Jim Collins, in his book BE 2.0, explains how purpose and mission are important to companies. To help explain this, he uses the metaphor of crossing a mountain range and seeing a star on the horizon. Your purpose is to reach the spot on the horizon below the star. The current mission is climbing up the mountain you’re on. The next mission is climbing up the next mountain and so forth in order to get closer to the spot on the horizon. You will have many missions, and may never ...
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August 30, 2016
August 30, 2016
Thanks to Fiskars for this great Pacific set for the Bridge office. Splattered in paint that's appropriate for our East Villge-based office, the 16-piece box includes four dinners, four salads, four bowls, and four mugs--which will be doubling as cocktail glasses. :)
We recommend this box set as a gift for ad agencies, design studios, and artistic spaces. Thank you, Fiskars!
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July 6, 2013
July 6, 2013
Adding a Facebook "like" button to a website is also adding a piece of spy code on behalf of ad agencies. One doesn't even have to click the button for it to track you, according to the Wall St. Journal.
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April 17, 2011
April 17, 2011
Consumers wish companies would catch up online
The following article from Advertising Age says that consumers wish to do more business online, but that companies may not be adequately meeting him/her there. Ad Age included a survey that companies can take to measure their communication preparedness. I'm including it with this post.
MARKETERS FAILING INTERACTIVE PART OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING Forrester Study: Consumers Want Cross-Channel Engagement, but Companies Are Falling Behind
Creativity and Technology (CAT) conference excerpts from Ad Age magazine
I agree with these excerpts from the Advertising Age's article on CAT:
Don't separate interactive "The best way to make un-ambitious work is to set up a separate group called 'interactive,'" said Matt Howell, chief interactive officer, Modernista. But bringing interactive into the fold goes somewhat against established agency culture. "Collaboration and sharing are not core competencies at agencies," said Ivan Askwith, ...
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June 8, 2009
June 8, 2009
Giving tableware and home good products green ratings and labels
The Ad Age article below describes how the European Commission may propose a system to put color-coded labels on cars designating how 'green' they are. What if this was done for home goods brands? For individual products?
Europe May Put Green Grades on Car Ads Proposed Rating System Would Color-Code Brands by Their Carbon Footprints
By Emma Hall Published: June 23, 2008
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- In a move that could have ...
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May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009
Chrsyler using its website to help predict real world car sales
The following article shows how Chrysler is using its website to drive real world sales. Excerpts:
Nearly six months before the launch, a team at Organic started calculating how much Chrysler would need to spend on marketing to sell its target number of vehicles by figuring out how much Web traffic the company needed to generate.
When the ad campaign went live, the system started calculating whether the commercials were generating ...
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May 11, 2009
May 11, 2009
Offer your customers perks for visiting your website often
This article below from Ad Age tells about a mall that gives points to people for visiting it. Accrue enough points, and the person get perks, such as valet parking. We heave heard about giving points after making a purchase. The idea of offering them just for visiting seems novel, and worthy of considering for websites. I'd like to see some home goods companies offer a similar arrangement to the general public and retailers. For example,...
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April 16, 2009
April 16, 2009
Putting your company on Facebook
The top brands on Facebook accorinding to a recent Ad Age article are Barack Obama, Coca Cola, Nutella, and Dr. House. How can your brand join the ranks? Well, first you have to setup your Facebook page. I've attached some screen shots above to show how two premium brands are running their social networking. I've also attached the Chicago Market's page. Please feel free to offer your thoughts.
Pizza Hut sells more than $1 billion in pizzas online
The Ad Age excerpt below states that Pizza Hut has sold more $1 billion in pizzas online. All those college kids that buy pizza online will soon move on to to buying other items online, such as home goods. What can we learn from Pizza Hut's tactics?
"Pizza Hut, which recently crossed the $1 billion benchmark in online sales, is launching a Facebook application that allows fans to place orders without leaving their profiles. Although online ...
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November 30, 2008
November 30, 2008
Restaurant in New York City Could Stand Under Rihanna's Marketing Umbrella
I designed a line of plates for a New York City restaurant last year, but never launched the line. One of the reasons was that the owner wanted only to cash the royalty checks for having his restaurant on a plate sold in retail stores, but he didn't want to make any instore appearances to promote the line. The article below about Rihanna's umbrella product line sheds light on why the owner's objection spelled doom for the ...
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October 5, 2008
October 5, 2008
Free Shipping Offers From Online Merchants Will Increase
A recent article in Advertising Age questions whether free shipping from websites may be less common due to rising fuel costs. I believe free shipping with and without conditions will increase. Free shipping has more to do with getting around MSRP than actual shipping costs. For a retailer to cut out free shipping, theoretically the free shipping would have to account for 50% of an item's price thereby canceling out any profit for the ...
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September 14, 2008
September 14, 2008
ROI on Digital Trounces Magazines by 'Factor of 2', also?
This article from Ad Age below says that online advertising delivers twice the return on investment as television. Few tableware companies advertise on television, but many do advertise in magazines and trade publications. My question: does online advertising also beat out magazines? I would imagine so. I can't imagine that a tableware ad in Tableware Today for $500, $1,000, or $1,200 can deliver as much as that amount spent online. So, ...
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September 14, 2008
September 14, 2008
The U.S. Army Defeats Tabletop
The Ad Age article below talks about Sears and the U.S. Army's partnership to sell Army approved clothing. Read: "U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division" on t-shirts, etc. Regardless of your personal view about war and/or the U.S. Army, this initiative says that the Army is being creative in marketing. How does the army relate to the tableware or home goods industry? I'm not referring to camouflage plates. What the Army sees and fine tableware doesn't is the need to: 1) ...
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October 25, 2007
October 25, 2007
Taco Bell on Rosenthal china?
In a blog entry on October 1st, I questioned HFN's brand survey results that lumped women 18 yrs. old in with women that are 64, and women that earn $25,000 with $100,000. I'd have really liked to see a few age and income break downs. A point that drives home how differently these groups perceive brands is the accompanying Ad Age graphic. Taco Bell on Rosenthal china? I don't
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