“Inventory is bad, inventory is evil,” finance and operations professors intone across business schools worldwide. And every B-school graduate knows companies should balance enough inventory to meet customer needs while accommodating shifting preferences. That said, companies face a paradox;…
Archive for January, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Is Inventory Still Evil?
Continue reading "Is Inventory Still Evil?"
Friday, January 23, 2009
How To Manage Changes
It is vexing, despite the fact that change constantly takes place it can still throw us off-kilter. It seems particularly evident now with constant changes in the economy, with prices, at our jobs… Not to mention a major shift in our government. Most business books that refer to change management…
How NOT to Create Loyalty in Tough Times
Marketing’s mission is to somehow change a customer’s behavior. We try many things to affect that behavior: advertising, email, search, events, webinars… and the list goes on and on.
And in tough economic times the opportunity to affect customer behavior is exceptionally acute, especially when i…
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Of Clorox Bleach and Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
A recent Brandweek article, Concentrating on Bleach, piqued my interest. In the article, we learn that Clorox has launched a new campaign to show consumers the many uses for bleach, besides using it to whiten their laundry. New ad spots show that bleach can be used to disinfect cutting boards, baby…
Lessons Learned from Teaching in a Distant Land
I’m back from the Fulbright in Yerevan, Armenia. And while most of my current thoughts seem to be on the increasingly intimidating task of finding a new position in the marketing world, I have also spent some
time contemplating what my family and I just experienced.
It was the adventure of a lif…
What’s In A Name?
As a copywriter, I’m particularly interested in names. Some I love, such as “Amazon” or “Starbucks,” for their evocative quality. Some I hate (imagine what you will here) and some leave me just plain puzzled. Why is it, for example, that hair salons are especially prone to bad puns such as “The Clip…
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I’m Not Your Catcher
Thanks again for the pitch. For the billboard fastball. For the 30-second breaking ball. For that nice banner ad, fluttering just inside my attention zone. Now, it’s time that you knew something. I’m done as your catcher.
For a while, I was enslaved, under contract, and you could pitch whatever yo…
Historical Perspective on Blog and Social Media Ethical Standards Debate
It helps to have been around business blogging and social media for a while. It gives one historical perspective.
Case in point, the almost perennial debate over whether it’s okay to mix advertorial content in with editorial. That argument has been bandied about ever since the days of Marqui’s Blo…
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Why Do People Use Twitter?
Why do you use Twitter? A week or so ago MarketingProfs CEO Allen Weiss asked on Twitter, “Sitting here with my wife trying to figure out what motivates people to use twitter….any ideas?” Allen had just returned from a few days of meetings with me and the rest of the MarketingProfs managers in…
Positioning: Another Pretty Girl at the Ball?
“Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball.” – Ann Handley…
