With a loss of $11 trillion in wealth consumers are not going to spend us out of this recession

04/24/09 07:21 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Although recent stories have targeted the soaring credit card rates they do little to address the key issues holding back this economy which are consumers are not going to spend because of lost equity and there has been a realization that American companies view employees as nothing more than an expense. On top of all this people can't relocate to take better jobs and they can't look for other jobs because their just aren't any out there right now even for people with advanced degrees. Add all this up and you get a clamped shut wallet and a shift from wants to needs. Read More...

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This downturn affects everyone and behaviors are changing

04/16/09 07:20 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Unlike any other downturn since the 1930s, this one has affected everyone, either the fact of it or the fear of it. Even when prosperity returns, 61% predict, they'll continue to spend less than they did before. Among people earning less than $50,000 a year — roughly half of U.S. households — 34% have not gone to the doctor because of the cost, 31% have been out of work at some point, and 13% have been hungry. At the same time, 4 in 10 people earning more than $100,000 say they are buying more store brands, 36% are using coupons more, and 39% have postponed or canceled a vacation to save money. Forty percent of people at all income levels say they feel anxious, 32% have trouble sleeping, and 20% are depressed. After a season of big news, of war and storms and swindlers, pirates and poison peanut butter, 43% are watching the news even more, taking the medicine even if it tastes bad because skipping it could be risky

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Speed is a necessity with social media: Dominos ignored video until it elevated to a point where just responding isn’t good enough

04/16/09 06:33 AM Filed in: Management Marketing

In just a few days of posting an online video on You Tube, Domino’s reputation was damaged. The perception of its quality among consumers went from positive to negative since Monday, according to the research firm YouGov, which holds online surveys of about 1,000 consumers every day regarding hundreds of brands. As the company learned about the video on Tuesday, Mr. McIntyre said, executives decided not to respond aggressively, hoping the controversy would quiet down. “What we missed was the perpetual mushroom effect of viral sensations,” he said. In social media, “if you think it’s not going to spread, that’s when it gets bigger,” said Scott Hoffman, the chief marketing officer of the social-media marketing firm Lotame. “We realized that when many of the comments and questions in Twitter were, ‘What is Domino’s doing about it’ ” Mr. McIntyre said. “Well, we were doing and saying things, but they weren’t being covered in Twitter.” Read More...

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Defending the brand with legal action

04/14/09 10:07 PM Filed in: Social Media Branding

By now you certainly have heard about the disgusting video that two Domino's employee posted on You Tube supposedly as a "prank". While some are saying that the brand has been damaged by these irresponsible two young men I believe that people are smarter than that and are aware that these two people are not the norm but rather just twisted individuals whose prank got out of hand. Domino's on the other hand is not taking any chances. They have contacted the franchise owners, fired the two employees and have requested that these two people be arrested for "damaging the brand". The message is simple: We will not allow anyone to damage a brand, a valuable asset, that took us over 40 years to build. Social media has received a lot of buzz over the last year and rightfully so, but as brands are finding out the hard way anyone can damage a brand by irresponsible actions. Let's hope the public is smart enough to understand that the actions of two stupid people cannot ruin a brand that has been built by so much hard work of its good employees.

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Letter posted on Domino's Website to customers

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Social Media users real-life life-cycle

04/09/09 11:00 AM Filed in: Social Media

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Tags: Social Media trends

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Social Media: you built it, they came, now what is the ROI?

04/09/09 06:46 AM Filed in: Social Media

I really wish agencies would stop using the Coke Facebook campaign as model for social media marketing success. Yes Coke has over 2 million people registered on its Facebook page but I would ask "now that you have them what do you want to do with them?" Does this mean that a percentage of the audience are going to purchase Coke products? With Coke's brand awareness so high you can't tell me that their objective was to generate brand awareness that is plain stupid. So the question that someone has to ask of the agency is; how do we measure this initiative and translate it into a hard ROI? Read More...

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In today's social-media-centric world it's imperative that you're transparent, honest and authentic.

04/05/09 07:02 AM Filed in: Social Media

Once again social media has risen up to defy and shame a brand. This time it was Microsoft who tried to fool people with their spot of Lauren trying to purchase a laptop for under $1000. First we learned that she is actually a member of the screen actors guild , then viewers noticed, that a random person passing by the Apple store when Lauren walks in is in a eerily comparable position when she walks out, which lead them to question whether the whole event was staged or if she even walked into the store at all. The final blow came when we then learned about the multitude of negative reviews on this particular HP Pavilion laptop and how that particular setup delivered what could best be described as a poor Vista experience. Now of course Apple customers will go to great lengths to discredit the big bad Microsoft at every turn but the complete destruction of this ad is an indication of the power of social media. Some will say that some buzz is better than none but I believe that Apple will gain more points and customers as a result of this failed "reality" TV ad. Value is not just price and it seems that marketers at Microsoft are more than threatened by a brand that has small market share but a very loyal customer base.

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The days of consumer spending for wants is over forever

04/04/09 01:48 PM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Throughout that day, the "Mad Money" host told viewers of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," CNBC's "Street Signs" and finally on his own program that the Depression was over and that we were on the verge of a bull run for the financial market. Nothing like putting the cart before the horse ! The fact is that employers are still laying off workers which in turn is going to lead to less trust of employers and job security which means consumers days of buying things they want are over and are replaced with buying things they need.

Unemployment rates remain high despite what the media thinks about this recession being over
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A passionate marketers point of view