Sunday, September 30, 2007

POSITIONING - THE CONSUMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT

Our partners are taking advantage of a rare opportunity to spend the weekend with their families. In their absence we have pulled from our archives an "Oldie but Goodie" which we hope you will enjoy. This was published in August, 2003 but the message is still relevant today.

It seems a long time ago now that, wherever we shopped, we did so with the assurance that retailers would do whatever it took to make us happy. They all wanted satisfied customers and just about all of them-from well-known retailers like Macy's to small-town mom & pops-operated under a simple principle: The Customer Is Always Right.



The Dispatch for September 30, 2007 can be found here:

PositioningTheConsumerIsAlwaysRight2.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, September 23, 2007

MARKETING EXCELLENCE - SOME ESSENTIALS

Ever since the publication of that now classic book, In Search of Excellence, it seems that the excellence concept has been promoted, explored, preached, and generally sought after by serious, growth-driven companies around the world. It's no surprise that now, as many major pharmaceutical companies accelerate their progress in building winning brands (as opposed to merely selling comparably-performing products), one of the most common goals in that industry is to instill and practice Marketing Excellence. But establishing an "ME" process and accompanying training programs isn’t always enough to make day-in and day-out marketing excellence happen. We've observed a few barriers—in the form of marketing misconceptions — to ME that can really hinder it. And we look at some of these in this week’s DISPATCHES.


The Dispatch for September 23, 2007 can be found here:

MktExcellence-SomeEssentials.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, September 16, 2007

OVERCOME CPA

It's amazing the way seemingly previously unknown or talked about conditions are cropping-up in the news and advertisements these days. For instance, have you ever heard of "CPA"? You may be suffering from it and don't even know it!



The Dispatch for September 16, 2007 can be found here:

CPA2007.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, September 09, 2007

THE COMPETITIVE FRAMEWORK - A REFRESHER (PART 3)

In this week's DISPATCHES we conclude our 3-part refresher of the Competitive Framework. And, appropriately, our focus is on the highlight of the 3 part - creating a perceptual dimension for the brand's CF. The whole idea of crafting this additional, strategic dimension for the brand's positioning is to become more competitive in the marketplace. Take a look inside at a number of brands with parity-performing products underneath them -- but that nevertheless enjoy a generally perceived advantage in the marketplace - thanks largely to their highly creative Perceptual Competitive Framework.


The Dispatch for September 9, 2007 can be found here:

CompetitiveFramework-Refresher-Part3.pdf (PDF File)