Not so long ago we had never heard of Marketing’s ’5th P’, Public Input, but we occasionally felt its wrath. Public Input ‘happened to’ Marketers and they adjusted. Smart marketers now turn it into an advantage, actively seeking ‘Public Input’,  just as they solicit/ manage Consumer Research & Product Development Design. In the ‘public’ sector, [...]

I finished my Marketing Channel lectures this week; lots of big changes & challenges in the ‘Place’ part of Marketing’s 5 P’s. A good time to sum up; first -the Classics. I urge clients & students alike to take into account 3 Classic Considerations: Structure! What is the ideal structure of the channel(s) for my [...]

My eldest just turned 22; for birthday gift ideas, she suggested specialty camera gear. A  fine source for such items is Photojojo.com so I had a chance to try their service. The experience was amazing. When I shopped there, I found site graphics that are cute yet informative. When the order shipped, they sent a [...]

On a global basis, Amazon is just a medium-sized retailer. With sales of $48 B, it’s comparable in size to Safeway, but much smaller than Kroger, Target or several European retailers. It’s a minnow compared to Wal-Mart, with barely a tenth of the Bentonville behemoth’s annual revenue. But amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce retailer [...]

I asked a class to come up with ways e-stores can learn from bricks & mortar merchandisers, and how bricks & mortar stores can better leverage the web. There was silence in the room. Evidently, too many media outlets & teachers have told students that these are 2 distinct worlds that should be treated separately. [...]

Optics are getting more important. Optics can be advantageous; Optics can create faux careers – the Karkashians famous for being famous; the cast of an unscripted Reality Show are no-talents, but the Optics benefit of exposure brings fame & opportunity. Optics can also bring down a firm- BP’s fall from respect and grace after the [...]

If you ever drive a turbo charged car, you know ‘turbo lag’- you’re accelerating using the engine’s potential- then a whoosh or whine- and you’re knocked back into the seat as the car’s acceleration kicks up a notch. That’s what tablets do for e-commerce. Tablets. A compromise on mobility vs smartphones. A compromise on usability [...]

NFL teams are making moves with Peyton et al leaving Indy; March Madness is on; NHL’s playoff race is on; MLB squad games are being played. North American soccer season has started and the European league championships are on. March is ‘intersection’ season for sports; almost every league has something going. A classic sports dilemma [...]

Lego. A perpetually young brand that should have died long ago, by rights. Toys don’t last, do they? But this one has. Did Lego find Ponce de Leon’s the fountain of youth? This week, my class covered brands that stay young by stretching the ‘Maturity’ phase of a marketing lifecycle- of delaying a slide into [...]

Encountered categories or ads that make your skin crawl? That’s opportunity knocking. Think of the peace of mind if uniform brand standards existed in a seedy category. Some personally selected, highly subjective categories: Jewelry trade-ins; pawn shops; coin appraisals; pay-day & high-risk loans; used cars sales and, in some cases, new car sales. In my [...]