empowered consumer to use digital word of mouth to spread the news [...]
// read moreThe thousand days of pain
Last week I had the honor of participating in a panel at the New York Times building and the opportunity to talk about “Marketing in a Recession.” The event was sponsored by outprofessionals.org, moderated by Stuart Elliott of the New York Times, and featured panelists Rachel Sklar (photo: right), editor-in-large at Mediaite, and Stephanie Blackwood [...]
// read moreTaking time to smell (and harvest) the roses
As technology and globalization continue to expand, our appetite for instant gratification grows with them. Given the fast paced, multitasking, 24/7 society we live in, it’s surprising that one of the biggest growing trends right now is about slowing down. Starting as one man’s protest of a McDonald’s opening in Rome, and fueled by books [...]
// read moreGame changing questions for service marketers
While working with our service-industry clients to assess their brand and business-building strategies and programs, typically we begin by asking some potentially game-changing questions: What’s your plan for branding from the inside out? Are your employees steeped in the brand? They better be, because the strongest service brands today are built on an employee base [...]
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