Marketers Seek To Score In Tough Times By Playing At The U.S. Open

The U.S. Open is the perfect venue for watching the branding game.

Forbes, September 8, 2009 — For those of us in marketing there's a competition at the U.S. Open that's equal to the exciting Melanie Oudin when it comes to the potential for big bucks. It's the competition among corporate sponsors of the tournament for consumer attention. While the tennis balls are certainly interesting to tennis buffs like me, as a branding professional it's the match for eyeballs that really peaks my interest.

I.B.M. Will Buy a Maker of Data Analysis Software

SPSS makes software to help businesses and governments organize and analyze data to make better decisions, useful tools in a downturn.

New York Times, July 29, 2009 — I.B.M. took a big step to expand its fast-growing stable of data analysis offerings by agreeing on Tuesday to pay $1.2 billion to buy SPSS Inc., a maker of software used in statistical analysis and predictive modeling.

Major technology companies have made a flurry of such purchases in recent years, grabbing suppliers of software that helps businesses and governments organize and analyze data to make better decisions.

The Reputation Challenge: Building Corporate Reputation to Drive Business Performance

By Aneysha Pearce

Prophet, May 1, 2009 — Corporate reputation must be built. It must be supported and managed. And, it must be an authentic reflection of the business — its culture, value system, and behaviors. Businesses that expect to experience the kinds of success achieved by best-practice organizations will understand that truth. And they will create and live the kind of meaningful purpose that will allow them, too, to more effectively reap the benefits of a strong reputation.

IBM Uses Video, Social Tools for B-to-B†

Ogilvy created 'Mr. Fong,' a lost-in-space software developer seeking a way to get home

Adweek, March 4, 2009 — The buzz around social media is usually reserved for hot consumer brands, yet IBM has seized an opportunity to use such marketing tools to tout a "dry" technology product to IT professionals.

The tech giant recently launched the second phase of a social marketing push to build awareness and sales among software developers. Unlike the recent social media rage around Skittles, IBM needs to reach just a few hundred thousand potential customers and teach them about a complex product that aids developer collaboration.

Cisco aims to serve

The networking titan thinks it can take on IBM, HP, and Dell selling servers. The ball is in CEO John Chambers' court.

CNNMoney.com, March 3, 2009 — It is the buzz of the tech world: Cisco Systems may soon try selling servers, those heavy-duty computers that companies use to run critical back-office applications. The prospect of router giant Cisco's entering the already crowded $55-billion-a-year server market is intriguing (imagine if LeBron James decided to try his hand at football) but also has the potential to disappoint. (Remember Michael Jordan's ill-fated effort to play professional baseball?)

What GM Can Learn from IBM

The automaker's future may depend as much on selling a service as a product, a lesson that helped save IBM from extinction two decades ago

BusinessWeek, February 26, 2009 — Disappointingly for anyone with hopes for the future of General Motors (GM), the restructuring plan submitted by the automaker to the U.S. Treasury on Feb. 17 offers little in the way of a long-term comeback strategy. It's all about cost-cutting, federal financing, and making gas engines more efficient.

What more should we expect? The typical fate of corporate behemoths that flounder is either death or permanent eclipse, and perhaps GM's fate will be no different. Still, the recent past offers one rare exception that GM would do well to emulate.

Gerstner's IBM Reinvention

In Campaign Wars, Apple Still Has Microsoft’s Number

New York Times, February 3, 2009 — TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Apple hurled a legendary marketing sledgehammer at I.B.M. personal computers that ran Microsoft software. During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple ran a television ad that depicted those machines as instruments of Big Brotherish conformity. The ad was shown just once, but people still talk about it. Today, Apple is still producing ads that hammer away at computers that run Microsoft’s software. But this time, Apple’s pounding is constant, even as Microsoft has been weakened by product stumbles and a series of ads that fell flat with the public.

Out of Office: Job Loss in the Age of Blogs and Twitter†

Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2009 — It's been decades since Americans had this much time on their hands and — thanks to the Web — never have there been so many opportunities to burn it.

In November, Julia Otto was headed to her first day on a new job, car keys in hand, as an administrative assistant with a New Orleans construction company when her phone rang. Her position was eliminated before she even started.

Now, when she's not sending out resumes or doing household chores, the 43-year-old spends several hours a day playing games. Her favorite is an adventure-puzzle game called "Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst," where she hunts for clues inside a spooky mansion to unlock a mystery. She spends about $7 a month playing games on the Big Fish Games site.

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Get Out of the Silo

By David Aaker

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)

Recession Can Be a Marketer's Friend†

From Soap Operas to IPods: History Suggests Slumps Spawn Innovation

Advertising Age, March 25, 2008 — The massive bailout of Bear Stearns from the brink of bankruptcy could be the first of many financial rescues needed. Despite double-digit plunges, U.S. housing is still overpriced by historical yardsticks. Retail sales have gone from slow to declining, and the consumer-spending binge that propped up the U.S. economy for years may not return for a long time.

In short, it's a great time to be in marketing.