At Kodak, Some Old Things Are New Again

Eastman Kodak, which once considered itself the Bell Labs of chemistry, has embraced the digital world and the researchers who understand it

New York Times, May 2, 2008 — Steven J. Sasson, an electrical engineer who invented the first digital camera at Eastman Kodak in the 1970s, remembers well management’s dismay at his featMy prototype was big as a toaster, but the technical people loved it,” Mr. Sasson said. “But it was filmless photography, so management’s reaction was, ‘that’s cute — but don’t tell anyone about it.’ ”

Since then, of course, Kodak, which once considered itself the Bell Labs of chemistry, has embraced the digital world and the researchers who understand it.

Starbucks Seeks Jolt From Another Mass Tactic†

Coupons Follow Close Behind Free Samples

Advertising Age, April 21, 2008 — Howard Schultz insists he's returning Starbucks to its roots, but he's doing it with mass-marketing tactics once anathema to the original brand.

The company is estimated to have nearly doubled its marketing spending to $100 million, and last week it began an aggressive coupon program unlike anything in its history, raising questions about its turnaround strategy.

A Star at Toyota, a Believer at Ford

James D. Farley, Ford’s chief marketing officer, says he grasps that Ford is at a crossroads and that it has been on a tortured path over the last decade

New York Times, April 20, 2008 — AT a dinner here at the Bellagio hotel about two weeks ago, the ballroom buzzed with 1,400 car dealers fired up for a turnaround at the Ford Motor Company. With fresh products coming and a new ad campaign in place, they were ready to celebrate an attempted comeback by the struggling Detroit automaker.

But James D. Farley was hardly in a festive mood.

He had been on the job as Ford’s chief marketing officer for all of six months, lured away from a stellar career with the Japanese juggernaut Toyota to inject similar sizzle into Ford.

I Just IM'd to Say "I Love You"

American Greetings, the 101-year-old cardmaker, uses social-networking widgets and instant messaging to reach the younger audience it desperately needs.

Fast Company, April 11, 2008 — It's the weekend before Valentine's Day and the dozen or so shoppers at the American Greetings store in midtown Manhattan are wandering through a sea of Mylar balloons, heart-shaped tchotchkes, and rows upon rows of paper greeting cards. (Valentine's Day is the second-most-popular card holiday, behind Christmas and just ahead of Mother's Day.) The vast majority of shoppers are women, and only one appears to be under 40. The manager estimates that just 10% to 15% of customers are under the age of 20, prompting the adolescent sales clerk to hammer home that the clientele is predominately "middle-age women." That is not just anecdotal evidence but acknowledged fact at American Greetings, which generated $1.7 billion in 2007 revenues. Its annual report reveals... continue reading

Girl Scouts Seek an Image Makeover†

Green Skirts Are Out as Organization Faces a 'Nonjoiner' Society

Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2008 — The cookies will stay, but the green skirts are history.

The Girl Scouts, seeking to reverse declining troop numbers, is shaking up its image. On Tuesday, the organization is expected to announce the appointment of its first chief marketing officer, a former senior partner and executive group director at WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather.

Laurel Richie will be in charge of modernizing the image of the Girl Scouts, which is viewed by many as a rigid, old-fashioned organization focused on cookie fund-raisers and campouts. "Girls think of us as outdated," says Kathy Cloninger, chief executive of Girl Scouts of the USA. "They have stereotypes of who we are that are not right."

Revlon's Makeup Test†

After a Painful Flop, Company Focuses on Its Core Brand

Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2008 — Revlon's new cosmetics have to do more than create just another pretty face.

Starting this week, TV ads starring longtime spokeswoman Halle Berry will introduce a line of Revlon makeup infused with minerals. Print ads launched in magazines last month featured Jessica Alba touting new Revlon foundation in a bottle that lets consumers' customize their shade, and this month she is featured in lipstick ads.

The blitz marks the first major initiatives since the company's Vital Radiance cosmetics line aimed at older women flopped 18 months ago, leading to the ouster of its chief executive, more than $70 million in losses, the dismissal of about 10% of its U.S. work force and a new strategy for Revlon.

Starbucks Takes a 3-Hour Coffee Break

Starbucks temporarily closed stores as it retrained workers and tried to revive “the romance of coffee.”

New York Times, February 27, 2008 — At Starbucks stores across the country on Tuesday night, it was time for the corporate version of re-education camp.

In its campaign to revive the intimate, friendly feel of a neighborhood coffee shop, Starbucks orchestrated the closing of 7,100 of its American stores at precisely 5:30 p.m. for a three-hour retraining session for employees

Is CBS Trying to Rebrand Couric?†

Latest Ads More Cronkite Than Katie as Newscast Continues to Trail Rivals

Advertising Age, December 10, 2007 — With Katie Couric's perky personality and "Today" background at the ready, her arrival at CBS to anchor the evening newscast was billed as a chance to reinvent the program in a way that would attract more women and younger viewers. That hasn't exactly worked out. Now CBS is promoting the show as if Walter Cronkite still sat behind the desk.

The Ins and Outs of Brand Reinvention

Women's Wear Daily, October 30, 2007 — For some mature brands, reinvention is the only source of survival. For others, it's an impossibility that no amount of financial resources and design talent can accomplish. Companies such as Burberry, Coach, Gucci, Lacoste, Dior, Diane von Furstenberg, Guess and J. Crew are textbook cases of brands that have reinvented themselves and enjoyed tremendous success in a second life.

Reviving John Deere

How the CEO of the green tractor maker whipped the 170-year-old company into shape and doubled net income.

FORTUNE, October 15, 2007 — When a company has been around as long as John Deere - 170 years, to be exact - it enjoys a rich history and, in the case of the Moline, Ill., firm, loyal customers who "bleed green." But a company that old can also get set in its ways - and bad habits can seep in.

When CEO Bob Lane took the wheel of the farm equipment giant in August 2000, he quickly identified Deere's biggest problem: spending too much money to make money. Factories tended to overproduce, churning out a steady level of product no matter what the season or the demand. Its results were inconsistent: