I've been watching intently to see how Menu Foods (the manufacturer of wet dog and cat food sold by the millions under private label brands at major stores such as Petco and Walmart) is stepping up to help their customers with the growing illness and losses of their beloved pets. ... more

As marketers we've been raised on the 4 , and in fact some authors have suggested new . Of the traditional 4 Ps most marketers are consumed with "Promotion" and "Product," and fewer yet focus on However, it seems "Price" gets the short end of the stick time and again. ... more

"What do women want?" may seem like the eternal quandry, but it doesn't have to be -- especially with regard to consumer behavior. Sometimes it is the easiest answer that escapes our over-thinking brains. (Now, as far as what women want in relationships, there are gazillions of books to choose ... more

The top concerns on the minds of senior marketing executives are "integrated marketing communications" and "marketing accountability," according to a recent by the Association of National . Guess which one of these two jumped to #1 from #4 last The ANA asked over 100 senior marketers to select from a ... more

An interesting story in the Houston says that Austin-based Whole Foods Market will be opening a spanking new store smack-dab in the middle of London this coming June. Does anybody out there doubt that Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has any plans for global expansion With the Continent a Chunnel ... more

This just As per , is launching Forbes Life Executive in October. I am all for better serving the businesswoman reader, but am wondering if entire new magazines need to be created to do Forbes is an established, well-read publication. What about just working to make its content and delivery ... more

This turns one year old this week. I've already celebrated the occasion–back in January, on the one-year anniversary of its conception, with an article Seven Lessons from a Blogging , that ran in the MarketingProfs newsletter. But since then,I've noticed a whole bunch of birthday posts or mentions on other ... more

Debra Guzov of Guzov Ofsink LLC , a New York-based international law firm, takes the personality of each new marketplace into account when building the company's global "To establish our brand overseas, we selectively market by going to conferences domestically and overseas where we will be able to target particular ... more

One of the best things about being a #3300ff;" recruiter" marketing who specializes in multichannel ecommerce is that I get to deal with some of the smartest people on earth.  Honestly, they're amazing.  There's just so much happening in the multichannel marketing arena, what with all of the changes in ... more

The shift from organization power to customer power continues, as customers use the Web to organize themselves like never The Web gives organizational tools to the customer. The ability to organize 100 or 10,000 people used to be the exclusive domain of nations or well-funded private companies. Not "The power ... more

Sometimes I think those of us who run marketing firms or work in a marketing department forget that although we are the beginning of the sales process, we also need to be involved in the middle and the end. For at the end of the day, our bottom lines and ... more

Even after writing and speaking about marketing to women for all these years, I must admit I still have trouble confidently deciding which of these words to "female" vs. "woman" or "gender" vs. "sex." Of course, for some inexplicable reason, I have never taken the time to look it up ... more

I'm a Baby Boomer. In fact, I'm on the leading edge, having popped into this world in 1946. Although at 12 lbs. exiting a 90-pound mother, it was Iess a pop than a . And I'm still causing thuds -- the good kind, I On Wednesday, March 21, CK posted ... more

Dear I won't go political. Not here, not anywhere. We keep our political rants well away from our marketing discussions just like we keep our peas from touching our carrots. Usually. Sometimes, succotash happens. But someone has to give a great big "Wow, did you see that?" to the 1984 ... more

Just as I put the final touches on "Marketing Through Storytelling" for MarketingProfs (tomorrow, Thursday, noon eastern time), I read Steve Miller's story in on the how some 30-second ads are evolving into several minute videos. He points to two examples I will be using Thursday, as well - the ... more

Now, I love! has essentially hired a Chief Forgiveness A fellow named Fred Taylor Jr., with the formal title of Senior Manager of Proactive Customer , spends his 12-hour workdays finding out how Southwest disappointed its customers. He then fires off homespun letters of apology and "touches" to ease the ... more

As my regular blog readers know, before becoming a #3300ff;" recruiter" marketing I owned a B2B inside sales consultancy called "Reliable Growth."  Essentially, I taught companies like NCR and Aflac how to research, identify, and develop new business with a phone, an internet connection and a fax Telemarketing was the ... more

Anyone who has talked with me in the past few months knows that I am basically a walking evangelist for Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's So, stop right now and go buy it or get it from the library (but you will probably have to highlight a few sentences, so...). ... more

If the Web were a film, its plot would be much more like that of Lord of the Rings and much less like , Dirty Harry or Die . It would be much more about a cooperative group of friends striving together to achieve a shared goal. It would disdain ... more

Telling a good story is at the core of good marketing or branding. But what happens when the story is tongue-in-cheek and the audience doesn't "get it?" Has the average audience become When average consumers or business people believe the message and the message or story is bogus -- just ... more

Eric , CEO of search giant , told an investors group this week that the market for targeted advertising is at a very early stage with lots of innovation still to come, according to Internet Discussing the inefficiency of random ads in traditional media, Schmidt noted, "It's a constant barrage ... more

Why is all the travel time, rich food, lack of exercise and not-your-own-bed annoyance of going to conferences worth the effort? For me, it is because the speakers usually bring life to information that, while interesting in its own right, might not otherwise strike me or inspire real Good speakers ... more

For those of you too young to remember or who don't follow baseball, before Yogi Berra, Leo Durocher was known as baseball philosopher. Although the phrase was taken out of context, he is best known for the "Nice guys finish last." Not inspired this blog in a post in which ... more

Anyone else feel a little bemused at the news of ABC ordering a pilot of a TV based on Geico's cavemen First of all, good for - .... it is a case study of marketing done well, and yet another example of blurring line between advertising and entertainment. Geico is ... more

Last week I attended an incredible multi-disciplinary conference on the topic of "community" called The From the perspective of residential community developer John L. Knott, Jr. of the Noisette to that of fiction english tutoring founder Dave ...and that of renowned organizational expert Margaret among many others, we audience participants ... more