Nilewide Marketing Review articles from May 2006

Nilewide Marketing Review archives from May 2006

Ten years in brand portfolios.
May 7, 2006... Amid the fads and fashions in brand management, it is enlightening to compare the strategies of major companies over time. Between 1994 and 2004 supermarket brands have significantly changed strategies. To understand the changes we should...

From bibles to blogs.
May 7, 2006... Over 500 years ago, Gutenberg invented "movable type", and printing was born although it was for many years the preserve of the religious and the aristocratic. Today, we have a blogging tool called Movable Type, and anyone can print anything,...

Finishing what we start.
May 7, 2006... Many companies that want to encourage repeat purchases use a loyalty card system where, after so many purchases, the customer gets one free. If the company starts the customer with a number of purchases already assumed (eg, two of 10 already...

We all like free shipping.
May 7, 2006... Most of us do not like paying shipping fees, as a 2004 study confirmed when it discovered just over half of shopping carts were abandoned at the point of paying shipping fees. Today, some 65% of companies offer free shipping but the rest may...

The value of money.(Brief article)
May 7, 2006... Economic theory would suggest that money is worth the same whatever its denomination. Someone holding a $50 note can spend exactly the same as someone holding two $20 notes and one $10 note. A series of American experiments flouts this theory,...

Marketing turns venture capitalist.
May 7, 2006... Marketing is not usually considered to be the innovative centre of the company. It is generally responsible for organic growth, rather than any startling new inventions, which are more likely to emanate from R&D or from recent mergers or...

Cash flow is the metric.
May 7, 2006... Marketers have traditionally been responsible for volume, sales, and margins but a new US initiative, the Boardroom Project, has proposed that cash flow become the standard metric. The goal of the project is to establish generally accepted...

Guided self-interest.
May 7, 2006... There are at least two schools of thought about regulating people's behaviour. One says that people need to be restrained by laws and rules, otherwise they will run amok. The other says that people are naturally good and most of the time they...

What your friends say.(Brief article)
May 7, 2006... Interest in the role of word-of-mouth has extended to how well we judge the knowledge of other people, in particular, the knowledge of close friends compared to acquaintances. This is important because positive word-of-mouth seems to spread...

Cautious clickers.(Brief article)
May 7, 2006... Wired seniors, over 65s, are often claimed to be the fastest growing demographic online. This hides the fact that there has been barely any growth in the number of over 70s, and is simply a symptom of people who were already online growing...

Time to be socio-political.
May 14, 2006... Many companies admit that they handle socio-political matters poorly. This is usually because they are less familiar with the issues, expect others to be able to deal with them, and are more focused on short-term financial pressures. Even so, a...

Boycotters harness capitalism.
May 14, 2006... The word "boycott" originates from the name of the Captain who dealt with irate tenants during the Irish "land war" of the 1800s. Since then, boycotts have become more sophisticated and increasingly able to bring companies and even nations...

The sustainable consumer.(consumer service)
May 14, 2006... People find it difficult to change their lifestyle, even when they are presented with all the facts about where their current behaviour may lead them. When it comes to sustainable living, the behaviour of western consumers falls well short of...

The green aesthetic.(Brief article)
May 14, 2006... As companies are urged to consider their environmental responsibilities, the pressure is on consumers to buy organic, natural, pesticide-free products. Once considered the preserve of hippies, and lacking in style, the new aesthetic is not only...

In editors we trust.
May 14, 2006... People are more likely to trust the media than their governments, according to a poll of ten countries commissioned by the BBC and Reuters. America and Britain are the exceptions, with 67% of Americans trusting the government (59% the media)...

Jumping the queue.(consumer research)
May 14, 2006... Waiting in line for service is an accepted part of life, even though many of us complain about it. Queuing is considered to be fair, particularly when the price of a service is quite low, but this does not mean that there could be a market for...

The business of research.(market research)
May 14, 2006... There has been impassioned debate over the problems assailing market research and its role in marketing's woes. No-one agrees on the real problem and, ironically, many suggest there is no real problem. But discussion and debate are essential if...

In need of better practice.
May 14, 2006... Case studies help to explain why some marketing strategies succeed, but they can also give a false impression that most companies will be following these leading approaches. This is true in sponsorship where major brands sponsor high profile...

Future spending.(Brief article)
May 14, 2006... Futurists are busy predicting the impact of baby boomers in 2020 when they will have retired and be spending their wealth. Many techniques are being used, from scenario planning to questioning today's boomers. But one obvious technique has not...

Integrating experience.
May 21, 2006... Integrated marketing has progressed from coordinating marketing mix activities to harmonising the message and has now moved from exposures to brand experiences. Instead of exposures, there are contacts and the contacts provide the experiences....

When to get engaged.
May 21, 2006... There is growing interest in the link between a user's relationship with a medium and advertising effectiveness, as shown by the current hype about "engagement". The belief, supported by some data, is that the greater the engagement, the higher...

Retiring behaviour.
May 21, 2006... Baby boomers are moving towards retirement and, with some 99 million of them in the UK, Australia and America, they are going to have a massive impact on consumption. By 2030, they will have all turned 65 and taken on new identities and roles...

Supporting the negative.
May 21, 2006... Prospect theory suggests that when people are fearful of something, they do not make rational decisions, study the facts, select strategies, or weigh up possible options. This pattern of irrational decision-making also occurs in the choice of...

Know when to give up.(leaving a failing business)
May 21, 2006... It takes as much skill to know when to exit a business as to know when to go into a business. History shows that many managers have difficulty letting go even when all the signs suggest they should. McKinsey studied a wide variety of US...

Beware of price cuts.
May 21, 2006... When competition is intense, it is a tempting strategy to cut prices especially as companies like Wal-Mart, Southwest and Dell, appear to thrive on low prices. Unfortunately, dropping prices often means a fall in profit, and does not...

Herding online.(online retailing sales data)(Brief article)
May 21, 2006... The influence of others is increasingly recognised in retail and social settings, as well as online, even though most online activities involve a single person at a screen. In online retailing sales data, positive reviews from other customers,...

Watch for the retaliators!(loyal customers)(Brief article)
May 21, 2006... One of the popular wisdoms about loyal customers is that they are more likely to forgive a service or product failure. This is perhaps a belief that love will overlook disappointments. This generalisation is so broad as to obscure situations...

Rethinking TV.(guaranteed audiences for television)(Brief article)
May 21, 2006... When television found its way into people's lounge rooms, nobody knew how dominant it would become. This dominance served advertisers well because TV guaranteed audiences, the audience guaranteed attention, and attention guaranteed influence....

Connectivity is not revenue.
May 21, 2006... Interest in online communities, such as MySpace and Facebook, is frenzied and includes much speculation on the value of these sites to media companies. But the experience of Friendster, which was once so popular, suggests they can suffer from...

Customers behaving badly.
May 28, 2006... Analysis In the past 8 years customers have become outrageous. Someone needs to do a TV reality show called, "customers behaving badly". Blogger. Despite the love, affection, commitment and relationships that marketers shower on their...