A Business Week survey notices that for 25% of respondents, "customer awareness remains elusive". But are the surveyed companies really trying hard to gain insight into their customer base? more

The number one carbonated beverage company in the world has finally lost touch with Their new global slogan -- 'The Coke Side of Life' -- seems to have been created haphazardly due to Pepsi gaining ground on After being exposed to a half-dozen of these spots the last few months, ... more

Small businesses have similar challenges to many nonprofit organizations. There's never enough money or human to do what the "big boys" do. Many small business owners are Jacks or Jills of all trades - often fulfilling multiples roles - the business development rep, the service provider, the product shipper, the ... more

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Not the coffee -- truly, I live on the stuff -- but the I was Dead Man Walking (late flight) through Boston's Logan airport last week when I saw a rack of magazines -- the free (mostly business) publications some terminals offer travelers. What caught my eye was the cover ... more

Face we marketers are button-downed control freaks. Once we do have that big, creative idea, we build a wall to protect it in its After that, much of marketing has to do with painful details, timing and execution. Perhaps this is why it is so hard for us to accept ... more

I just presented at the MarketingProfs 'Finders Keepers' event in Santa Barbara and what an inspiring MarketingProfs has been incredible at building a virtual community among its members. Santa Barbara made the virtual real. Not only was it great to see the community of marketing professionals who rely on MarketingProfs ... more

I've been hearing about NASCAR's female fans and all the clever cross-promotional ideas and licensed products for a while now, but this recent Sports Illustrated article pulled it all together for The stats, as reported "According to a pair of recent surveys, of NASCAR's 75 million fans 40 percent are ... more

The folks over at BurstMedia just released some new information on internet that I thought you'd find interesting. Highlights * More than half of respondents to the survey say that the internet is their primary source for information on products or * Men are more likely than women to say ... more

I've spoken numerous times on "Creative Strategies in the Age of Disbelief." One of the key premises is that DECEPTION IS VERBOTEN. One of the "10 Ways to Suspend Disbelief" is to admit fallability. more

I'm getting ready to leave Santa Barbara at the end of the Finders, Keepers After two wonderful days of presentations, this is the most important thing that's coming home with It's not the beauty of Santa Barbara, impressive as it It's not the luxury of the Upham hotel, as relaxing ... more

I'm enjoying the second day at MarketingProfs Finders, workshop and I've noticed something The best presentations have lots of "lumps" in them. Instead of proceeding smoothly from point to point or slide to slide, the presentations that hold my interest -- and build real excitement in the audience -- are ... more

Recognising that the role of appliances is moving away from their traditional places in the kitchen and laundry room, decided to explore a household of linked This involved two major shifts in traditional appliance design conceptualising new devices for locations where they've never been and inventing ways that they could ... more

Last night I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time as I flew into Santa Barbara for MarketingProfs' Finders Keepers two-day intensive marketing An hour after landing, I was drinking wine with workshop participants before resting up for the seminars ahead. I took the opportunity to ask if there ... more

I've been trying to prod my friend Andy Sernovitz, who heads the Word of Mouth Marketing , to write something for this blog, but he's constantly blowing me He's air quotes SO BUSY air quotes , he tells Well, sure. Who isn't? I'm just kidding ya, Andy. The truth is ... more

One of the best things about living in Manhattan is that pedestrians rule. Well, except when you are the driver. While I walk just about everywhere, I seem to forget this once I am behind the On an average day, I am the pedestrian, cursing the drivers that prematurely roll ... more

I type this from a Web conference in Boston, where everyone remains obsessed with search engine Those of you who know me or have read my columns over the past 12 years know I'm not a big fan of search engine rankings obsession.... In fact, for me the mark of ... more

"What excites me. . .is the way these kinds of companies have chosen to implement innovation inwardly. . . reinventing the way they think, their business processes, internal operations and strategies should lead the way to a lot of new possibilities." more

Branding is more and more becoming a multi-sensory And no industry is employing sensory branding more than the hotel industry. If you opened your New Yorker magazine recently, you probably saw the new ad for . But this ad didn't include the picture of a Heavenly Bed or a trendy ... more

Collective intelligence will be a key competitive advantage in the 21st Never before has there been a better medium to tap the collective intelligence than the The very first issue of my newsletter that I published on June 24, 1996, was about the potential of collective intelligence. The Internet allows ... more

Boston-based Aquent and the American Marketing Association (AMA) today announced the launch of this year's Compensation Survey of Marketing Professionals. And the news seems mostly The survey–details of which are available here –says companies are placing more emphasis on strategic marketing within their organizations and hiring more top-level marketers. In ... more

This past week or so, the topic of saleswomen vs. salesmen has come up a few times, and then a friend forwarded this Wall Street piece to me titled "Car Dealers Recruit Saleswomen at the Mall." (reg. required) So, I thought I'd take it as a sign and share my ... more

When it comes to exporting, you cannot be all things to all Decide on something. Then stick with it. But how do select a product for What gives you the most pleasure as a businessperson? Is it creating satisfaction by meeting consumer demands? Is it the challenge of spotting a ... more

I'm surprised this is news, but it is after a long On the front page of the Wall Street Journal there is a featured article called Once-Wary Industry Giants Embrace Internet , where it describes how package goods advertisers are racing to the internet to reach their audience. The embrace ... more

The mass market concept of groups like "adult males 18-35" is totally dead, now it's about the massive market, the billions of interconnected customers that are just waiting to self-select to be your prospect, customer, partner, evangelist. Phew, I'm tingling just writing that, but it's happening right now. How did ... more