When you work for an agency, you get attached to your clients.  You want to go the extra mile for them, whether through a big strategic initiative, or making sure they have coffee at an early morning interview. 

I have found the desire to go that bit further is even stronger when your client is a non-profit organization.  Rightly or wrongly I personally become invested in my non-profit clients’ missions. I celebrate their successes and feel their frustrations when situations go awry – regardless of whether the agency was involved or not. 

Sometimes going the extra mile does not involve work.  It involves commitment to the cause.  I always look forward to this time of year because it is The Salvation Army’s (one of my clients) busiest times.  I like it because I know the people I work with have big hearts.  ...read the rest of this post»

In a recent blog, I wrote about products/services in High Involvement versus Low Involvement categories.  Buying a car is a HI experience.  Buying a burger in a drive-thru is a LI experience.  Marketers must understand this Consumer Involvement Theory (CIT) as the first process in understanding the psychology and buying behavior of their market.  It’s fairly simple.  Even when you factor in the rational and emotional dimensions of HI and LI.  ...read the rest of this post»

My “Internal Specialty” at our company is Marketing Research Methodologies.  I help our team members answer the question: “What sort of research should we use to help this client?”

Over my 34-year career I’ve seen and done about every type of marketing research you can imagine— quantitative and qualitative. (So has Bob Vornbrock, our Vice Chairman.)...read the rest of this post»

I  always like to remind clients that media relations and getting stories is not for the timid.  Yet, it is a vital part of building a brand identity.  Nothing has quite as much power in reinforcing a message as that third party endorsement that comes from a well placed and well-timed story.

Coverage is almost always good to get, but, accepting a reporter’s interpretation of “facts” and memory of quotes takes some getting used to.  I could write pages on the frantic calls from people who felt wronged by a reporter who missed a minor fact or two.

When that story on your product or service does eventually come out in the local paper, the desired trade press, the influential Web site, the evening news, or even in The Wall Street Journal, you must step back, put personal feelings aside and approach that coverage with a few qualifiers in mind – a few rather cynical qualifiers.  ...read the rest of this post»

Holiday sweepstakes, give-away items and end-of-the-year sales help make November and December two of the busiest months of the year for retailers.  In the midst of all the Christmas chaos, companies are trying desperately to get their messages heard. In recent years, companies have turned to social media outlets to help blast promotions to a broader audience, and this year several companies are using Twitter to give their campaign a new twist.

In an article by Brian Morrissey, “Brand Sweepstakes Get Twitterized,” he describes how Sephora, Microsoft, NASCAR and Comcast are a few of the companies utilizing Twitter, a popular social media site, to host their holiday sweepstakes.  Customers can enter these competitions, while also virally spreading the brand message....read the rest of this post»

Most business people have heard of Sun Tzu, the brains behind The Art of War, a Chinese military treatise written in the 6th century BC. His battle-tested wisdom, detailed in this ancient work, has not only guided military strategists and tacticians throughout the ages, but it has also garnered amazing popularity as a business and marketing treatise.  The Art of War is one of the most popular and enduring business books of our age.  Talk about shelf life!

The reason for this incredible popularity is simple.  As marketers, we spend most days putting on helmets, strapping on the armor and grabbing our swords to attack the marketplace with vengeance.  "Marketing is war," we love to say and exclaim it boldly.  Too often, however, we are ill-prepared to wage the battles going in the trenches--the channels-to-market, retail shelves and consumer loyalties we seek to win and conquer....read the rest of this post»

Photo: Maserati GranTurismo

As the Baby Boomer generation is entering into retirement, we are noticing some interesting trends taking place with the generations that are becoming the new leaders across the globe. These people who were born after 1966 (primarily Generation X and Millennials), are quickly garnering large incomes, and therefore, becoming what we now refer to as the "Young Affluent." These two generations are known for wanting it all, and fast. Because of this new mindset, luxury marketers are noticing some purchasing differences between the Young Affluents and the Baby Boomers. ...read the rest of this post»