Sunday, September 28, 2008

Are You Losing Your Pull?

At the time of this writing the economy is teetering on the brink of a meltdown, or so recent business failures, the news media and sell-offs on virtually all the major stock exchanges would suggest. This is not just a U.S. problem but also a worldwide issue.

The DISPATCHESTM for September 28, 2008 can be found here:

ARE YOU LOSING YOUR PULL?

It is also available in PDF here:

AreYouLosingYourPull.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Looking For An Add-Vantage? Take A Good Look Around

Have you ever taken a critical look at the way your company measures market share? Of course, you have accepted that, if your brand is in the antacid category it only makes sense to measure its share of total antacids. But might there not be some other competitors - not directly in your traditional category boundaries - that ought to be included? Come to think of it, might there not be some other categories - far removed from yours - that could serve as models for your category? For example, there was a time when Frito-Lay would analyze actions in the cereal category - not because consumers were choosing to snack on cereal over potato chips, but because both industries were in the "tasty grain delivery" business - and because both were merchandised in stores similarly. It always makes sense to think beyond your category, our theme for this week's Dispatches.

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The DISPATCHESTM for September 21, 2008 can be found here:

LOOKING FOR AN ADD-VANTAGE? TAKE A GOOD LOOK AROUND

It is also available in PDF here:

LookingForAnAdd-vantage.pdf (PDF File)

Monday, September 15, 2008

COMPELLING PREFERENCE

The mobile phone category is among the most intensely competitive markets, regardless of geography. The landscape is filled with large, innovative and nimble competitors such as Nokia, Sony-Ericcson, Motorola, Samsung and, now Apple, to name just a few, working in tandem with large network providers such as ATT and Orange. Additionally, each of these competitors offers a wide variety of cell phones to appeal to different segments in the marketplace. The choices are vast and considerable.



The DISPATCHESTM for September 14, 2008 can be found here:

COMPELLING PREFERENCE

It is also available in PDF here:

CompellingPreferenceA+B.pdf (PDF File)

Sunday, September 07, 2008

C.O.E. + P-O-D = A WINNING POSITIONING FORMULA

How many benefits are there in your current Brand Positioning Statement? (You do have a Brand Positioning Statement, right?) Chances are there is more than one benefit in that BPS - because today more than ever it is hard for a brand to win - as in be seen as a preferred choice - with only one benefit. The trick is figuring out which benefits and how many to go with. Naturally, you would like to have any and all benefits in your brand's positioning to be meaningful to your customers/consumers and to be differentiated. But even this is a tall order for many brands in highly competitive product categories and drug or device classes. So, this week we offer a "formula" for positioning benefit that just might work for you; at least it sure has worked for a number of other brands. Take a look!

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The DISPATCHESTM for September 7, 2008 can be found here:

C.O.E. + P-O-D = A WINNING POSITIONING FORMULA

It is also available in PDF here:

COE+POD=AWinningPositioningFormula.pdf
(PDF File)