CoolMarketingStuff

Tom Asacker argues that Toyota lost its way when it shifted its focus away from an obsession with making quality cars and more towards the numbers and Wall Street. That loss in focus by the company may now result in a loss of focus in the mind of the consumer. See the following article from Tom Asacker's blog, A Clear Eye. Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota and grandson of the company's founder, testified today in front of the House Committee on Oversight ... Read More

Whether you love them or hate them, Apple has been one of the greatest business success stories of our time and it can be argued that most of their success is attributed to their marketing. Here are the top 7 things marketers can learn from Apple. Create suspense around new products Apple is known for its obsessive secrecy of new products which helps build anticipation and excitement for new releases. There is such a strong thirst for information about what's next that fans of ... Read More

I am excited to be talking to Bob Gilbreath, author of The Next Evolution of Marketing which outlines a new approach to marketing called marketing with meaning. He has also worked as a brand manager for P&G where he was recognized by AdAge for his turn around of the Mr.Clean brand. He is currently Chief Marketing Strategist at Bridge Worldwide, a digital and relationship marketing agency and blogs at Marketing With Meaning. 1. Your book has a ton of great examples of companies ... Read More

In The Next Evolution of Marketing, Bob Gilbreath describes an alternative approach to marketing called "marketing with meaning", in which marketing becomes a product or service in of itself that people choose to engage with. Gilbreath provides a ton of examples of how marketers can create marketing that is meaningful, like Nike's social network for runners that tracks member's runs and Charmin providing luxury restrooms in Times Square. While some marketers have been trying to invent "innovative" advertising that cuts through the ... Read More

I like the idea of marketing making selling unnecessary. If you have to do a lot of personal selling of your product or service, then perhaps your marketing is not very effective. I also like Tom Asacker's point that marketing should deliver value to people in exchange for their time and attention. Check out Tom Asacker's blog, A Clear Eye for more insightful marketing ideas like the ones below. by Tom Asacker What is marketing? What is its purpose? The AMA defines ... Read More

If you haven't seen the movie Breach, don't read this post because there will be spoilers. Breach is a movie based on the capture of the the most "successful" spy in US history, Robert Hanssen. He worked in the FBI for about 25 years and spied for the USSR/Russia for about 22 years, and was even assigned to lead a team to look for a mole in the FBI (which was himself). What can we learn from the success of Robert Hanssen's ... Read More

Do you think Microsoft is good at marketing? Here are some examples of why they are not good. This is a commercial made for an experimental product called Songsmith. I can't tell if this is an actual commercial or if it was an internal joke, but it is pretty ridiculous. Here's another example... The Microsoft ad campaign in which they filmed lap top buyers looking for a lap top for under $1,000. The problem was that Microsoft was being very inauthentic. CNet reports that Microsoft ad's ... Read More

When Fred Reichheld wrote The Ultimate Question, he argued that the best way to drive strong revenue growth and return on equity, was by using the simple question "How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague"? This question, goes right to the source of your business, the perceptions of the customer. According to Bain & Company analysis, "NPS(Net Promoter Score) leaders outgrow their competitors in most industries—by an average of 2.5 times" (1). Do you know ... Read More

The marketing landscape is currently undergoing a monumental shift that will change how products and services will be marketed for many years to come. Technologies such as digital video recorders, the internet, and mobile phones have fundamentally shifted how people consume media, which changes the relationship between company and consumer. Here are some eyebrow raising stats. There are 31 billion Google searches executed every month. In 2006, this number was 2.7 billion (1). The number of text messages sent per day exceeds the world ... Read More

The marketing approach of Japanese companies contrasts starkly with the common practices in the US. We can learn a lot of valuable lessons from studying how the Japanese market their products, especially since companies like Toyota are crushing the competition. The last time I checked, the market cap of Toyota was around $600 billion while GM and Ford may not survive without government bailouts. The book Relentless describes some of the major differences in marketing strategy in Japan and how this approach ... Read More

One of the secrets of the super successful is that they do the opposite of the crowd. When American's wallets are getting tight and most companies are cutting their marketing spending, this can be one of the best opportunities to grow your brand. Some historic examples of this are Proctor & Gamble pushing Ivory soap during the Great Depression, and Walmart's "Every Day Low Prices" during the post dot com slowdown [1]. The brandchannel article Brand Progression in a Recession quoted Harvard professor ... Read More