In an alluringly-titled but complicated article published in Advertising Age last week [1], there is good news: Yes, Martha, digital does sell soap. Then, the asterisks and qualifiers start. But even in these, there is interesting learning. The general focus here is what the world’s biggest marketing [...]
Reading Walter Isaacson’s best-selling authorised biography of Steve Jobs, released just after Jobs’ death in early October, 2011, was a surprise for me. Over the years, I’d had heard through the media (like everyone) of Jobs’ arrogance, but I figured he certainly earned some bragging [...]
Humour in marketing. No weapon in the marketers’ arsenal is as potentially powerful and so often misused. At the most simplistic level, humour in marketing works like this: If an ad makes us smile, we like the ad and the brand too. I get the [...]
I hate it when truth gets in the way of a good story. I recently had a long and interesting chat with the senior marketing person at Audi Canada during the period I wrote about in an Oct 5th post on this blog. Now I need to revise my [...]
Marketing gurus and practitioners are constantly talking about how vitally important it is to project a consistent brand image. And it is. Everyone understands this best at the literal level, which has resulted in the creation and enforcement of corporate or brand identity guidelines. These can [...]
As both marketer and consumer, I’ve always been attracted to brands that stand for something beyond making money. How a brand handles adversity (product or service problem in the market), or any controversy, is a very good indicator of the values of the company and [...]
