Monthly Archives: September 2010

Maybe it’s not that outrageous

Posted on September 29, 2010 by

Last October we posted about Ryanair as an example of focus and lean thinking. Today we have more to say about this interesting business. Their CEO, Michael O’Leary, does seem to like publicity at least as much as his counterpart at Virgin Atlantic, … Continue reading →

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Is Apple about to make the same mistake … again?

Posted on September 27, 2010 by

Apple has moved to dominance in some consumer product categories with leading edge, useful products such as the iPod, iPad and iPhone. This also helps their computer sales. There was a time Apple was the dominant personal computer maker as well. … Continue reading →

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Brand extensions are not all bad

Posted on September 24, 2010 by

Al Ries and Jack Trout, authors of Positioning and other excellent books, have been religious adherents of not extending brands. We generally agree, but are not as religiously committed. An example where we think it may work well is in Procter … Continue reading →

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They say any PR is good PR

Posted on September 20, 2010 by

When I first heard about Drake University‘s D+ campaign I had the same reaction as the The Awl and Adweek bloggers who ripped the campaign for aligning a really poor grade as the brand identity of the University. Drake got … Continue reading →

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Make sure you meet your objective before you celebrate

Posted on September 15, 2010 by

Too often in business we find ourselves celebrating “milestones” or outputs rather than results. Too many marketing activities are tied to achieving an output and not an outcome tied to a business objective. A good example of this is shown in this short penalty … Continue reading →

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It’s a global market … except when it isn’t

Posted on September 14, 2010 by

One thing I’ve noticed about marketers (and probably many other people too) is that they pursue efficiency … often to the point of being ineffective. A place where this often shows up is trying to make messaging or product global. … Continue reading →

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Power to the (front-line) people

Posted on September 10, 2010 by

Most experts on customer service agree that empowering the front-line people to effectively deal with most of the issues that arise with customers is a key to loyal customers. Providing the training and guidance to do that can be difficult, especially … Continue reading →

Posted in airlines, customer service | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Let’s get emotional

Posted on September 8, 2010 by

Al Ries had a great article in yesterday’s Advertising Age magazine about emotion and slogans. Pundits have suggested for some time now that brands need to make an emotional connection with the user. Many companies have created a social networking strategy … Continue reading →

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If we could just go viral…

Posted on September 2, 2010 by

Word of mouth (now called viral marketing because “mouth” is only a small piece of the communication method today) marketing is highly effective. Making it happen is everyone’s holy grail. We have participated in countless conversations with customers that start, “How … Continue reading →

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Price, Service and Quality: Pick Two

Posted on September 1, 2010 by

  The idea that you can have only two of the choices between price, service and quality has been an oft-quoted aphorism for decades. It has allowed some companies to justify their inability to compete. Or has been the basis of … Continue reading →

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