McCann Offers Peek at Lives of Latin America's Poor†

Interpublic Unit Forms Bodega Division to Tutor Clients in Marketing to the Region's 'Emerging Consumers'

Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2008 — During presentations at McCann Worldgroup's office in Bogotá, Colombia, staffers have taken to letting a chicken loose to hunt and peck around clients' feet.

In Mexico City, the big advertising agency hired a local merchant to install racks of potato chips and otherwise transform its conference room into a bodega, or corner grocery store. Clients lunch on tacos served on a plastic table mat.

The point of these exercises: to give big marketers some insight into the lifestyles of Latin America's low-income consumer.

The 0.3% Solution

In good times or bad, a customer database is a license to do business.

Hub, December 8, 2008 — Research indicates that during the last two recessions (1990-91 and 2000-01), growth in every retail sector slowed. According to the McKinsey Quarterly, 93 percent of retailers surveyed experienced slowing revenue growth in one of the recessions and 59 percent found it true in both.

Unfortunately, it also takes retailers longer to benefit from the turnaround when it does happen. The average retail growth rate in the year of recovery in both 1991 and 2001 was just 0.3 percent.

Most of us start to hunker down and take a defensive approach to a recession. Obviously cutting costs where possible is common sense. But when it comes to marketing at retail, cutting back is a self-fulfilling prophecy to 0.3 growth.

During previous recessions, advertising,... continue reading

How Marketing Can Lead the Charge for Business Innovation

Marketing Profs, November 6, 2007 — It's surprising how many business professionals don't really know what marketing is. Some people perceive it to be a necessary evil that consumes budgets and provides little payback; others see it as a person or department tasked with producing tactical "creative things" such as advertising, Web sites, email campaigns, and so on.

If we can take one idea away from all of these definitions, it would be that Marketing's job is to create customer value, engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty. Marketing serves as the stand-in for the customer, informing product development and other functions of what customers want and need.

Baseball, Apple Pie... and Mahindra?

How an Indian company plans to woo America's heartland with its fuel-efficient SUVs and pickups

BusinessWeek, November 5, 2007 — Engineers from India design advanced jet engines, write some of the world's most sophisticated software, and run massive global computer networks. But can they make a pickup truck that will sell in America's heartland?

Mahindra & Mahindra, a conglomerate based in Mumbai, intends to find out. In spring, 2009, the company plans to launch two- and four-door pickups and a sport-utility vehicle in the U.S.

1,200 Marketers Can’t Be Wrong: The Future Is in Consumer Behavior

New York Times, October 15, 2007 — Consumer behavior as a route to effective marketing was a central focus of the largest gathering ever of an influential trade organization.

The 1,200 people who attended the 97th annual conference of the Association of National Advertisers, held here from Thursday through yesterday, heard speaker after speaker address the growing popularity of what is known as behavioral targeting, as opposed to basing pitches on consumer attitudes, opinions or perceptions.

Nintendo Is Ad Age's Marketer of the Year†

...While Marketers Picked Apple as Their Choice

Advertising Age, October 15, 2007 — Question: Can a new product not only radically revive a company but also reinvigorate an entire industry?

In much the way Apple made music aficionados out of mere music buyers, Nintendo via its Wii system has created a passionate group of devotees out of people who previously couldn't have cared less about video games. Wii broke open a market long confined predominantly to young men and welcomed in the rest of the family.

When Creating Brands, Dress Rehearsals Help

New York Times, August 5, 2007 — CAN the selection of a showerhead make or break a hotel brand? Some hotel executives seem to think so.

Starwood is one of several hospitality companies developing hotel brands or rebranding old ones. Since 2005, some 31 brands have been announced, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, more than at anytime since 1988-89, when 27 were introduced. And with this increased competition, identifying market segments and customer preferences has become essential to creating customer loyalty — which is where the showerhead, among other details, becomes crucial.

The Latest Consumers You Need to Get to Know†

Influencers From the Pages of 'Karma Queens, Geek Gods and Innerpreneurs'

Advertising Age, July 23, 2007 — The consumer has a new face — again. Yet another wave of millennial consumer taxonomy is headed down the pike. Where once the terms "soccer mom" and "metrosexual" were enough for marketers to target stay-at-home matriarchs and young, urban males, a rise in new media and more-fluid career paths have led researchers to uncover new consumer targets.

P&G's Global Target: Shelves of Tiny Stores†

It Woos Poor Women Buying Single Portions; Mexico's 'Hot Zones'

Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2007 — Every day, Martina Pérez Díaz spends about five hours sewing 70 pairs of black loafers by hand for a wage of 120 pesos, or about $11. When she wants to wash her hair, she walks to her local tiendita, or "small store," to buy a 0.34 ounce, single-use packet of Procter & Gamble Co.'s Head & Shoulders shampoo. The price: two pesos, or about 19 cents. "That I usually can afford," she says.

Shoppers like Ms. Díaz factor heavily into P&G's plan to conquer more of the globe. The consumer-products giant has a goal of increasing total sales by 5% to 7% annually over the next three years.

BMW Drives Germany

Time, July 5, 2007 — Cloth seats or leather? Sunroof or spoiler? Walk into any auto dealership to buy a new car, and you'll be offered a multitude of options. If it's a BMW you're buying, however, there's a twist: you can walk out of the showroom and change your mind later. Perhaps you'd really prefer the poplar interior trim to the brushed aluminum.