Nilewide Marketing Review articles from September 2004

Nilewide Marketing Review archives from September 2004

Stop trying to understand customers!
September 5, 2004... Many of today's marketing ideas and tools are based on the concept of understanding customers. For example, we use market research to identify customer segments, and to offer particular products designed for those segments. However, this kind...

Customer centricity redefined.
September 5, 2004... There is no doubt that today's mantra of customer centricity is intrinsically appealing to marketers. Yet despite its appeal the concept remains ill-defined and rather vague, which is probably a reflection of there being so many different ways...

How marketers see teens.
September 5, 2004... Much of the research on teens and advertising has focused specifically on TV and has taken the perspective of teenagers. Yet, marketing practitioners create their campaigns based on how they see teenagers. As the media landscape changes, it is...

The me/we dilemma.(group cooperation)
September 5, 2004... One of the most common dilemmas we face as human beings is whether to take care of ourselves or the groups to which we belong. It might appear that we make this decision rationally, by analysing the incentives for each side, yet evolutionary...

The hidden cost of price changes.
September 5, 2004... Today pricing is all about change, not absolutes, and it is easy to overlook the very large, but often subtle, costs associated with price changes. There is almost a myth that the processes of price changes are costless and that companies only...

Chosen media.(advertising, consumer spending)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2004... A report from US merchant bank Veronis Suhler Stevenson highlights what may be a turning point for the intrusive advertising model that is so common today. In 2003 American consumers, for the first time, spent more on movies, recorded music,...

Show, not tell.(brand relationship)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2004... There is no shortage of suggestions that your people are your brand or that the organisation's culture is the brand. In turn, there are many brand consultants offering solutions such as "Live the brand" workshops and senior managers often talk...

We are mediavores.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2004... Even though the UK is the third hardest working nation after America and Japan, people seem to be watching TV, talking on the phone and surfing the net more than ever. For example, Britons watch more TV, listen to more radio, spend five times...

Looking for directions.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2004... The way Americans use the internet in their daily lives appears to be changing, as they discover its usefulness, but it is still not as popular in everyday life as it might seem from their attitudes. From among 18 different activities measured...

Designed to perform.(stockmarket performance)
September 5, 2004... A number of studies have sought to understand or reveal a relationship between belief in, and insistence on, high quality design and corporate success. However, as with studies that seek to link other creative activities, such as advertising,...

Licking the big labels.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2004... One of the quandaries for the music industry and other marketers is that the songs that are most downloaded for free (whether legally or illegally) are also the ones that sell the most CDs. Naturally the music industry is claiming that the...

Reinventing old age.
September 12, 2004... The biggest problem with our aging society may not be the fact that we are aging, but that we resist aging. This is particularly pronounced among baby boomers, who appear to want to hold on to their youth for as long as they can. It was Ronald...

The rise of the beanpole.(lifestyles)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2004... The aging of western societies is only one of the dramatic changes taking place today. Another change is the rise of the beanpole family. This is a multigenerational family, where there are people spread over several generations, but fewer...

Is the net accountable?(marketing strategies)
September 12, 2004... Much of the drive behind the net as a marketing tool or channel has been based on its accountability. Proponents have claimed that they can gather data on the behaviour of individual customers and use it to accurately target them with offers....

Proud to be global.(global strategies)
September 12, 2004... While global branding strategies may have lost some of their lustre with marketers in recent years, global brands are still extremely salient in the minds of consumers. In fact, it appears that consumers around the world tend to view global...

Who is loyal to what?(consumer surveillance )
September 12, 2004... Loyalty schemes continue to be widespread, even though there are many doubts as to their efficacy. According to one market research company, 85% of UK households have at least one loyalty card. For proponents of loyalty cards, this means they...

Chat or spim.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2004... Email has changed the daily lives of millions of people and it seems that instant messaging is following in its footsteps. Already, some 42% of American internet users, according to Pew Internet, report using instant messaging (IM), up 29%...

Sex in alcohol ads.(Brief Article)
September 12, 2004... Sexual imagery is heavily used in alcohol and other advertising, and as advertising is becoming more global it seems reasonable to ask how people of different cultures perceive it. A recent small study in the UK, Germany and Italy found marked...

Paying for ideas.(valueing ideas)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2004... Claims from ad agencies, brand consultancies, new media planners and design companies that they are in the idea business have prompted relatively little progress on compensation for ideas. Some agencies are remunerated based on success and some...

Even more days of Christmas.(winter sale)(Brief Article)
September 12, 2004... The first reports of Christmas decorations for sale often excite the popular media, and arguments abound over whether the length of the Christmas shopping season impacts on retail sales. The answer is now clearer, thanks to a recent analysis of...

Customer or brand equity?(marketing trends)
September 19, 2004... While marketing repeatedly talks of the customer, in most companies it is the brand that is sacrosanct, not the customer. Most companies are still structured along brand management lines, rather than customer segment lines and most measurement...

Innovate or imitate?(invasions)
September 19, 2004... The question of whether to innovate or imitate may appear to have an obvious answer. In a world of me-too products, few firms would want to admit that they are just imitators and not innovators. At the same time, the principle of leadership is...

All talk and no process.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... In a recent column an Irish management trainer suggested that CEOs should be trained to provide the leadership needed to get their people involved in "living the brand". Another perspective, from UK writer Alan Mitchell, suggests that in fact,...

Pop culture on speed.
September 19, 2004... The acceleration of popular culture is seen across all media, including music, literature and film. As an example, few music artists today release four or five albums, while in the early 90s and 80s, the artists featuring in the Top 10 had...

Call centres - a grey area.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... The allure of call centres located in countries where labour is cheaper is overwhelming for many companies, but customers may be lukewarm about them. This is particularly the case for older people, over 60, who favour service quality, social...

Searching for ROI.
September 19, 2004... Search based marketing proponents have been suggesting that its success is an indicator of the future of advertising. For example, utility instead of intrusion is an obvious benefit at a time when there is growing discontent with advertising in...

More than a coffee!(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... Starbucks may be the most successful coffee chain in the world, with 25 million customers internationally each month and over 8,000 stores, but those numbers highlight that it is more than just a coffee seller. Increasingly, Starbucks is...

Can't buy, won't buy.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... A key indicator of the strength of an organisation's culture is whether employees buy and recommend the products their employer produces, and it also offers insights into the potential problems a brand may face. In one recent US study of...

Levi's gets alife.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... Few brands, not even those with iconic status, can afford to lose their relevance. And one brand that is struggling to maintain and even regain its cultural relevance is Levi's, which has teamed up with a relatively unknown mini-brand, alife,...

Digital natives.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... Technology may have a very different impact on business life, depending on whether you are under or over 25. One commentator has named the under-25s, "digital natives" and the over-25s, "digital immigrants". The inference is that younger people...

Annoying ads do work.(Brief Article)
September 19, 2004... Frequent users of the net will have already noticed the proliferation of pop-up ads as well as spam. Yet it appears that these annoying forms of advertising do work. While the majority of spam appears to be of no benefit or relevance, if a bulk...

In the habit of consumption.
September 26, 2004... Analysis Habits are first cobwebs, then cables. Spanish proverb. While habits may have a bad reputation in some quarters, much of what we do each and every day is based on habit. In fact, it would be impossible to live...