Why Marketing Week’s Mini MBA is branching into brand management
Mark RitsonAs the Marketing Week Mini MBA enters its fourth year, its professor, Mark Ritson, explains the origins of the course and why it is expanding into a new subject area.
Mark Ritson – Brand Management
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We need a new ‘third way’ to set marketing budgets
Mark RitsonZero-based budgeting hurts long-term brand-building, while advertising-to-sales ratios are entirely arbitrary. There’s a much better, ‘two-speed’ way to set marketing budgets.
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Apple’s confusing product portfolio makes Microsoft look sleek
Mark RitsonSteve Jobs built Apple’s brand on simple design and a sparing product line-up, but now its portfolio is a mess of wires and product variants that make Microsoft look like the cooler brand.
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Kraft Heinz is in 57 varieties of trouble
Mark RitsonKraft Heinz is suffering from a number of self-inflicted wounds, from underinvestment in its brands to a failure to adapt its portfolio to modern tastes, leading to a parlous financial situation.
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The threat of direct-to-consumer disruption is seriously overblown
Mark RitsonThe number of direct-to-consumer brands is ballooning, as are predictions of the traditional FMCG sector’s demise, yet people underestimate the resilience and capability of the established giants.
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When did marketers become so ashamed of managing brands?
Mark RitsonMarketing leadership has failed to instill pride in the discipline, as a LinkedIn post by Unilever’s European president proves, leading to constant attempts to use purpose to apologise for or redefine it unnecessarily.
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Luxury brands should take a stand against the grey market
Mark RitsonRichemont, owner of luxury watch brands such as Cartier, is boldly forfeiting hundreds of millions of pounds to keep stock out of the grey market, but it is a crucial step in preserving long-term brand equity.
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Mark Ritson: Facebook news feed changes were needed to fix it before it breaks
Mark RitsonPublishers, brands and agencies may fear the Facebook news feed changes will harm their businesses, but they are the right thing to do for users and the company’s long-term value.
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Mark Ritson: This is not just a decline, this is an M&S decline
Mark RitsonAs M&S sales fall again, its problems are not brand management but brand equity, and a mid-market positioning that is inevitably fatal in a tough consumer economy.
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Mark Ritson: McDonald’s zero-margin Omnicom deal sets welcome precedents for agency contracts
Mark RitsonMcDonald’s appointment of Omnicom to its advertising account is a significant first – both in terms of agency integration and the performance-based pay structure that incentivises achieving brand objectives above media buying rebates.
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The seven unmistakable signs of a shit brand consultant
Mark RitsonYour portable toilet business has nothing to learn from Steve Jobs, and if a consultant even mentions Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs you should kick them out of the door.
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Mark Ritson: Five reasons why the Protein World furore is great marketing
Mark RitsonThe huge debate that has exploded around Protein World’s “Beach Body” campaign has made it the big branding story of the year so far.
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Mark Ritson: Will Windows 10 and a new browser launch redeem Microsoft’s failures?
Mark RitsonTech giant Microsoft owns one of the most enduring software brands in Windows, but almost managed to throw it away with Windows 8, so the product and branding noises coming from its new executive team are reassuring.
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Mark Ritson: Aldi’s arrival on the grocery scene 25 years ago set the stage for the future of supermarkets
Mark RitsonAldi’s arrival in the UK in 1990 didn’t cause much of a stir but it heralded an irrevocable change for the future of branding.
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Mark Ritson: Samuel Adams’ legendary story of the underdog craft beer is going a bit flat
Mark RitsonEntrepreneurial brewing legend Jim Koch, of Samuel Adams lager fame, is finding it increasingly difficult to retain the reputation and distribution of his lager in the craft beer market for two reasons: authenticity and changing times.