Much of my work over the years has been with “service brands” – brands that are not tied to a particular product, but to the delivery of some type of service - educational services, health care services, energy services, engineering services, consulting services, etc.
Developing and maintaining a strong brand for a service is, in my opinion, significantly more challenging than developing and maintaining a strong brand for a product. Why? (more…)
Not many people remember a product called Zima and that’s the point of this post. As a marketing professional I’ve always been interested in new product introductions and advertising campaigns in general – how well do they work? how long do they “run” (suggesting that the positive effects are continuing to produce results or, if nothing else, that the agency and client haven’t “pulled the plug” prematurely). (more…)
Not always. A simple example will illustrate:
Suppose I open a small restaurant in my local community of 20,000. I estimate that of those 20,000, about 3000 represent my “target group” or market. After two years in business, I find that I have served about 10 percent of that target market. Is 10 percent significant market share? No. Do I care? It depends. It depends on: (more…)
I was meeting with a client last week who wanted to produce a 5-6 minute promotional video. The video needed to include: a focus on the new national campaign theme, a focus on the new local campaign theme, a focus on the areas served, a focus on the organization’s new direction for the coming year, a focus on…OK, you get the point.
It’s tough to focus. Any organization has multiple objectives and messages that need to be conveyed and there can be a tendency to try to “do it all” in one message. The trouble with that, though, is (more…)
How can organizational managers/leaders most effectively damage relationships with employees? Saying one thing and doing another. (Sounds a bit like parenting, doesn’t it?)
I’ve been doing research recently on corporate culture and communication for a presentation I’m giving to a group of HR professionals next month and, without exception, as I talk to or gather input from employees in various sectors, of various ages, with varying lengths of service with their organization, I keep hearing that (more…)
McDonald’s recently announced that it will be serving specialty coffees like vanilla lattes and caramel cappuccinos at outlets across the U.S., at a fraction of the cost of the same types of drinks at Starbucks.
Wow! As this plays out it will be a great economics case study. Can you compete on price? What value is there in a brand? Will consumers continue to pay more for something that they can get for less someplace else?
On the way home from teaching a class the other day I heard what I thought was a classicly created radio commercial from OnStar.
The attention-getting premise: “Are you counting on your cell phone to be your lifeline in a crash?” Well, yeah. That’s why I don’t need OnStar, right? (more…)
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