While the English language is certainly a common denominator in the business world, assuming everyone speaks it is definitely ill-advised.  So how does a marketing team ensure its product materials are accurate in another language?  One executive poses this question in our recently-launched Marketing Org & Ops Forum, asking “What are the best practices in assessing the quality and correctness of translation service jobs?” Read More »

“The single biggest reason companies fail is that they overinvest in what is, as opposed to what might be.”

–Gary Hamel, Author and Professor, London Business School

Professor Hamel puts his finger on one of the most important undercurrents facing marketing leaders in large enterprises today.  As products, channels, and geographic markets proliferate, marketers will overweight to the familiar (that which “is” today), and fail to account for the size of future opportunity (that which “might be”).  Why?

They certainly won’t do so intentionally.  Rather, the sheer complexity of resource allocation decisions across geographies, products and channels will lead many marketers to settle for incremental changes to last year’s budget allocation.  In the face of overwhelming complexity, this will feel like the safe, smart choice. Read More »

Marketing and media news

• Explaining the rise of touch-screen gadgets [NYT]
• Blockbuster finally has a working differentiator from Netflix and Redbox – but may not have the money to market it [AdAge]
• Amazon, joining Apple, is exploring a paid streaming video service [WSJ]
• In other digital media news, Sony is exploring a bid to sell songs and movies [FT]
• Taking a look at the sea change in American demographics, expected to be confirmed by results of this year’s Census [AdAge]
• UK authorities will begin stepping up their policing of online advertising [FT]
• The Washington Post has suspended sports columnist Mike Wise for a Twitter hoax he started last week in an attempt to illustrate how bad information can spread rapidly through the medium [NYT]
• Display ads continue to outperform the economy [Adweek]
• Facebook has patented an algorithm for social search [Mashable]
• Under Armour, the go-to brand for athletic young men, is beginning to target women [NYT]
• Survey respondents agree: America (and her customer service representatives) are getting ruder [Adweek]
• MediaPost explains why the Wall Street Journal’s “expose” on tracking consumer behavior on the web is nothing to fear [MediaPost]

Today @ MLC

On Wide Angle, we’ll be taking a look at how MTV Networks uses a data-driven approach to marketing planning.