We need feedback to grow. According to John Hattie, Professor of Education and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia, “The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback.” I concur, and I’m not alone. Many leaders from all walks of life—business, education, sports, the military, among others—believe […]
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“But couldn’t any other brand in the category also say that?” Familiar Marketer Critique From time to time in the past, we have proposed that perhaps it was time to replace the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with a newer, more expansive (and competitive) leader-role: the Chief Differentiation Officer (CDO). And we identified a few areas, beyond the […]
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We’ve recently begun work for a client in a therapeutic category where the right treatment can mean the difference between prolonging life or dying prematurely. As we do with every assignment, we review the client’s and their competitors’ messaging. In this case, there are 14 brands (including therapies with multiple brands) and 26 ads—14 targeted […]
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Age of ATTENTION – Age of ATTRACTION – Age of ADVOCACY – Age of ABSORPTION About fifteen years ago or so, Advertising Age ran a one-page article entitled “Living in the Age of Attraction.” The gist of the article was a contrast between America’s longstanding “attention economy” (roughly running from the early 1950s through the early 1990s) and its new and distinctly […]
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When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all … Paul Simon Many organizations recognize the need for marketing training to grow skills and enhance performance. After all, given the plethora of product choices available to target customers, and sameness in their offerings, […]
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If you’re a regular reader of DISPATCHES, you know that from time to time we like to go digging into our brand-building files from yesteryear—with the intention of recalling to mind a timeless principle or two. Since we both spent (and took so much from) our earliest “yesteryears” while at Procter & Gamble, it’s no […]
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“The goal isn’t to do business with people who need what you make; the goal is to do business with people who believe as you believe.” Simon Sinek, TED Video, September 209 We continue to be convinced that the most common and costliest brand positioning blunders occur in targeting. Most common because way too many in […]
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For quite some time, we’ve been comparing your product to an “egg!” What we’re saying is that there is really little difference in products competing in the same category. They work in the same fundamental way and generate the same basic outcomes—regardless of your category! Consequently, in this “age of sameness and abundance” where generally […]
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We are not publishing DISPATCHES or Marketing Matters this week. We’re taking time to celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends. This is the day that represents our Declaration of Independence and our country’s birth as a free and independent nation. It’s a day where we get together with family and friends to […]
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“This factor, ‘telling behaviors,’ adds valuable texture to the strategic Target Customer definition. It thereby provides us with a deeper understanding of our prospective customers. It consists of, and results from, direct observation of what else they do consistent with treating the condition, their life-stage, or occasion relative to the category.” –Competitive Positioning, Czerniawski […]
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