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New York Times, January 31, 2009 — After 24 years, one of the most famous blunders in marketing history is quietly coming to end. The Coca-Cola Company is dropping the “Classic” from its red labels in some Southeast regions, and the word will be gone from all of its packaging by the summer, the company said Friday.
eMarketer, January 29, 2009 — Traditional media usage by Internet users in the US remained largely steady in 2008 after falling in 2007, judging by respondents to a Ketchum and USC Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center survey conducted in late 2008. For instance, less than two-thirds of respondents said they watched major network TV news, about the same as in 2007 but down from the 71% who said so in 2006.
Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2009 — A PERSON could go mad trying to pinpoint the moment he lost a friend. So seldom does that friend make his feelings clear by sending out an e-mail alert.
It’s not just a fact of life, but also a policy on Facebook. While many trivial actions do prompt Facebook to post an alert to all your friends — adding a photo, changing your relationship status, using Fandango to buy tickets to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” — striking someone off your list simply is not one of them.
New York Times, January 27, 2009 — The hotel business has collided head-on with the bad economy and the tight credit market.
Hotel revenue is down sharply. Big new projects, planned in the boom days, are either sitting unfinished or left on the drawing boards. And some high-end hotel owners now face an unhappy situation — how much can they cut prices to fill their rooms before they damage their hotels’ luxury cachet?
Brandweek, January 26, 2009 — In this corner we have Apple, which spent about $300 million on measured media for the first 10 months of 2008 and is every marketer’s favorite—often held up as the epitome of branding. In that corner, Acer, which spent about $12 million on media for the same period, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus, and is no one’s idea of the hallmark of brand creation.
USA Today, January 26, 2009 — Sip. Slurp.
Repeat.
That sums up the business plan at Campbell Soup before Douglas Conant took over as CEO eight years ago this month. It was the same old company doing much of the same old stuff it had been doing since it was founded in 1869. It had no clear direction. No red-hot brands. Its innovation cupboard was bare.
Pretty thin for a company whose basic product — soup — is held in such high esteem that the typical American home has six cans of Campbell's in the pantry.
Conant went to work. His self-described mission: to take a "bad" company and lift its performance to "extraordinary" by the end of one decade — that's by 2011.
Advertising Age, January 26, 2009 — The Dow may be down, but things are looking up for CMOs.
Marketing chiefs are embracing new technology and doing a better job of synchronizing their departments' efforts with overall business goals, and as a consequence their tenure is increasing.
Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2009 — To boost productivity at engineering firm MWH, executive Victor Gulas asks employees which colleagues they talk to, and whom they turn to for help. Then he draws a "map" of the connections, which reveals dark patches around employees who work closely with others and lighter areas where there's little interaction.
Mr. Gulas says the map shows communication gaps, information bottlenecks and underutilized employees. "It's making the invisible visible," he says.
Advertising Age, January 26, 2009 — Who in corporate America owns the consumer relationship, the customer experience, word-of-mouth or social media? The answer appears to be nobody.
For all the talk about listening to consumers, few marketers think their companies are doing so effectively and even fewer are monitoring what people say about their brands in social media, according to a new survey by the CMO Council.
McKinsey Quarterly, January 26, 2009 — Activists who challenge the status quo play a critical but often overlooked role in both promoting and impeding radical business innovation. Their importance stems from the very nature of innovation, which frequently challenges existing interests, norms, values, social practices, and relationships. As a result, the joined hands of market rebels—activists and their recruits—have with surprising frequency exerted significant influence on market acceptance of breakthrough products and services.
Advertising Age, January 26, 2009 — Hispanics, the country's largest and fastest-growing ethnic minority, are becoming a sought-after target for mobile advertisers as brands connect the dots between the group's receptiveness to advertising and its heavy mobile usage.
Advertising Age, January 26, 2009 — Antony Young
We know the recession is hurting purchases of big-ticket items such as cars and flat-screen TVs, but even life's seemingly small luxuries, such as that morning latte, are being hit hard. Indeed, an Advertising Age study found that 60% of Americans have scaled back from premium coffees in the past six months, with the mighty Starbucks experiencing a flattening of its froth. Enter Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's, which both upped their coffee-marketing efforts in 2008, hoping to steal some of Starbucks' share.
New York Times, January 25, 2009 — IT was billed the Choice Meeting: a secret two-day conference in Arkansas in 2005 pairing Wal-Mart Stores, a symbol of scorched-earth global capitalism, with some of the nation’s most influential environmentalists. And it began with a zinger.
“Tell me why I should care about an endangered mouse in Arizona?” asked H. Lee Scott Jr., the retail giant’s chief executive, only partly in jest.
At the time, Wal-Mart was the target of a well-orchestrated assault focusing on its labor practices and environmental record. It was also straining to keep its legendary growth on track. Mr. Scott, hungry for ways to protect and transform his company, began to see environmental sustainability as a way to achieve two goals: improve Wal-Mart’s bottom line and... continue reading
New York Times, January 24, 2009 — COMPANIES too often hinder their own success by focusing too narrowly on selling products and not on what their customers actually need, says Dev Patnaik, a business strategist. Businesses could be more successful — and see competitive opportunities faster than their rivals — if they looked differently at what they were doing.
Chicago Tribune, January 24, 2009 — In the grocery aisles and in kitchens across the country, old school is increasingly in, courtesy of the recession and higher food prices.
Less-expensive comfort foods and classic brands—think Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Hormel's Spam canned meat—are doing bang-up business. White flour and dried beans are hot items as more Americans are making foods from scratch.
And the supermarket sales category with the highest annual growth rate as of early November was—get this—canning and freezing supplies, according to market researcher Nielsen Co.
Hub, January 22, 2009 — Despite its Hollywood trendiness, the average person doesn’t go out and buy a Prius just to feel good about reducing his or her carbon footprint. Most people buy cars that meet their motoring needs and end up choosing a Prius because its environmental proof-points align with their personal requirements.
It’s the classic emotional/rational balance: a high-mileage vehicle from a respected, reliable manufacturer means lower consumption of greenhouse-gas producing (not to mention high price-volatility) fossil fuels.
The Prius appeal is a perfect example of green pragmatism, because the vehicle’s environmental benefits are used for more than just a “feel good” green spin — they are rational product proof-points. As a result, the consumers’... continue reading
Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2009 — The Courtyard and other Marriott chains recently stopped putting hand lotion in their rooms, leaving guests to ask for it at the front desk. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts are putting fewer towels in rooms. And Ritz-Carlton hotels are shaving opening hours at restaurants, spas and retail shops.
New York Times, January 21, 2009 — Beginning on Monday, the TNT cable channel hopes to add Rothman Greene & Mohr to those ranks as it introduces a weekly series, “Trust Me,” about a Chicago agency that competes against nonfictional firms like Leo Burnett and DDB. In another realistic wrinkle, actual products are being written into the scripts of episodes — including some, like the Dove line of hair care products sold by Unilever, that are also sponsors of the series.
Advertising Age, January 21, 2009 — Starbucks' campaign to promote volunteerism (and store traffic) got a huge bump today from no less than Oprah Winfrey — and by extension, Barack Obama.
The talk-show host talked up the java giant's "I'm In" campaign, which encourages consumers to pledge five hours of community service before the end of the year. Those who commit to doing so at Starbucks between now and Sunday will be rewarded with a free coffee.
Time, January 21, 2009 — As Barack Obama's phenomenally poised, incredibly adorable daughters smiled and waved for the cameras at the Inauguration, J. Crew got a spot on the world's biggest showroom floor. The preppy, upscale retailer was quite happy to spread the word on Tuesday that Malia Obama, 10, and her sister Sasha, 7 (or Radiance and Rosebud in Secret Service parlance), were decked out in J. Crew's children's line, called Crewcuts, for the big event. Malia wore a deep periwinkle blue coat to her dad's swearing-in, while Sasha went for an orange-and-pink combo. Fashionistas raved about the color schemes. "We are honored to be part of such a momentous occasion in both history and fashion," said Jenna Lyons, J. Crew's creative director.
Prophet, January 20, 2009 — Prophet Vice Chairman David Aaker argues that to succeed in today’s global arena, marketers must learn to appeal to consumers whose interests transcend individual products and regions. (via Strategy + Business)
Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2009 — Marketers, seeking to boost their online exposure while keeping a lid on costs, are looking beyond Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo to find new places for their search ads.
The trend reflects a change in the way consumers are navigating the Web. More online searches now take place on YouTube, the popular video site owned by Google, than on Yahoo, the No. 2 Web-search property. The change has companies including Pizza Hut, Universal Pictures and Monster.com rethinking their search marketing strategies.
Crain's Chicago Business, January 19, 2009 — ne of the coolest apps on the iPhone isn't Pandora or Facebook: It's recipes and shopping lists for Kraft singles, Jell-O gelatin and Minute Rice.
Yes, enough Kraft Food devotees are actually paying to be marketed to on their beloved iPhones that the company's iFood Assistant is now one of the device's 100 most popular paid apps, and No. 2 in the lifestyle category. With its endeavor, Kraft is pulling off a rare trick: getting consumers to pay a one-time 99-cent fee for the app and also sit through ads on it. And in the process, it's collecting useful data for targeting them more closely.
Kraft's iFood Assistant is both a paid app and contains advertising.
New York Times, January 18, 2009 — K. C. ESTENSON, the new general manager of CNN.com, has a thought or two about most news sites on the Web: they’re predictable and homogeneous. Seen one, seen ’em all.
Even his own site, he says, could use more of a “unique signature.”
While traffic to the home page of CNN.com is higher than ever, “my hunch is that people go to it more out of habit than they do out of love,” he says. Love, in fact, is exactly what Mr. Estenson is pursuing.
Marketing Daily, January 18, 2009 — At its peak on Saturday, 215 people a minute were becoming fans of Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III on a Facebook page set up to honor the pilot of US Airways Flight 1549.
Vitrue CEO Reggie Bradford tells Marketing Daily that this "crystallizes the amplification effect social media can uniquely deliver on a cause or brand. If brands can conjure up the right mix of ingredients, there are millions upon millions of passionate consumers who will take social actions."
Advertising Age, January 15, 2009 — Women rule the office. At least that's what OfficeMax has come to believe, leading the retailer to revamp everything from circulars to catalogs to its website.
Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2009 — In a sign of the urgent steps publishers are taking to keep readers and advertisers, the Chicago Tribune will start printing a tabloid edition for newsstand sales, keeping its traditional format only for home-delivery subscribers.
Starting Monday, Tribune will publish two versions of the paper, the eighth-largest U.S. daily. Subscribers will continue receiving the same format, while only a tabloid-style version will be for sale weekdays at retail outlets. Each version will carry essentially the same stories, and the price is unchanged at 75 cents.
BusinessWeek, January 14, 2009 — We are caught in a pincer grip between intensifying competitive pressure and accelerating change in the landscape around us, creating enormous performance pressures. What we know today is becoming less valuable as we struggle with the challenge of innovating faster and learning faster to operate more effectively in these challenging times.
Advertising Age, January 14, 2009 — Since the roll out of Pepsi-Cola's new smiley-face-type logo and optimistic-themed campaign, plenty have drawn comparisons between it and President-elect Barack Obama's message. The soft-drink giant will solidify that connection with a major presence in Washington during next week's inauguration festivities
BusinessWeek, January 14, 2009 — Two years ago managers of Nortel Networks (NT) unveiled a risky wager to transform the troubled telecom equipment maker through innovation and design. Their agenda included modernizing research and development, creating so-called future-proof gear, and experimenting with emerging technologies ranging form virtual worlds to Web 2.0. "We're not tweaking; we're turning Nortel on its head," John Roese, Nortel's chief technology officer, said last August, describing the changes underway.
Advertising Age, January 13, 2009 — As a marketer, you may be asking yourself: Are there any consumers out there who will be shopping this year? The answer is a resounding yes. Moms will keep shopping. They have to. Moms control 85% to 90% of household spending on everyday, Warren Buffet-advocated items, according to a BSM Media Study, which also projects household spending to be $3 trillion in 2012, up from $2.1 trillion today. In this economy 85% may play an even bigger role to your bottom line. Your efforts to understand their purchase behavior are more important than ever.
Advertising Age, January 12, 2009 — The principals of the latest marketing agency: Maria Bartiromo, Meredith Vieira, Tori Spelling and Susan Lyne.
They, along with 22 other estimable names, including Ogilvy & Mather Chairman-CEO Shelly Lazarus, aren't forming an agency in the traditional sense, but will be part of a "panel" offering marketing and general business advice to NBC Universal and its clients on how to reach women. The group will also blog, write and appear on air for the media company's women-oriented properties and contribute to a quarterly newsletter, "Power of the Purse," covering marketing to the demographic and the latest female trends. The panel will convene for the first time Feb. 10. In effect, it could become the most powerful female-focused agency in the country.
Hub, January 12, 2009 — Will the Great Recession bring out the best and brightest? A roundtable discussion featuring Michael Mendenhall of Hewlett-Packard, Patia McGrath of General Electric, John Fish of AstraZeneca and Patrick Meyer of Now Inc.
Advertising Age, January 12, 2009 — Accountability is clearly keeping marketers up at night as the economic crisis continues to thread its way across industries around the globe and 2009 budgets come under greater scrutiny. So with economies performing badly in ways not seen in decades, all marketers should have a method-based and actionable answer to why marketing dollars are not a dispensable spending item but instead an investment with measurable ROI.
CMO Strategy by AdAge, January 12, 2009 — Accountability is clearly keeping marketers up at night as the economic crisis continues to thread its way across industries around the globe and 2009 budgets come under greater scrutiny. So with economies performing badly in ways not seen in decades, all marketers should have a method-based and actionable answer to why marketing dollars are not a dispensable spending item but instead an investment with measurable ROI.
eMarketer, January 12, 2009 — Today's economic turmoil is tightening many ad budgets. Marketers are looking for the most effective use of their dollars. For Internet advertising, they look for performance-based advertising that is highly accountable—and that means search.
While eMarketer estimates show search ad spending rising steadily from $10.7 billion in 2008 to nearly $20 billion by the end of 2013, the fallout from economic problems is still buried in the data.
New York Times, January 11, 2009 — It wasn’t too long ago that McDonald’s, vilified as making people fat, was written off as irrelevant. Now, six years into a rebound spawned by more appealing food and a less aggressive expansion, McDonald’s seems to have won over some of its most hardened skeptics.
New York Times, January 9, 2009 — This week, Michael Phelps signed a deal worth more than $1 million to advertise Mazda in China. Jerry Seinfeld earned a reported $10 million to appear in Microsoft’s recent television campaign.
But the person who may be the biggest celebrity pitchman in the world is not earning a penny for his work.
President-elect Barack Obama has repeatedly said how much his BlackBerry means to him and how he is dreading the prospect of being forced to give it up, because of legal and security concerns, once he takes office.
Advertising Age, January 9, 2009 — There's an old British saying that where there's muck, there's brass. Right now the muck is the financial-services industry, and the brass is the massive opportunity in this $10 billion category for groundbreaking branding and marketing — one that rivals the defining of the dot-com era. Financial services, once one of America's most admired and valuable industries, has lost its luster and international standing, creating a multibillion-dollar brand vacuum.
New York Times, January 8, 2009 — HOW much does Tropicana want to become America’s main squeeze? Enough to undertake a major makeover of its advertising, marketing and packaging, centered on “squeeze” as a noun as well as a verb.
The campaign carries the typographically challenging theme “squeeze it’s a natural,” which is intended to evoke the way oranges are turned into Tropicana along with the warm way in which the company wants consumers to embrace the brand.
Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2009 — Walt Disney Co. is making a push to crack a market that few media companies have been able to conquer — boys aged 6-14.
Next month, the company will launch a boy-focused entertainment brand called Disney XD, consisting of a new cable television channel, a comprehensive Web site with games, music, videos and social networking.
For Disney, the move marks a new push designed to replicate some of the success it has scored in recent years with its largely girl-targeted entertainment franchises such as Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers.
Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2009 — Gatorade is looking to jump-start sales by keeping its mouth shut.
For about a week, the PepsiCo sports drink has been running teaser television, print and online ads that ask: "What's G?"
The ads are part of a big rebranding effort for the Gatorade brand that includes a redesigned package and, according to a person familiar with the matter, a Super Bowl commercial. PepsiCo is trying to reach consumers beyond sports nuts to help reverse the brand's weak sales performance.
Springwise Newsletter, January 7, 2009 — While headlines in 2008 focused on failing markets, foreclosures and fear of worse to come, our network of 8,000+ Springspotters had no trouble finding bright new business ideas as they continued to pop up around the globe. Here are our favourites across 10 industries
BusinessWeek, January 7, 2009 — There's probably no better time for an organization to ask the question, "What's the return on investment?" Given the economic uncertainty, it's an understandable instinct.
The problem is, traditional ROI, with its focus groups and lab-type settings, is less relevant in a fast-paced digital world. Hyperfocusing on ROI as a key indicator of future success limits the quality of insights that can be obtained when an initiative is launched in a real environment. In the real world, a "mass audience" doesn't really exist (this is especially true on the Web) and brands that deal in niches are rewarded. In the real world, the collective is the focus group.
Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2009 — A big reason auto sales have tanked in recent months is the sharp rise in unemployment. Folks who are worried about losing their jobs aren't likely to take on the added risk of a five-year car loan.
Hyundai Motor America unveiled a novel approach to the problem over the weekend. Dubbed the Hyundai Assurance Program, the South Korean automaker said people who finance or lease a new Hyundai during the next 12 months could return the car if they "experience an involuntary loss of income" within one year of the purchase date.
Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2009 — Animation giants have vowed this year to turn three-dimensional technology from a curiosity to a fixture in theaters. Now comes the attack on homes.
The quest to deliver 3-D versions of television shows, movies and videogames to the living room will be a hot topic at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off Wednesday night in Las Vegas. The offerings face some big challenges — including a grim economy and the difficulty of persuading users to wear special glasses associated with most 3-D technologies.
FORTUNE, January 5, 2009 — Bob Iger is inside the Royal Festival Hall in London on a September afternoon, geeking out with some young guys about two of his favorite things: tunes and technology. The CEO of Walt Disney Co. pulls out his iPhone and thumbs through his playlists, looking for a particular live U2 track from an Italian concert. Briefly the conversation is drowned out by the squeals of teen girls standing behind a nearby barricade of security guards and velvet ropes. "They're screaming for me," Iger says, glancing up.
He's joking, well aware that they're really screaming for his companions: Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas, a.k.a. the Jonas Brothers. The collectible-lunchbox-cute trio, with a median age of 18, are pop heartthrobs who a few weeks earlier became the first... continue reading
Advertising Age, January 5, 2009 — Marketing executives are tired of buzzwords such as Web 2.0, blogs and social networking. They're more concerned about credit availability, housing markets, alternative energy and the trade deficit, according to a new study of top-level marketers.
Of course, it's no surprise that the economy is weighing heavily on marketers looking toward 2009. In a study by Anderson Analytics for the Marketing Executives Networking Group, more than half of the marketers surveyed said their budgets will be cut in the coming year, and another 44% said they'll cut or freeze hiring.
Reuters, January 5, 2009 — Mattel Inc's (MAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Fisher-Price brand signed a multi-year deal as the global toy licensee for HIT Entertainment's Thomas & Friends train product line, in a move to boost sales globally, the companies said on Monday.
Financial terms of the deal, which covers multiple territories around the world, were not disclosed. The first products will be available in 2010, when the Thomas line celebrates its 65th anniversary, and offerings will expand as existing licensees' rights expire, the companies said.
Hub, January 5, 2009 — It’s not every day that hot, spicy cinnamon is the first thing you smell when you go shopping for furniture. But it is the sweet scent of sticky buns in the oven that greets shoppers as they approach the front doors of IKEA’s New Haven, Connecticut, store.
Bill Agee, marketing chief of IKEA U.S., agrees that sugar and spice is not a bad way to say “hello” to customers, but says it’s just a coincidence. “It’s not planned,” he says. “It’s just that the HVA system wafts out into the parking lot at some of our stores.”As Bill puts it: “At IKEA, it’s this idea that, ‘you do a little and we do a little’ … and together we save.” A Princeton poli-sci major who went into the advertising agency business before joining IKEA about 15... continue reading
USA Today, January 5, 2009 — The New York Times is selling display advertising on its front page, its latest step to seek new ways to make money as it deals with a prolonged ad revenue downturn.
The first ad, which appears at the bottom of the front page in Monday's paper, is for broadcaster CBS.
BusinessWeek, January 5, 2009 — In September 2007, Apple (AAPL) upstaged rival electronics retailers with a new product available only at its 180 stores. Billed as the world's smallest laser printer, the SCX-4500 offered all the must-have features of an Apple blockbuster: sleek good looks, buttonless touch controls, and easy set-up. The logo on the front, though, wasn't Apple's. It belonged to Samsung Electronics—one of the biggest suppliers of flat-panel televisions, cellular phones, and refrigerators in retailing—which created the stunning, piano-black printer. Intent on toppling industry giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the South Korean consumer electronics giant spent three years working on its first designer printer before teaming up with Apple for its introduction.
Advertising Age, January 5, 2009 — Are you building a business? Or are you building a brand? Silly questions, you might be thinking. Naturally, you are trying to do both.
But that might be a mistake.
What's good for the business is not necessarily good for the brand. And vice versa.
The Guardian, January 5, 2009 — A self-confessed 'pretty unlikely early adopter', the digital guru Clay Shirky still proved to be uncannily prescient about the impact of the web - which is why Tom Teodorczuk is getting his media forecast for 2009
Prophet, January 1, 2009 — CMOs are responsible for managing the assets, resources, and tools that are needed to confront a crisis. That’s why they have to play a more active role in their organizations, trying to generate alternative solutions (instead of just following/obeying them). This article explains a 5-step process to develop an effective brand strategy. *Please note, this article is in Spanish. (via Marketing y Ventas)
Prophet, January 1, 2009 — While it is tempting to cut resources, slow down product launches, and refocus only on the core, companies that continue their commitment to innovation are more likely to reap great rewards.