| Home | Business | Brand | Marketing | Innovation | Design |
To view the latest BackPocket articles, visit the home page.
Financial Times, February 28, 2007 — What once took months now takes weeks. What used to take weeks takes days. The development time needed to bring products - be it computer software, heavy machinery or high fashion clothing - from conception to market is falling rapidly, driven by ever more sophisticated digital technologies.
New York Times, February 28, 2007 — THEY came together in what seemed like a perfect marriage: earnest former hippies and Whole Foods, the clean, well-lighted version of the old natural food store. The chain’s stores were filled with organic foods and socially responsible ingredients. They were decorated with pastoral scenes of the local farmers who sold to them; signage explained why local and organic are better for the environment.
Forbes, February 28, 2007 — Who would've thought that a company whose foundation was built on hamburgers and soda would be trying to compete with the likes of Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts? On Wednesday, McDonald's (nyse: MCD - news - people ) announced that it is exploring adding smoothies, iced coffee and other specialty coffees to its menu at its U.S. locations.
Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2007 — After a year-long trial, a joint venture of media-ratings companies Arbitron and Nielsen says it has proof that a new technology-driven approach can help clients fine-tune their marketing. The venture, Project Apollo, gave tracking devices to 11,000 participants to monitor their media exposure and product purchases. One device — known as the Portable People Meter — picked up audible advertising messages from radio and television. Other advertising was measured in online surveys.
Associated Press, February 27, 2007 — Today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.
Forbes, February 27, 2007 — Come this summer, don't be confused when you can no longer find one of the country's biggest retailers in the phone book. Federated Department Stores (nyse: FD - news - people ) announced Tuesday morning that its directors will ask shareholders to change the company's name. If approved, the company will be known as Macy's Group, effective June 1.
Inside 1to1, February 27, 2007 — If any company leads in setting the gold standard for service, it’s the Ritz-Carlton, whose commitment to quality is not just part of the company’s philosophy, it’s part of the employees’ DNA. Follow us through a day inside the organization.
New York Times, February 26, 2007 — The growing ability of advertisers to more precisely target potential audiences through media like direct mail and the Internet has led pundits to proclaim the arrival of the era of one-to-one marketing. A campaign for a small university in Pennsylvania is taking advantage of the trend toward personalization in a surprising — and delightful — way.
Wall Street Journal, February 26, 2007 — Every Friday at lunch, game designers, marketing managers and other employees at Hasbro's games division gather in the cafeteria to play board games. Some compete over Scrabble, Sorry, Clue or more than a dozen other famous games invented decades ago and still manufactured at a factory here. Others play games sold by competitors, or they enjoy their own childhood favorites no longer on store shelves.
Advertising Age, February 26, 2007 — 3. Building Strong Brands, by David A. Aaker
4. Building the Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth, by Scott M. Davis, Michael Dunn and David A. Aaker
6. Brand Equity and Advertising: Advertising's Role in Building Strong Brands, by David A. Aaker and Alexander L. Biel
Brandweek, February 26, 2007 — When one big retailer acquires another big retailer, replacing the name over the front doors in locations across the country, maybe it's big news for employees and shareholders, but you can't expect dancing in the streets. Yet, if that retailer is Macy's parent Federated Department Stores, which absorbed 400 May Co. stores, maybe you actually can.
Reuters, February 26, 2007 — Retailer Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS - news), seeking to focus on problems at its two main apparel chains, said on Monday it would shut down its newest chain, Forth & Towne, a move that will affect about 550 employees. The company expects pretax expenses of $40 million for the closure of the 19 Forth & Towne stores in 10 U.S. markets. The expenses will be recognized over the first and second quarters.
Advertising Age, February 26, 2007 — Looking for a word-of-mouth network run by tech-savvy media pros who work cheap and have a direct line to a demographic that spends more than $2 trillion a year? Marketers, behold: blogging mommies.
New York Times, February 26, 2007 — No one would mistake the Ask a Jew guy for Lonelygirl15, but these days YouTube contributor Shmuel Tennenhaus is feeling like a hot commodity. Mr. Tennenhaus, an aspiring comedy writer who gained a modest following on YouTube for his droll question-and-answer clips and other spots featuring his grandmother “Bubby,” is being wooed by the site’s competitors, including Metacafe, ManiaTV and others, with promises of guaran
Advertising Age, February 26, 2007 — Forget Martin Scorsese. Microsoft was the big winner at last night's Oscars — online, at least. Microsft's three-part commercial campaign for Windows Vista was deemed the most successful by SendTec, a direct-marketing firm based in St. Petersburg, Fla. President Eric Obeck said he and his team of analysts conducted rudimentary keyword searches after each Oscar ad to see if more information on the campaign could easily be retrieved online.
BusinessWeek, February 26, 2007 — When Paul S. Pressler arrived as the chief executive officer of Gap Inc. (GPS ) in the fall of 2002, he was exactly what the board wanted--or at least what it thought it wanted. The polished, good-looking Disney veteran was a hard-nosed operations wizard, not a dreamy fashion junkie. He seemed to be just the man to restore discipline to the floundering company.
Advertising Age, February 26, 2007 — Your brand disasters will now be broadcast. Widely and instantly. The video of a dozen rats scampering around a New York KFC/Taco Bell restaurant was clearly bad news for the reputation of the Yum Brands businesses, which were already reeling from an E. coli episode last year that some believe has contributed to a Taco Bell sales slump.
New York Times, February 26, 2007 — For the last three years, Enrique Martínez has been toiling like a 3-D warrior to let the games begin. The result is a hybrid movie theater with all the digital fire and fury of a video game: fog, black light, flashing green lasers, high-definition digital projectors, vibrating seats, game pads and dozens of 17-inch screens attached to individual chairs. And naturally, there’s buttered popcorn.
Business 2.0, February 26, 2007 — On the Internet today, everybody knows you're a dog. In fact, legions of Internet companies also know your breed, your gender, your age, the neighborhood you live in, that you like pickup trucks, and that you spent, say, three hours and 43 seconds on a website for pet lovers on a rainy day in January. All that data streams through myriad computer networks, where it's sorted, catalogued, analyzed, and then used to deliver ads aimed squarely at you, potentially anywhere you travel on the Web.
BusinessWeek, February 26, 2007 — You're a pretty sharp executive. But maybe your company is suffering from slowing sales growth. Perhaps margins are getting squeezed. Or new competitors are stealing market share and talent. What do you do? Innovate, of course.
Brandchannel.com, February 26, 2007 — What associations come with a Japanese brand identity? Technologically sophisticated? Efficient but boring? Cheap and durable? A little kooky? All cultures come with a raft of stereotypes, and tying a brand to a national identity can carry some risk.
New York Times, February 25, 2007 — BEFORE Gary Levinson embarked on his first cruise, he was just another skeptical landlubber who wouldn’t even board a fishing boat for fear of getting seasick. “I thought if I tried to cruise, I’d be hanging off the side of the ship, chumming,” said Mr. Levinson, 40, an environmental chemist from Newburgh, N.Y.
Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2007 — Starbucks Corp. built its broad appeal on what Chairman Howard Schultz labeled an "experience," including baristas who know customers' orders by heart and an atmosphere that entices patrons to linger for hours. That experience has enabled the coffee chain to charge the premium prices that fuel its robust earnings growth.
Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2007 — Salt scrubs you apply yourself. Self-service 'massage capsules.' Saddled with costs from an expansion binge, luxury spas want customers to do their own pampering. But can you relax while slathering on mud? At the Pearl Spa in suburban Baltimore it's a full-body mud pack you apply yourself. The Townhouse Spa, off Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, offers a massage treatment delivered by a robot.
New York Times, February 23, 2007 — BY the glow of candlelight, the Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg and 10 friends dined on foie gras and New York strip steak this week as they looked out over the lights of Los Angeles. The meal was gratis, and so was the Champagne, elegantly poured by silent, liveried servers at Soho House, a British-style private club practically created overnight in an empty mansion for the week leading up to Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony
Business 2.0, February 23, 2007 — Wayne's World, it's not. The Web TV series Diggnation draws hundreds of thousands of viewers. It has Fortune 500 corporate sponsors, and its two young stars are among the brightest in the tech firmament. Still, the production values are more in line with Wayne and Garth than they are with, say, The Daily Show ...
Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2007 — Walt Disney Co. has made a fortune out of turning little girls into princesses. Now it plans to turn big girls into princesses, too. In a move to expand the reach of one of its most popular franchises, Cinderella and her regal friends are moving into the bridal business with a line of wedding dresses and accessories.
By Scott Davis, February 22, 2007 — Barely into the new year, and the heads are already rolling in CMO-land, with a quartet of what Ad Age calls “rock ‘n roll” marketers severed (some more rudely than others) from their posts at Wal-Mart, Volkswagen, Verizon and Coke.
High flyers Julie Roehm (Wal-Mart) and Kerri Martin (Volkswagen) were fired; Jerri DeVard (Verizon) and Mary Minnick (Coke) walked away (some say with blinding headaches from battering against glass ceilings).
Marketing celebrities all, a status not necessarily... continue reading
Advertising Age, February 22, 2007 — Google's VP-advertising sales, Tim Armstrong, touted his company's ability to court brand advertisers during a question-and-answer session at Bank of America's Technology Conference today.
Brandweek, February 22, 2007 — The customer bill of rights and the $30 million that JetBlue Airways will hand out in vouchers and expenses related to last week’s operations meltdown could deliver more impact than any marketing executed by the seven-year-old airline. Or the new policy’s downside is it creates an entitlement that would make profitability even more elusive.
Forbes, February 22, 2007 — There are about 75 million Roman Catholics living in the U.S. and KFC has its sights set on their appetites. This week, KFC, owned by Yum! Brands, began selling something in its 5,500 U.S. locations that it's never sold nationally: fish.
FORTUNE, February 22, 2007 — It's not every day that you see successful corporations humiliate themselves. But it happens. In the case of high tech, it usually occurs when a company can't resist the urge to launch a moon shot, a Herculean but overly ambitious and inevitably misguided effort to come up with some ultimate new thing.
Advertising Age, February 21, 2007 — After 90 years of shilling Thin Mints door to door (and at card tables set up in the local grocery store, Wal-Mart, etc.) the Girl Scouts are going digital to promote their annual cookie drive, blanketing all the websites de jour — YouTube, Grouper, Friendster — and racking up the friends on MySpace.
BusinessWeek, February 21, 2007 — We live in a society of consumption. Our voracious and seemingly endless appetite for more, better, bigger, and easier is leaving our planet overrun and creating an environment that may not be able to sustain human life.
Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2007 — After Irene B. Rosenfeld became chief executive officer of Kraft Foods Inc. in June, she spent months talking to employees and peeking inside consumers' kitchens — from suburban Chicago to the capital of China.
Marketing Profs, February 20, 2007 — When I stepped off the cable car at California Street and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco last week, I quickly ducked into the Wells Fargo Bank branch on the corner. At least I thought it was a Wells Fargo—until I saw all the leather armchairs, hardwood floors, artsy wall coverings and the espresso bar.
Advertising Age, February 20, 2007 — Taking a lesson from parent BMW, Mini USA is introducing a series of online short films that track the adventures of a character named Hammer and his sidekick Coop, a Brit-speaking Mini.
Marketing Profs, February 20, 2007 — It's "PrimeTime" for Dove's revolutionary Pro-Age products and advertising. I love the new "bare it all" ads, and I guarantee that many women "of a certain age" do too. Because finally marketers are not only recognizing but also actually showing "real" women over the age of 50 in their ads.
Adweek, February 19, 2007 — When marketing Snapple Green Teas last fall, Cadbury Schweppes crafted a media plan that emphasized how they help lower cholesterol and fight cancer. Because of the new drink's healthy bent, the company geared ads toward young, athletic consumers. Yet after tracking ad clicks during a six-week Web push, an unexpected new audience emerged: electronics shoppers.
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — Jack in the Box is taking inspiration from the internet-video phenomenon to bring its ball-headed Jack Box character to life in its restaurants. The No. 5 burger chain has been testing Jack TV, a series of 33 branded films and interstitials played on flat-screen TVs in about 115 concept stores in Seattle and Waco, Texas.
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — The next blockbuster Spanish-language telenovela is a dramatic tale of passion, betrayal, tragedy — and Clorox. Telemundo's "Dame Chocolate" ("Give Me Chocolate") will launch in mid-March with Clorox so tightly integrated into the soap opera that plot twists and characters' lives literally hinge on the effectiveness of the brand's products.
New York Times, February 19, 2007 — The founder and chief executive of JetBlue Airways, his voice cracking at times, called himself “humiliated and mortified” by a huge breakdown in the airline’s operations that has dragged on for nearly a week, and promised that in the future JetBlue would pay penalties to customers if they were stranded on a plane for too long.
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — If he pulls this off, E. Neville Isdell could go down as the sultan of spin. Several times during a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts, Coca-Cola's Chairman-CEO refrained from using the tired old term for the weakening category in which his company's flagship competes. At least a dozen times during the call, the word "carbonated" was swapped with a far more friendly term, "sparkling," while the word "still" was used in place of "noncarbonated."
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — Jeff Herbert has a marketing problem. Everyone knows his advertising icon, but he believes most consumers don't know what it sells. So he intends to clip the Aflac duck's wings. You might think any chief marketing officer would be grateful to inherit the annoying avian, who has landed the insurer phenomenal 85% brand awareness in the past five years.
USA Today, February 19, 2007 — Procter & Gamble (PG) CEO A.G. Lafley was named one of America's Best Leaders for 2006 by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and U.S. News & World Report. USA TODAY management reporter Del Jones spoke with Lafley, 59, about what makes good leaders and bad leaders.
CMO Strategy by AdAge, February 19, 2007 — Hard as it may be, it's a question every CEO and CMO today must meet with an honest answer: Is your brand obsolete? This means taking a cold eye to today's metrics of sales performance and ruthlessly tracking how well the brand satisfies the current and untapped demands of your core customers. It also calls for a disciplined approach to betting on unspectacular brands with enormous promise over seemingly healthy brands that are in fact already on life support.
Brandchannel.com, February 19, 2007 — From a marketing perspective, grocery stores always seemed to be a sleepy, amorphous category without a lot of brand innovation.
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — Real school was never this cool. Aaron aired an art film and talked up his favorite Jordan sneakers and Nike ACG jacket. Jennie unwrapped a self-styled hand-knit Bart Simpson blanket and needlepoint artwork, just before Alex showed off photographs he took in Cambodia, including one set for exhibition in a Swiss art gallery.
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — It's one of the most-hyped developments in marketing, yet online video still accounts for only a tiny fraction of the $280 billion ad market, and less than 5% — about $775 million — of the $20 billion online-ad industry in 2007, according to eMarketer. What gives?
Advertising Age, February 19, 2007 — Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. is riding Nintendo's Wii wave with the launch of a free web portal offering games users can play on their Wii consoles. Without any contact with Nintendo, the gum giant is linking its popular adver-gaming site, candystand.com, to the hugely successful game console through Nintendo's Wii browser.
CBS News, February 18, 2007 — It has to be the most overused phrase in marketing: "New and improved!" But in business new isn't just a selling point, but it's a mantra. Companies walk a tightrope to balance the need to be the newest, the freshest; the best while staying stay true to the product that put them on the map. For example, the packaging for a Cheerios box has changed, but what's inside box is pretty much the same as it was back in 1941, when General Mills launched "Cheery Oats."
By Steve Chang, February 16, 2007 — Relevance and differentiation. When it comes to the hallmarks of a great brand, such characteristics are among the most critical. Combined, they help ensure a brand drives business performance. Yet a strong brand can easily lull its stewards into a false sense of security. And the brand boneyard is filled (think Oldsmobile, Ipana toothpaste, and more) with once-great brands that did not change with the times.
Will Gap join their numbers?
Surprisingly enough, a variety of prognosticators queried... continue reading
BusinessWeek, February 16, 2007 — In the last month or so, the branding world has been buzzing about the merger of two wireless companies with different cultures, the resurrection of a dead man's body to sell popcorn, and the launch of a mobile phone by a company whose brand is known by the color white.
Advertising Age, February 15, 2007 — Using media as a means to demonstrate a product is an increasingly common tactic for brands that want to make a connection with their consumers. In some cases, media is used to mimic product function and in others a competition forces consumers to sample a product, if they want to participate.
BusinessWeek, February 15, 2007 — General Electric wants to bring more good things to life. The company known for washing machines, wind turbines, and jet engines is putting its name on a line of digital cameras and photo printers.
ANA Marketing Maestros, February 15, 2007 — We always like to point out our members that showcase exceptional marketing in a complex Pontiac environment. The U.S. auto market is going through a bit of an adjustment (understatement of the year) as they compete in a viscious market. Pontiac's marketing has not missed a beat.
Brandweek, February 15, 2007 — The plan called for Holiday Inn Select to be recast as a hotel for Gen X travelers by stuffing guest rooms with such gadgets as MP3 clock radios and applying feng shui principles to design rooms. But that decision came before executives at parent InterContinental Hotel Group began gleaning through what they are calling the largest marketing research study ever conducted in the hotel industry.
Advertising Age, February 15, 2007 — T-Mobile USA's chief marketing officer, Mike Butler, has resigned. A spokesman for the wireless carrier said Mr. Butler was in route to the T-Mobile sponsored NBA All Star Game in Las Vegas and could not be reached immediately for comment. The spokesman declined to discuss the reasons for Mr. Butler's departure. He said a successor has not been named.
Wall Street Journal, February 15, 2007 — When the big TV networks stage their annual presentations for advertisers every spring, they go heavy on showbiz pizzazz. Yahoo — trying to get a jump on the networks with its own event for marketers this week — took a different approach.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — The Dockers label is an unlikely bright spot at Levi Strauss & Co. When the beleaguered jeans company reported fiscal 2006 earnings yesterday, the U.S. Dockers unit was a standout, posting an annual sales increase for the first time since 1998. Just three years ago, when Dockers was struggling, closely held Levi Strauss tried unsuccessfully to sell the division.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — Nearly a year before the first caucuses and primaries take place, the 2008 presidential campaign advertising war is under way online. Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular with political junkies and potential donors.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — As part of a world-wide rebranding effort by the big bank, Citigroup Inc. reached a deal to sell the iconic umbrella logo to St. Paul Travelers Cos. — reuniting it with Travelers, which has been identified with the umbrella since the late 1800s. St. Paul, which bought the Travelers property-and-casualty business — minus the distinctive logo — for $16.4 billion in 2004, said it plans to rename itself Travelers Cos., switch its ticker symbol to TRV from STA and once again use the umbrella to market products around the globe.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — Boeing Co., taking a page from the automobile industry, is now offering customers of its new 787 "Dreamliner" something that most car buyers take for granted: a showroom. Airline representatives who visit the new Dreamliner Gallery can't actually kick the tires here — the four-wheeled main landing gear of a 787 is about the size of a Mini Cooper — but they can try out a variety of seats and even conduct bakeoffs to test how well different flight ovens warm up chocolate-chip cookies.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — To reach consumers through traditional means such as TV and print, advertisers have reliable and longstanding techniques: 30-second spots and print ads. When it comes to blogs and other emerging Web venues, however, marketers are less certain.
Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2007 — When it comes to innovation, the conventional wisdom often tells companies to aim for home runs. But frequent singles can be just as important. Home runs, in this case, are radical innovations — breakthrough products, anything from disposable diapers to cellphones, that introduce a new core technology and provide much greater customer benefits than existing products.
Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2007 — The W Chicago City Center has a stylish lobby and chic guest rooms, with 350-thread count sheets and marble bathrooms. But it doesn't have a bar Frank Bynum feels comfortable in, or even a phone he can understand.
Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2007 — J.C. Penney Co. today will unveil a new marketing campaign centered around the slogan "Every Day Matters," the latest step in its long-running push to update its image to reflect more stylish offerings.
Marketing Profs, February 13, 2007 — With 2007 in full swing, here are our predictions for the rest of the year to come. In prior years we have given you a mix of business and personal lifestyle predictions, but this year we're sticking to just the online marketing world.
Advertising Age, February 13, 2007 — In an attempt to shoo away the ducks, geckos, cavemen, good hands and good neighbors bombarding its would-be customers, Travelers Insurance has repurchased its signature red umbrella from Citigroup.
Brandchannel.com, February 12, 2007 — The responses were diverse, yet—surprisingly—unified. According to the experts, it's the year of the consumer—paradoxically bedraggled and emboldened. Traditional brand-building is hugely redefined; technology and brands merge; fantasy sports, virtual worlds, and social networking rule; "green" and accountability are king; and, of course, some things never really change.
BusinessWeek, February 12, 2007 — Practice is over at American Airlines Arena, and Dwyane Wade takes a minute to explain how he's putting his touch on a new mobile phone. The All-Star guard for the Miami Heat and a self-proclaimed budding businessman is helping wireless carrier T-Mobile USA Inc. (DT ) design a limited-edition Sidekick, the texting device/cell phone beloved by twentysomethings.
Adweek, February 12, 2007 — General Electric's history is firmly rooted in Americana, with the likes of Thomas Edison and Ronald Reagan mingling with the utility giant. Reagan hosted the TV show General Electric Theater from 1954 to 1962, a weekly half-hour program sponsored by the company that Edison founded in 1892.
Advertising Age, February 12, 2007 — GM slashed ad spending by more than $600 million last year, a drop so stunning it should convince even the staunchest doubters that the age of mass-media marketing is going the way of the horse and buggy.
Advertising Age, February 12, 2007 — Radio has been flat in revenue and declared the least engaging medium in recent years, but new electronic measurements and surprising statistics may help the medium rebound quicker than expected.
BusinessWeek, February 12, 2007 — In one 30-second TV spot, former Ford Motor Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford used the word "innovation" almost once every eight seconds. "If you look at the Ford Motor Company, innovation has driven everything we've done," Ford said in the opening of the ad, which ran from late 2005 into 2006. The repetitions came to feel like a mantra as he concluded, "Innovation will be the compass that guides this company going forward." That campaign has by now been abandoned.
New York Times, February 11, 2007 — When a chain of pizza restaurants with locations in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, California and Colorado recently announced a promotional stunt that involved accepting pesos, it sparked controversy, national news coverage and even threats.
Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2007 — The storied merchants of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue have a neighbor with a new look these days: Payless ShoeSource Inc., the retailer long known for cluttered, warehouse-like stores, budget shoppers and shoes that rarely cost more than $15 a pair. Across from Lord & Taylor at 39th Street, the Payless store sports a new sleek design and shoes such as a $22 platform pump with a bow tie.
Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2007 — This winter, many parents across the country are sitting on the floor with slabs of cardboard, box cutters and special rivets, and building pirate ships for their kids. How did this happen? Thank 45-year-old Cliff Worthington. An English teacher in Osaka, Japan, he mentioned the box projects on a popular Web site called Digg.com1. Soon, supplies of the rivets needed to make them sold out at MrMcGroovys.com2.
Advertising Age, February 8, 2007 — C&A was running a Father's Day promotion to encourage sons to purchase something a bit different for dad. The offer was that anyone who bought a T-shirt, swimming shorts or pajamas for dad got their own item, identical in every way but size, for free.
New York Times, February 8, 2007 — Remember when Japanese manufacturing techniques were all the rage? You could hardly read the business press without encountering mention of ''lean manufacturing,'' ''just-in-time inventory systems'' and ''total quality management.''
CBS News, February 8, 2007 — Muzak has long been associated with cheesy elevator music. Bob Finigan, one of the company's directors, is out to change that perception.
New York Times, February 8, 2007 — For six years, it was a perk that Home Depot’s chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli, could not do without: a catered lunch for his top deputies, served daily on the 22nd floor of the company’s headquarters in Atlanta.
DMNews, February 8, 2007 — Snickers.com and BudLight.com received the largest market share increase of Web site visits on Feb. 5 following their Super Bowl ads when compared to other brands advertising during the big game, according to online competitive intelligence service Hitwise.
Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2007 — Ever since Walt Disney opened Disneyland in 1955, Walt Disney Co. has rarely strayed from his original vision of what a theme park should be. But at a top-secret development unit these days, the company is plotting a new spurt of theme park expansion that goes well beyond its traditional model of luring people to Disney resorts in Florida or California.
USA Today, February 7, 2007 — Burger King is desperately seeking pop culture's holy grail: to be cool. So cool it can sell more than 3 million Burger-King-branded Xbox video games in two months. So cool that The King, its masked icon-with-attitude, showed up in Jay Leno skits 17 times in two months.
USA Today, February 7, 2007 — So cool it can sell more than 3 million Burger-King-branded Xbox video games in two months. So cool that The King, its masked icon-with-attitude, showed up in Jay Leno skits 17 times in two months. So cool that The King's got an ultra-popular profile on MySpace.com.
Advertising Age, February 7, 2007 — Hearst Magazines is pushing into the mobile space this week with the introduction of new cell phone sites for Seventeen, Cosmopolitan and Cosmo Girl — with more planned this spring for Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and House Beautiful.
Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2007 — Walking through this city's historic emerald district last summer, Arthur Groom was approached by a man who sidled up and flashed a fistful of white folded papers containing cut stones.
Advertising Age, February 7, 2007 — The iMedia Brand Summit in southwest Florida this week focused not on the art of digital marketing but on the art of digital conversation, a timely topic after the Super Bowl aired three consumer-generated ads.
Marketing Week, February 7, 2007 — Search marketing has become a vital component in the marketing mix, and marketers must wake up to the fact that if they are not spending money on search marketing, then they will be losing internet traffic and sales to their rivals.
Brandweek, February 7, 2007 — Joseph E. Seagram has made quite a name for himself. At the height of his power, his Canadian spirits distillery was the largest in the world. Today, exactly 150 years after the Waterloo, Ontario, plant banded its first bottle, the Seagram name is alive and well—albeit under the watch of Pernod Ricard and other former competitors.
Forbes, February 6, 2007 — Ford Motor is about to dust off the once-proud Taurus nameplate and put it on the slow-selling Five Hundred sedan, proving that a change at the top doesn’t necessarily lead to clearer thinking.
Advertising Age, February 6, 2007 — Almost three months after U.K. regulator Ofcom announced plans to end junk-food advertising to all children under the age of 16 in the U.K., Masterfoods has decided to stop marketing confectionery to children under the age of 12 by the end of this year — after earlier criticizing the regulator's cutoff.
Financial Times, February 6, 2007 — Premium car companies often like totalk about making every customer count. When Rolls-Royce Motors does so, it is difficult to doubt its sincerity. The British super-luxury marque, owned by Germany's BMW, sells barely 800 cars a year.
USA Today, February 6, 2007 — Philip Rosedale didn't create Second Life to be a game or a toy. He thinks he is remaking the Internet — taking it on a giant leap forward, much like the invention of the Mosaic browser or World Wide Web.
Advertising Age, February 5, 2007 — Ford is joining the ranks of marketers realizing listening is as big a part of their jobs as talking. The automaker is the latest to join the search for unvarnished consumer comment online as it today finalizes a contract with BrandIntel, a unit of Bandimensions, Toronto, to track internet chatter about its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in the U.S. and the Ford brand in Europe.
CMO Strategy by AdAge, February 5, 2007 — Google, Yahoo and MSN aggregate information of many kinds, including the brand preferences and opinions of consumers; now there is evidence that computer programs at the root of these services are forming rudimentary brand preferences and opinions of their own.
Advertising Age, February 5, 2007 — Marketers have added another item to the multichannel checklist: wikis. A wiki, popularized by the community-created encyclopedia site Wikipedia, is an easy way for a group of users to collaboratively author content.
Advertising Age, February 5, 2007 — In the panoply of billion-dollar package-goods brands, the newest may well be the lowliest. Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Scott brand reached $1 billion in U.S. net sales for the first time in 2006, after leading the category since 2002 with a 7% annual growth rate.
New York Times, February 5, 2007 — When Pony Ma, the 35-year-old co-founder of China’s hottest Internet company, sends a message to friends and colleagues, the image that pops up on their screens shows a spiky-haired youth wearing flashy jeans and dark sunglasses.
That is not how Mr. Ma actually looks or acts, but it is an image that fits well with the youthful, faintly rebellious nature of a company led by somebody who may be China’s closest approximation to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the young founders of Google.
Advertising Age, February 5, 2007 — In November, Ad Age's Bob Garfield hooted down Goodby, Silverstein & Partners' campaign for the Saturn Aura, saying "there hardly seems to be another explanation, other than maybe absolute surrender to the client's worst instincts, to shed light on why an agency of this caliber would have produced a generic TV commercial." He couldn't have been more right.
CMO Strategy by AdAge, February 5, 2007 — With an average lifespan of fewer than 24 months and enormous pressure to measure and improve return on investment, chief marketing officers now more than ever require robust technologies that can assist in customer acquisition and retention.
BusinessWeek, February 5, 2007 — It is 3:36 a.m. Thursday at McDonald's in Garner, N.C., a bedroom community just beyond the city limits of Raleigh. Although the town's taverns closed more than an hour ago, the last clubgoers are straggling home. Their cars barrel by ones driven by waitresses, commercial cleaners, musicians, nurses, and computer analysts heading home from work.
New York Times, February 5, 2007 — Television commercials for Microsoft's new Vista operating system show a spaceship taking off, a reindeer appearing in the middle of a suburban neighborhood and a man holding a piece of the Berlin wall.
FORTUNE, February 5, 2007 — In the chaos of today's media and technology brawl - iPod-vs. Zune, Google vs. Yahoo, Windows vs. Linux, Intel vs. AMD - we can declare one unlikely winner.
Forbes, February 5, 2007 — Kevin Rollins can't be feeling good about himself. After two years at the helm of PC maker Dell, he resigned last week, and founder Michael Dell took the CEO job. Rollins' story is an old one: The founding entrepreneur retires, and the new chief executive just can't make the company work. Robert Nardelli, the recently-ousted chief of Home Depot, also struggled when he took over from the company's co-founder, Arthur Blank, in late 2000.
KenRadio, February 2, 2007 — According to BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Usage Study of over 15,000 consumers, marketers in 2007 are faced with the new reality of a consumer controlled communication model, with the advent of the Time Magazine selection of "you" as the Person of the Year in 2006, and "the consumer" having been selected as the Agency of the Year by Ad Age.
DMNews, February 2, 2007 — The inevitable death of companies that do not evolve was the rallying cry of J.C. Penney chairman/CEO Mike Ullman, yesterday’s morning keynote speaker at Shop.org’s FirstLook conference.
Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2007 — McDonald's Corp. and General Motors Corp. wanted to plant upbeat references to their products in the script of Spain's top-rated television show, "Aqui no hay Quien Viva" ("No One Can Live Here"). In Spain, the world capital of TV ads and plugs, the writers were more than happy to oblige.
Business 2.0, February 1, 2007 — Top 5 include:
1. Wal-Mart: PR Campaign
2. Northwest Airline: '101 Ways to Save Money' Guide
3. McDonalds: MP3 Player Giveaway
4. GM: User-generated Ad Campaign
5. Kazakhstan: Currency
BusinessWeek, February 1, 2007 — A few years back, Toronto-based gold mining company Goldcorp (GG) was in trouble. Besieged by strikes, lingering debts, and an exceedingly high cost of production, the company had terminated mining operations. Conditions in the marketplace were hardly favorable.
Fast Company, February 1, 2007 — It's the design world's dirty little secret. Despite the growing consensus that "good design is good business," most companies lack objective financial metrics to help them calculate whether increased investment in design will, in fact, generate increased profits. Does it matter? Chuck Jones, Whirlpool's (NYSE:WHR) design chief, certainly thinks so.
Fast Company, February 1, 2007 — There's a calculus to knitting. An untamed batch of wool gets twisted and fed into a spinning wheel, a wooden contraption about as high-tech as an abacus, that binds the fibers into a single strand of yarn. That yarn, in turn, is woven into geometric designs comprised of equations: A certain number of rows combined with certain stitches yield something functional and beautiful. In the right hands, knitting produces a precise but almost magical alchemy--chaos into order.
KenRadio, February 1, 2007 — 65% of consumers are spending more time with a computer than with their significant other, according to new study by Kelton Research. The "Cyber Stress" study confirmed consumers' growing relationship with technology in their everyday lives.
Harvard Business Review, February 1, 2007 — Our annual survey of emerging ideas considers how nanotechnology will affect commerce, what role hope plays in leadership, and why, in an age that practically enshrines accountability, we need to beware of “accountabalism.”
Check out #3: Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing and #6: An Emerging Hotbed of User-Centered Innovation
Trendwatching, February 1, 2007 — TRYSUMERS: “Freed from the shackles of convention and scarcity, immune to most advertising, and enjoying full access to information, reviews, and navigation, experienced consumers are trying out new appliances, new services, new flavors, new authors, new destinations, new artists, new outfits, new relationships, new *anything* with post mass-market gusto.”
Fast Company, February 1, 2007 — If there's any musician who can make sense of the tectonic upheaval in the industry, it's John Legend. Before teaming with Kanye West and Snoop Dogg on his major-label debut, Get Lifted, the ultrasmooth R&B singer-songwriter worked as an associate consultant for the Boston Consulting Group (under his given name, John Stephens). When the recording sold north of 3 million copies worldwide--and snagged a trio of 2006 Grammys, including best new artist--John Stephens the consultant had some cautionary words for John Legend the musician: Protect your brand. It was some of the best advice he'd ever gotten.