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Monthly Blogs Archive

A New Song for Blockbuster

A year and a half ago, I wrote “Don’t Stop Retailin’, Blockbuster,” an encouraging post to the then-struggling video rental chain. Blockbuster had just hired a new advertising agency and CEO Jim Keyes was mapping out his digital media-heavy plan for re-invigorating the business. I offered a different perspective saying, “While Blockbuster’s Keyes may want to evolve the business from a video-rental chain to a full-service media delivery company, I would recommend he put more focus on reinvigorating Blockbuster as a retail brand” — and I offered three suggestions for doing so.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 30 September, 2010 - 14:49
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Blockbuster Denise Lee Yohn retail customer experiences

17 Compelling and Highly Usable B2B Marketing Statistics

Guest Post by: Maria Pergolino

Knowing what’s happening in the B2B marketing industry is key to understanding current and future trends. One of the best sources of information is industry statistics.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 30 September, 2010 - 14:43
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B2B marketing Maria Pergolino statistics

Behind Procter & Gamble's Sustainability Vision

Procter & Gamble's announcement today of a new "sustainability vision" is a noteworthy moment — not just for the world's largest consumer packaged goods company, but for the world of sustainable business.

It represents another yardstick of how major corporate players view their place on the sustainability landscape: being "socially responsible," of course, but also seizing the global business opportunities that can inure to companies taking leadership roles in environmental and social well-being.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 29 September, 2010 - 14:35
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Joel Makower P&G sustainability

Important Differences Between the Customer’s and Supplier’s View of Delivery Dates

I’ve spent most of my career working the interface between suppliers and their B2B customers. One lesson I’ve learned involves understanding how customers view time; specifically, how they view deadlines when their suppliers make promises. Let me explore this by telling two stories.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 29 September, 2010 - 14:30
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delivery John Caddell deadlines

Holy Branding! Religion Gives Brand Immunity

Most marketers don’t count religious affiliation or degree of religiosity as key demographics, but a new study suggests perhaps they should. Makers of branded “self expression” items (such as logo apparel or designer sunglasses) in particular may find this segmentation useful.

According to a paper by Ron Shachar (Tel Aviv University and Duke) and co-authors from NYU and Duke, religious people, or even people temporarily in a religious frame of mind, find branded items less appealing than do less religious people.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 29 September, 2010 - 14:18
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brand image neuromarketing perception religion Roger Dooley

Ed Should Do His Demographics Homework

Speeches at political conferences are not renowned for their intellectual brilliance but they do provide, especially when it is the first one of a new party leader, a good idea about their major ‘branding’ themes.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 29 September, 2010 - 14:02
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demographics Dick Stroud politics political marketing

Social Media and #Spooks: Should Fictional TV Characters Use Twitter?

If you are not in the UK you may not know of the TV series Spooks. It is popular and award-winning BBC drama series following the work of a group of MI5 spies. It has just returned for its 9th season and many people are tuning in every Monday to see the adventures of Lucas North, Sir Harry Pearce and others. And, each Monday Twitter is flooded with discussions as people watch the show – the hashtag #Spooks usually trending globally during each episode.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 28 September, 2010 - 13:51
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Matt Rhodes spooks Twitter social media television entertainment

Is Your Industry in Danger of Being Disrupted?

There is much talk about innovation — and there are many approaches to creating new things, from the famous “open innovation” ideas of Henry Chesbrough to the ever popular notions of Clay Christensen about “disruptive innovation“. 

 

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 28 September, 2010 - 13:44
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adaptive change change disruptive industry dematuration John Sviokla

Are We Overhyping This Whole Movement/Tribe Thing?

Have you seen any movies set in the future, say Blade Runner or Minority Report? What do you notice about those films as it relates to the future of advertising? Yep, that all of that time in the future and advertising is still pretty pervasive. In fact, it's even more pervasive then it is today. Think of those giant billboards from Blade Runner or the famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) scene where retinal scanners welcome Tom Cruise to the Gap. The only future world I can think of without pervasive advertising is the one from Brave New World and there, they train you in-vitro to be a consumer. That's pretty pervasive.

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Comments (0) • Posted on on 28 September, 2010 - 13:25
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David Polinchock Tribes brands cultural movements

A Protracted Demise

Today begins a week's worth of advertising creativity, insight, brilliance and wit, all of which evidences an industry deeply in denial and perhaps doomed.

Advertising Week is "North America’s premier gathering of cutting-edge communications leaders," according to its web site, which lists a week's schedule packed with guru-level speakers from agencies, media companies, and technology firms. There'll be a little love thrown at big-name client speakers because they spend the money that those agencies, media companies, and technology firms swap with each other.

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Comments (1) • Posted on on 27 September, 2010 - 20:19
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advertising Jonathan Salem Baskin

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This blog reflects the personal opinions of individual contributors and does not represent the views of Futurelab, Futurelab's clients, or the contributors' respective employers or clients.

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