I had one of those meetings last week that you expect and dread with equal measure. An old friend of mine, who works in marketing and reads far too much to be good for him, asked me out for a beer and then wanted some advice. The brand he works for does not have a ‘brand purpose’ and he wondered if this would limit future growth and, perhaps worse, signal his team were deficient in brand management.
How refreshing to hear Kimberly Kriss speak of her ambitions to put data and marketing rigour at the heart of AEG Europe. For too long, rights holders have been forced to trade sponsorship based on exposure opportunities, rather than on data-led solutions. However, overlaying your own consumer data onto this new landscape creates a world in which […]
Your ‘Cultural Crossover’ article raised excellent points on brands’ attempts to be part of or influence culture. Perhaps the most successful brands have always done this, albeit through traditional channels – Coca-Cola challenging racial stereotypes in the 1950s and Nike’s sports myth of ‘performing beyond all expectations’ worked cleverly in the 1980s to assuage US […]
On the desk in front of me sits an object that is emblematic of the current sad state of the British middle class – a tin of Essential Waitrose Ratatouille Provençale.
Ray Kieser, Group Managing Director – SGK Europe, has drafted a letter in response to the piece on ‘The New Law of Being Average’. The concept of brands striving to be ‘average’ is profoundly limiting. I challenge anyone who believes that brand performance can be attained by aiming at average. Mass market yes, and category leading, […]
Like fusion power and a human landing on Mars, here is something I thought I would never see in my lifetime: a unified theory of how advertising works.
Scandal has followed Abercrombie & Fitch ever since the clothes brand first broke through in the American market. There were lawsuits from employees fired for apparently not being attractive enough. There were politically incorrect statements from the chief executive that he only wanted “cool kids” to wear its clothes. There was even an intriguing offer to pay the cast of US reality show Jersey Shore to not wear Abercrombie clothes. Read my previous article here.
The simplification of Facebook’s rules on running promotions is welcome, but opens the door to two serious risks. First, the lower cost of entry could lead to a proliferation of promotions run by people who lack experience, undermining consumer trust. Second, the ability to enter a promotion or vote via the Facebook ‘like’ mechanism will […]
Perhaps it wasn’t the most surprising acquisition in the history of big brand mergers and acquisitions, but it’s still one of the most notable. On Monday, Microsoft acquired Nokia’s devices business for €3.7bn (£3.12bn). It will also pay an additional €1.65bn for the right to license patents from the Finnish telecommunications company.
If you’re planning a late summer holiday, you may be thinking about packing a business book or two. In which case, this article may put you off because it’s a story of how reading business books can be damaging to your company’s health.
You article ‘Battle for web data moves to the ‘frictionless’ social log-in’ hits the nail on the head; when used correctly, identity can be the key to online consumer engagement for all brands. One of the greatest benefits of the social network era is access to declared first person data. From age to marital status, […]
While there is certainly a new appetite for Western brands among Russian consumers, we are seeing a corresponding growing confidence in homegrown Russian brands, themselves now making inroads in the West. Ideas4Retail’s Cook House, the first national chain of culinary schools and kitchenwares concept, is one such successful brand now expanding internationally; Sberbank, Europe’s third largest […]
I’m not sure who originally claimed that there was no such thing as bad publicity. I seem to recall it was either Lord Leverhulme, Oscar Wilde or perhaps Johnny Rotten. It doesn’t matter much because it turns out that, whoever they were, they were wrong.
Congratulations to McDonald’s which has managed to keep costs down and flexibility up by putting most of its staff on ‘zero-hour’ contracts. The contracts, widely condemned by unions and politicians, essentially involve an employee committing to an employer without getting any commitment in return. No long term contract, no guarantee of regular work and no standard hours or stability of income.
Successful customer engagement is about being human – not just sounding human. The best brands win the affection and trust of consumers by acting differently. For a long time, brands were little more than faceless, multinational corporations with limited touchpoints for engagement and selective hearing – but then a few trailblazers began acting differently. As […]