Sunday, June 29, 2008

THE STATE OF MARKETING

Marketing has and continues to evolve in importance, function and form. Each week we share our learning and knowledge with you through DISPATCHES, to help empower marketing. We're hopeful that this week you'll share with us. Specifically, we are interested in learning from those of you in our DISPATCHES marketing community more about the state of marketing as it is currently perceived and practiced throughout the world.

Our goal is to gain a fix on where marketing stands both in the absolute and relative to mother functional areas by sector and geography as perceived by different levels of our State of Marketing electronic survey to share with us how marketing is being practiced in your organization. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to complete. We will share our learnings with you.

THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION in furthering our mutual knowledge and understanding of the current state of marketing.

Just click on the link below which should take you directly to the short online survey. If for any reason your browser doesn't allow the direct click, just copy the link and paste it in your address bar and hit go. Note: If you are a CS or an AOL user, you may need to open your email from a more universal browser (i.e., Internet Explorer or Firefox) to fully interact with the survey. The surveys must be finished by 5:00PM CST on Monday, July 7, 2008. Prior to that time you may go in and out of the survey as often as you need to in order to complete it as long as you don't click "Done" at the end of the survey. The link follows:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=aYUr6sHMx1eThky7zKph6Q_3d_3d

Sunday, June 22, 2008

OWNING UP TO OWNABILITY

This week we are republishing an article from 4 years ago with a still valid message. Whenever we ask clients to identify the criteria they most often set in judging whether an ad campaign is really great, we invariably hear something like "it should be ownable." Granted, this is not typically the first, nor even among the first, criteria identified; but it is one criterion that almost always gets mentioned.


The DISPATCHESTM for June 22, 2008 can be found here:

OWNING UP TO OWNABILITY

It is also available in PDF here:

OwningUpToOwnability.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, June 15, 2008

When Will We Get To The Big Idea?

Chances are, you are currently in the hunt for a Big Idea. Whether you're looking to develop a new product, a new communications campaign, a new promotion, some new merchandising vehicle, whatever, every marketer wants a Big Idea? Whoever heard of marketer seeking a little idea? But all too often our search efforts end up with something closer to little than to big. Are there some ways to better "pre-determine" if one idea has more potential for "bigness" than another? We think there are, and this week we are recommending a Big Idea Checklist for your consideration. Read on and let the ideas grow!

The DISPATCHESTM for June 15, 2008 can be found here:

When Will We Get To The Big Idea?

It is also available in PDF here:

WhenWllWeGetToTheBigIdea.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, June 08, 2008

HOW TO DEVELOP 1001 CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

No marketer would dispute the importance of discovering customer insights. Customer insights are essential to developing successful new products, strategically competitive positioning strategies and leadership communication campaigns to create brand loyalty. But customer insights are elusive.

The DISPATCHESTM for June 8, 2008 can be found here:

HOW TO DEVELOP 1001 CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

It is also available in PDF here:

HowToDevellop1001CustomerInsights.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, June 01, 2008

ENVIED EVERYWHERE

Whenever we ask our clients to name some of the currently running advertising campaigns that they think are to be admired - or even envied - we seem to get fewer and fewer replies. Oh, sure, we still hear about MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign, and sometimes about the "got milk" campaign. But, no doubt, one reason for the short list is that there really aren't that many ad campaigns running more than, say, five years and that seem to have caught marketers' (and customers') imaginations. In an effort to expand that list, this week we take a look at Duracell's "Trusted Everywhere" campaign, which is definitely one to be admired: not only because of the business results it has provided the brand, but also because of the smart strategic and executional marketing principles at work in the campaign.

The DISPATCHESTM for June 1, 2008 can be found here:

ENVIED EVERYWHERE

It is also available in PDF here:

EnviedEverywhere.pdf (PDF File)