The online mattress company Casper is altering the landscape of its mature industry by employing an innovative business model and strong marketing fundamentals. Certain consumers are now comfortable with making the big ticket purchase of a mattress online with minimal physical contact with the product, a giant step away from the typical “try before you […]
Category: Best Practices
Strategic Insights Over Big Data
We now live in an era of Big Data, and like most strategists and marketers, I welcome more data and information regarding the market, customers, and consumers. But those data on their own are not enough to drive sustainable growth in a business – and neither are the high-level summary findings that typically come from […]
Consider On-Demand to Remain in Demand
As technology unlocks the ability to enable consumers to access many real-world services in the digital realm, companies are clamoring to become the new “Uber for X” – to deliver services to consumers demanding instant gratification. Venture capital investment in these start-ups has increased from $0.2B in 2009 to $2B in 2013, while on-demand economy […]
Strategy Essentials: Enterprise, Brand, and Marketing
It is not uncommon in business to hear, “We need a strategy” or “We need to update our strategy.” And by “strategy,” people are usually referring to a clear, over-arching statement of the choices a company is making regarding why, how, and where to use its limited resources. That strategy is what should be guiding […]
Are you doing marketing communications or strategic marketing?
In many companies today, marketing seems to have two meanings. Marketing means advertising, digital communications, social media, sponsorships – in short, communication to and engagement with the target consumer. This is often how sales sees marketing, as support to generating sales. I get worried, however, when this is how marketing sees marketing. I get especially […]
Going Dark Can Take You Out of the Black at the Flip of Switch
The decision of how to allocate media spend in a particular market can be a tricky one, as too little spend can have negative consequences for a brand — such as market share loss — while too much spend can lead to inefficiency and waste. Research by Millward Brown and ThinkVine has shown that while […]
Why “Connected Cars” Matter to Marketers
The “Connected Car” is a widely discussed and buzzworthy topic – however, it also happens to be a widely misunderstood and unclearly defined topic. Ask one person, and his definition of “Connected Car” might reference headline-grabbing stories about Google’s self-driving vehicles. Ask another person, and her definition might reference playing music from Pandora on her […]
6 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Sports Sponsorships
According to IEG’s 2015 Sponsorship Spending Report, North American sponsorship spending is expected to exceed $21B in 2015 (+4% vs. 2014), with sports sponsorships accounting for 70% of that expenditure. With so much riding on the business and brand building impact of these fixed costs, here are 6 tips to help get the most out […]
Is the traditional health club/gym model at risk?
For years, the traditional health club/gym has been the only option for those seeking in-door health and fitness activities. The traditional health club model consists of attracting as many members as possible by offering everything to everyone, a “one stop shop” for all types of fitness activities, including cardio equipment, weight training, fitness classes, and […]
Wooing Millennials
Lately, it seems everything I read about brands is at least in part related to how they are rethinking their approach in order to better appeal to Millennials. Brand positioning, marketing plans, media buys, product design – there is almost no part of the business that is not up for a refresh. Making sure your […]
