Moving sale
We’re moving our offices June 1, and selling some cool stuff, so we can buy other cool stuff. You have to be near Chicago, as this stuff is too heavy to ship. Take for example our big flat file. 48″ x 36″, 10-drawer Mayline. Like new, top of the line. Would cost you $2400+ new. ...
Continue reading »Brand suicide
If your brand is “an earth-friendly restaurant,” then you should probably do something about the mold growing on your menu outside, by the front door. On the other hand, it *is* a vegetarian restaurant, and mold is meatless, after all. I decided to keep walking and not have lunch there forever.
Continue reading »Serial brainstorming with The Concept Dispenser™
We are, as faithful readers may recall, somewhat hostile to the idea of brainstorming. It’s an attractive idea which often creates enthusiasm – but a massive waste of time without a perceptive editor to sweep up afterwards. The crucial element is, of course, the action-oriented person who separates wheat from the overwhelming chaff, refines the ...
Continue reading »Where’s your brand on the elevator?
Ground floor: “I know that brand” Up to “I like it” Up to “I need it” Up to “I have to own it” Up to ”I’ll buy” Up to “I’m glad I bought it and you would be, too.” A powerful brand will rise: Awareness, Preference, Desire, Urgency, Purchase, Evangelism. For those who focus on and obsess over awareness, be reminded you still have ...
Continue reading »The branding lesson of “Manatee gray.” Target’s blunder, or triumph?
Recently, WGN radio asked us to discuss branding issues, starting with a Target stores’ mini-scandal. Imagine a plus-size dress labeled as “Manatee gray.” It’s worth a listen. Our takeaway was not about Target’s unfortunate error, but their brilliant response. The interview also veered into other areas, including Acura’s inept model-naming, the Wii, and “the quicker picker-upper.” Correcting ...
Continue reading »Forget “maximize shareholder value.” Seriously.
We’ve been blindly repeating the mantra “maximize shareholder value” (MSV) for many years. It’s time to re-think. There’s an insightful/disruptive article in Forbes that turned on the lightswitch. The author, Steven Denning, takes on the demi-gods of B-school conventional wisdom and makes the case that MSV sloganeering has led to corrosive next-quarter-itis. Excessive cost-cutting tends ...
Continue reading »How can you double sales? Triple? Ten-tuple?
Looking for a “ten-bagger” where sales increase 1000%? Double sales growth starts with understanding the collective perception of your prospects. Let’s put customers aside for this thought experiment. Re-purchasing comes from actual experience. Surely you already know what to do to keep customers happy. We can’t all be Zappo’s, but we can try. Understanding prospects ...
Continue reading »Grammar’s stupid rules – and when to obey them
Many rules of grammar, usage and punctuation make sense. But others are questionable, such as not starting a sentence with “but.” Some grammar rules are stupid. They are the artificial creation of purists who admired Latin grammar and tried to shoehorn English into a strict imitation of that structure. English continues to evolve, and the ...
Continue reading »Think outside the bubble. Category experience can kill creativity.
If you’re scheduled for surgery, you (really truly deeply fervently) want the surgeon to have category experience – to have done that procedure 512 times before. With a creative resource, not so much. You are, after all, looking for the breakthrough, the category changer, the wow factor, an end product that delights, surprises and opens ...
Continue reading »Exclude the never-gonnas
You can bleed a budget dry talking to the never-gonnas. Marketing fundamental #1 is know your target. (Duh.) After that, aggressively exclude segments who waste your resources chasing them. It’s a survival skill. What got us thinking about this was someone who had seen our Darwinian video, asking if we were “concerned” with losing prospects who deny natural selection. It’s ...
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