Burberry Looks Online for Ways to Gain Customers

New York Times, November 9, 2009 — Angela Ahrendts still remembers when she bought her first Burberry trench coat. She was 21 years old, had just finished her studies in Indiana and was looking for a smart but warm coat to wear for her first job at a small men’s wear firm in New York.

Those raincoats, a 95-year-old fashion icon, remain Burberry’s best-selling item, and Ms. Ahrendts — who now runs the company — is hoping to move the quintessentially British brand into the age of the Internet to attract a new generation of shoppers.

Got Relevance?

MediaPost Publications, October 30, 2009 — One of the most daunting challenges companies face now is how to market themselves.

Think of it: There are many businesses with the same or similar offerings. Customers can purchase goods or services from anywhere in the world, thanks to the Internet. With rapid commoditization, effectively marketing a business is more challenging than ever. It takes more than a marketing plan, strategy and tactics, positioning and differentiation to successfully market now. But what?

The Death of Consumer Segmentation?†

Rethinking a Traditional Marketing Tool

Advertising Age, April 13, 2009 — One of the most important paradigms governing today's marketing world is the constant drive to better segment a brand's customer and prospect base. Conventional wisdom says that the better we segment consumers, the better we can market to them. Consumer segmentation is viewed as a "best-in-class" practice across the marketing world.

But are we on the right track?

What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign†

Change -- and Positioning -- You Can Believe in

Advertising Age, November 5, 2008 — Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing.

Take a relatively unknown man. Younger than all of his opponents. Black. With a bad-sounding name. Consider his first opponent: the best-known woman in America, connected to one of the most successful politicians in history. Then consider his second opponent: a well-known war hero with a long, distinguished record as a U.S. senator.It didn't matter. Barack Obama had a better marketing strategy than either of them. "Change."

Spam: The Ultimate Survivor†

Potted Meat Thrives for 71 Years -- During Both Boom and Bust

Advertising Age, June 16, 2008 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — By all rights, something should have happened to Spam the brand that a dose of sodium nitrite prevents from happening to Spam the product: It should have gone bad. Yet after 71 years on supermarket shelves, the king of potted meats has not just survived; it's thrived. In recent quarters, Spam has sported double-digit sales increases that have made some big headlines.

How Tupperware Made Itself Relevant Again†

Brand Shifts Image Via Endorsers Ice T, Brooke Shields, Sees Sales Increase 14%

Advertising Age, June 4, 2007 — Tupperware has undergone a resurgence of late, growing not only in places such as China and Russia, where Wal-Marts are still hard to find, but even in the U.S. and Canada.