Leadership in times of dramatic changing business conditions

02/10/10 02:44 PM

When business conditions change as dramatically as they have in the past year, CEOs need to be able to rely on their best leaders to adapt quickly. But what should they do when their strongest executives seem unable to play a new game? The costs— organizational drift, missed opportunities, unaddressed threats—are so big that it’s tempting to replace leaders who are suffering from paralysis. Read More...

Tags: Change

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The mistaken belief that social media is going to save your brand

02/07/10 06:22 AM

70% of marketers planned to increase social media spending and IAB, reported that 28% of marketers will shift their budgets from traditional towards digital in 2010, with 66% increasing their digital marketing spend overall. I'm glad that digital is finally getting some much needed recognition but if marketers think that social media is going to save their brands they are sadly mistaken. Read More...

Tags: Stupid is as stupid does

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Marketers: It's women ! It's always been about women !

02/04/10 07:44 AM

Whats wrong with this picture ? 85% of all brand purchases are made by women but only 3% of Creative Directors, at ad agencies, are women. Maybe one of the reasons that most marketing sucks is because men are clueless on how to add emotional value when it comes to marketing and branding ? Read More...

Tags: You go girl !

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Microsoft: A lesson in crushing innovation

02/04/10 06:49 AM

Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator. Its products are lampooned, often unfairly but sometimes with good reason. Its image has never recovered from the antitrust prosecution of the 1990s. Its marketing has been inept for years; remember the 2008 ad in which Bill Gates was somehow persuaded to literally wiggle his behind at the camera ? Here are some lessons from a former Microsoft insider on how to stifle innovation. A great former insiders view of why Microsoft is in trouble.
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Tags: Microsoft

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A failure of leadership

01/20/10 10:06 AM

The president and his party may be obsessed with health care, but unemployed and underemployed Americans want a job. Why this has been so hard for the Democrats to realize, I can’t say but the recent election in Mass is as much about a failure of leadership than anything else. It was the message not the messenger.
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Tags: healthcare

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Consumers are leading the revolution in how, where and when they watch media

01/18/10 05:24 PM

Today a search engine is an information engine and there are any number of “did-you-see” alerts that can be received by e-mail or on Facebook, Twitter or other sites we visit from our desktops or on our cellphones. Is it any wonder that old media is in such a decline?
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Tags: Changing environment of marketing

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10 things you can do to sell your company on social media

01/17/10 06:04 PM

The natural tendency is to undertake brand building activities only when the organization’s financial goals are being met. Yet the greatest opportunity to create added value probably exists when those targets are not being met -- if only because competitors will probably be in a similar situation. How do you convince a company to invest in social media?
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Tags: Social Media

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Why angry consumers equals trouble for brands

01/16/10 06:57 AM

Consider a recent headline from Business Week: The Disposable Worker. Pay is falling, benefits are vanishing, and no one's job is secure. How companies are making the era of the temp more than temporary. As a marketer you should be keenly aware of consumer attitudes toward their jobs and the economy because those attitudes will impact your brand.
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Tags: Consumer anger

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Consumers no longer find the prospect of being friends with a brand more engaging than the single click it took to fan the brand page on Facebook.

12/31/09 09:57 AM

While brands still try hard to "crack the Social Media code," most seem to understand consumers no longer find the prospect of being friends with a brand more engaging than the single click it took to fan the brand page on Facebook. So why then are so many marketers planning to increase spending on social media ? Because they are clueless and at this point it's easier to follow the crowd than redefine marketing around consumer touch points.
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Tags: Brands

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Does the customer I'm targeting really want to talk to me through this channel?

12/29/09 01:43 PM

Consumers are bombarded with advertising and marketing throughout their online experiences. Do you really want to be just another annoying brand? Make sure you are reaching your target audience through a channel where they are willing and interested in speaking with your brand and that you have something of value to talk about. Social media is not going to save your brand.

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Tags: Social behavior

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