Last week the Wall St. Journal featured a story on Tiffany & Co's "midlife crisis." The piece highlighted the jewelry brand's struggle to regain its "cool" and improve recently tepid sales and profits. A few days later they announced the hiring of a new CEO. Yet Tiffany is hardly alone in dealing with what I have coined… Continue reading Tiffany seeks to execute the ‘customer trapeze’
Category: Brand Marketing
I am the captain now
For a long time brands had the upper hand. The purchase funnel was relatively straight-forward. Media channels were few and generally well controlled. The consumer's access to product and pricing information was limited. Distribution channels were highly disciplined. Communication was largely one-way. Marketing plans were often drawn up just once year and any changes required… Continue reading I am the captain now
The new retail ecosystem: NRF edition
For quite some time, we've thought about stores, catalogs and the internet as distinct shopping entities. Today the blended channel is the only channel. For quite some time, we've run our retail businesses as a loose affiliation of vertical departments and systems. Today we see that brands are horizontal and that silos belong on farms.… Continue reading The new retail ecosystem: NRF edition
Confusing the offering with the story
We're typically pretty good at laying out the features and benefits; at explaining all the reasons why our product offering is superior to the competition's and why it makes perfect sense that you should choose us. Unfortunately when the consumer is overwhelmed by choice, when it's hard to get them to even notice us--much less… Continue reading Confusing the offering with the story
Marketing’s new ‘power of now’
Please check out my new Advertising Age article, produced in partnership with Google. Click here: Marketing's new 'power of now'
The road to your brand
When the customers you wish to acquire and grow think about your brand is there a closeness and connection that instantly arises, or do they see it as far off with the road to relevance marred by potholes and other sources of friction? Are they moving closer or drifting farther away? Do you even know?… Continue reading The road to your brand
A place to buy things
What do your customers really think of you? Do they have a compelling story to tell about your brand? Have they had experiences that deeply resonate with them? Do they proactively advocate on your behalf? Can they easily justify the premium they choose to pay? Would they give you another chance if you screwed up? Or,… Continue reading A place to buy things
The antidote to a tsunami of stuff
We live in a world of expanding choice. A world where--if we are fortunate enough to have the money--almost anything can be purchased from almost anywhere in the world almost anytime we want. With the smart phone as a growing (and often omnipresent) access point, the web provides the portal to nearly infinite information and… Continue reading The antidote to a tsunami of stuff
Overestimating loyalty
Let's get a few things straight. Just because someone is a member of your loyalty program doesn't make them loyal. Just because a customer takes advantage of loyalty program discounts or redeems reward points doesn't mean they are loyal either. Just because your brand is a consumer's preferred choice is not a reliable indicator of… Continue reading Overestimating loyalty
Dating the wrong customers
In most industries, the smart marketer wants to cultivate long-term, enduring relationships with her customers. For most of us, the end-game, best case scenario is to create customers for life--or for at least a very long time. Imagine if, however, in our personal lives, we had a strong desire to get married, but we only went… Continue reading Dating the wrong customers