As Jack Welch once said, “The team with the best players wins.”  The expanding global economy and the growing importance of emerging markets make that adage both truer and harder than ever for marketers trying to find the best way to organize and align their departments to facilitate growth.  In MLC’s Q4 work on navigating the trade-offs in structuring global marketing departments, one of the pain points we heard again and again was getting the right players on the increasingly global team. Read More »

• Could those cell phone signals really be damaging our brains? Well – researchers aren’t sure [WSJ]
• YouTube is apparently in negotiations with the NBA and NHL to stream live games [Bloomberg]
• Coke has a new “Happiness Machine” viral video [Mashable]
• Belgian beer brand Leffe launches dating app [Mobile Marketing Magazine]
• Are mobile shopping sites driving customer loyalty? [Mobile Commerce Daily]
• Shoemaker Keds to reintroduce itself,  say “How Do You Do” to millenials [NYT]
• Are you competing with a demonstrably inferior product? Maybe you can learn from SABMiller’s efforts to beat bootleggers in Africa [AdAge]
• A preview of the social and marketing platforms likely to launch at South by Southwest [Brandweek]
• Don’t look now, but eye-tracking technology might have gotten a lot easier (and cheaper) [ReadWriteWeb]
• The good, the bad, and the ugly: 50 ads starring Oscar winners [Adweek]
• P&G’s Fairy dishwashing detergent will release a Royal Wedding-themed bottle in the UK [AdAge]
• Are you on the QR code bandwagon yet? Mashable has a guide for using the nifty augmented reality aides in event marketing [Mashable]

By Whitney Satin

When it comes to buzzword bingo, establishing a “customer-first focus” should ring true to most B2B and B2C marketers out there.  After all, we spend our days striving for deeper customer understanding, that ability to know exactly what products and services customers need and then what motivates them to act in certain ways—specifically in ways that lead to a purchase decision.  This customer-first culture should be the bedrock of any company strategy, and having a customer plan (Tesco) should be tantamount to having an annual financial and operations plan.

Read More »

In last week’s post, I introduced a set of “Good for the Consumer” criteria that are popping out of our research on world-class mobile marketing executions. This week, we’re going to dive deep into “Good for the Brand” attributes.  Again, this is a Beta version, so all feedback and guidance welcome.

Here goes—three Good for the Brand traits at play: Read More »

In our recent research on consumer marketing about the changing consumer purchase process, we’ve had the opportunity to speak with NeuroFocus, a neuromarketing research firm, to learn more about how they measure the brain’s response to brands, advertisements, products, packaging, and in-store stimuli.

While their research and methodology are fascinating, I found their work on advertising particularly interesting. Neurofocus has identified what they call “Neurological Iconic Signatures” (NIS); these are the unique moments in the consumption experience that generate the highest levels of brain engagement. They are critical to enjoyment of the product/ brand/ ad and to its retention in memory. Read More »

Purchase Decisions - Rationality

By Ana Lapter

Traditional decision theories discussing industrial purchasing behavior emphasize buyers’ rational pursuit to maximize profit. Certainly, business purchases are more rational and bottom line focused as compared to the impulse-driven consumer purchases. But are business purchasing decisions fully rational?

Many marketers I spoke with recently recognize that individuals, not corporate entities, make purchasing decisions. The same marketers seem to either underestimate the emotional component of a purchase, or write off emotional tactics, like relationship building and face-to-face interaction, to Sales.

Understanding the psychology of business buyers is a critical element for any B2B marketing strategy. There a few critical factors that influence business purchasing decisions: Read More »

So began a recent conversation with one of our members who happens to run marketing for a successful confectionary company.  The point she was making is that chocolate hasn’t evolved much in the past century and that anything new has been more iterative in nature.  As a consumer, however, I would vehemently disagree.  We’ve gone from a world of reasonably priced chocolates filled with marshmallow crème sold primarily through indirect channels to high-end boutiques like Vosges that sell $7.50, 3-ounce bars of chocolate filled with Tibetan goji berries and Himalayan salt. Read More »

• Google introduces OnePass – a payment platform for online publishers – in response to a similar Apple offering [ReadWriteWeb]
• Remember the iPhone antenna crisis of 2010? Apple broke all the ‘rules’ in its response, but came out ahead anyway [HBR]
• Texas’ Attorney General wants to see Google’s formula for advertising rates [Bloomberg]
• Diving into the DNA of radical innovators at Facebook [Techcrunch]
• Interested in advertising on Twitter? Check out their internal sales training video [MediaMemo]
• The 2011 Grammys were the most popular in 10 years – and showed growth among key youth demographics [AdAge]
• Open data initiatives are helping to improve life in cities – could they help improve life with your brand? [Mashable]
• Netflix and online video continue to explode [WSJ]
• Chrysler, following up on its ‘Imported from Detroit’ spot, will redesign dealerships as embassies for the city [AdAge]
• MTV is partnering with ‘TV-listening’ app IntoNow to encourage Jersey Shore-watchers to tune in live [Mashable]
• India could become the world’s first mobile digital society [McKinsey]
• Do you brag enough about your market advantages? [HBR]

As part of our 2011 research into consumer decision making, we’ve been exploring the latest insights from neuroscience (in posts here and here). We were intrigued by Martin Lindstrom’s new book, Buyology, which uses fMRI scans to expose our unconscious reactions to marketing communications. I’ve highlighted a few of our favorite insights below. Read More »

Once upon a time, Nike was in the business of selling athletic shoes.

And sell athletic shoes, they did – capturing 50% of the market by 1980, before beginning large-scale advertising or even going public. But success attracts competitors and creates depressed margins, and as other companies got into the shoe game, Nike branched out to apparel, dress shoes (via an acquisition of Cole Haan), and niche sports (hockey, skateboarding). Read More »