Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Oct 28, 2009
The Keys to Brand Success (Millward Brown)
For the last few years the guys at Millward Brown have been producing insightful marketing content and this story (in PDF format) continues the good work. It covers the factors that set brands apart and hopefully make them distinctive such as the brand name, logo, packaging design, etc. But not only does the story cover the factors important to branding, it also looks at the psychology behind these factors and how these affect customer decision making.
In reality, the process of unlocking brand associations is more complex than simply matching up brands with words, shapes, or colors. In many cases it is not the individual elements of a brand’s presentation that are important, but the way these work together.
Do major Internet companies that offer online services, such as Google and Facebook, need to focus on branding issues in the same way that consumer products companies, such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills, look at branding?
Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Oct 27, 2009
Kids' Cereals Pour on the Sugar and Sodium (USA Today)
Here is a scathing research report that has some marketers in the U.S. scurrying for cover. Not only is it produced by a credible research center, it also has the resources to be well publicized (it was picked up by many media outlets). The report titled Evaluating the Nutrition Quality and Marketing of Children’s Cereal by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University challenges the marketing activates of major cereal manufacturers by looking at how they direct their marketing campaigns (see more about this research at this website). The results are not pretty for the manufacturers. The full report offers excellent insight into how cereal is marketed including a look at how promotional activities take place through television, in-store and Internet.
The average preschooler sees 642 cereal ads a year on TV. Most are for types with the worst nutrition ratings.
The report calls for U.S. government regulation for how cereal is promoted to children. What is the likelihood that this will happen?
Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Oct 22, 2009
Marketers Salivating Over Smartphone Potential (USA Today)
We posted last week about how marketers are finally seeing the light when it comes to mobile commerce, well here is another story addressing the same issues. Except this story gets more specific on how users are shifting from computers to mobile devices for accessing social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. While marketers may be salivating, there are still many questions remaining on the real potential these devices (and these social network sites) hold for generating revenue for marketers.
The number of people who use social networks from their smartphones skyrocketed 187%, to 18.3 million unique users, in July, compared with the same month a year earlier, says Nielsen. Social networking is among the fastest-growing activities on mobile devices, along with search and checking news, says Jon Stewart, Nielsen's research director for technology and search.
Up to this point social networks have not shown the ability to generate much revenue considering the number of people who access these sites through their computers. Will access through mobile devices change this?