We know that good marketing practice means knowing: (1) who your target market is; (2) what problem(s) your target market is trying to solve; (3) what your brand's value proposition is; and, therefore, (4) whether your brand will solve your target market's problem.

But recessions can be tough on brands...

It happened again -- I was thanked for being a customer. This time, I received a hand written card from SwimOutlet.com, an online swim shop, thanking me for being such a loyal customer. Sure, we buy from SwimOutlet.com a lot as we have four swimmers in the family...

Last night I was reading the latest copy of Newsweek, the one with the heading "America's Back" (April 19, 2010). The feature article included short interviews with a number of economic commentators who, predictably, gave mixed messages on whether the economy would recover quickly, along with likely economic growth figures...

The March issue of Fast Company came out this week and in it was a list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. Now, I like a good list and I particularly like this one. The list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies is compiled based on expert opinion,...

I teach marketing strategy at the Drucker School of Management, a graduate only School that offers MBAs and Executive MBAs. I witnessed first hand the passion many of my students showed toward Obama, his campaign and his election to President. Many of my students volunteered during the campaign and participated...

There aren't many companies around that practice marketing the way that Apple does. I call Apple's approach to marketing "Heretical Marketing" because Apple clearly departs from accepted beliefs or practices in developing and launching new products. Here's why.

Central to marketing is the goal of identifying customer needs and wants,...

Super Bowl season is almost upon us and once again the question of whether companies should spend money on Super Bowl commercials has emerged.

Last year, economic circumstances were quite different. For example, Monday January 26, 2009 was labeled Black Monday because it was the day that many large...

I have been a sponge for stories about how organizations have reacted during the turbulent times that defined 2009. Sometimes, I have watched in horror as managers panicked and unraveled strategies that had previously made sense. Other times, I have watched marketing and innovation at work as necessity forced managers...

I have often wondered what it takes for a dominant economy to fail as Spain did in the late 17th Century, France did in the late 18th Century, or the Ottoman Empire did in the mid-19th Century. Niall Ferguson, a Professor of History at Harvard University, provided great insights on...

I've been thinking a lot about video games, partly because we have a lot of them in the house (yes, we purchased Call of Duty 2 the day it came out) and partly because I am intrigued by data indicating that sales of video games, an $11b industry, are down...

The Los Angeles Times ran an interesting story on November 21, 2009: airlines continue to get great marks for customer satisfaction and fewer people are complaining about bad experiences with airlines. Industry data doesn't help explain this phenomenon because, according to the article, airlines are only required to report mishandled...

I love lists and two have caught my attention this past week: The 50 Best Inventions of 2009, published by Time and a list of the Most Intriguing New Businesses, published by BusinessWeek (November 23, 2009). I always marvel at new ideas, wonder how people came up with them, try...

A recent article in BusinessWeek (September 14, 2009) identified the organizations headhunters look to when trying to identify management talent. General Electric, IBM and Hewlett-Packard were cited as organizations that develop executives who thrive elsewhere, The Coca-Cola Company does not.

The reason given is that "the very attributes that make...

Dear [insert the name of your favorite retailer here],

It is hard to believe that another year has passed and I will soon be visiting your store again to buy holiday gifts.

I am a bit concerned about something, however, and thought I'd drop you a note. It seems...

In the November 1, 2009 edition of the Los Angeles Times, I came across a small article suggesting that consumers are starting to switch from private labels back to big-brand names again -- you know, the brands supplied by companies such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Kellogg. In the...

I read today that McDonald's has pulled out of Iceland.

The decision to withdraw is a combination of rising costs due to the weak Kronar against the German Mark (all products for McDonad's in Iceland come from Germany) and the inability to hike prices a further 20% to recoup...

And so it's been 80 years since Black Tuesday -- the day on which stocks plunged by 12% (having fallen by 13% the day before) triggering the Great Depression.

If we were celebrating a marriage, we would be giving diamonds and pearls after 80 years. Hardly appropriate today when consumers...

Every now and then I come across an innovation that makes me stop and think "what a great idea" [or: "why didn't I think of that?"]. It happened again the other night when I was watching television and I saw an ad for PowerMat -- a wireless recharging device that...

I have always been intrigued by the idea of firing customers. During turbulent times, the pressure has been on managers to make decisions that allow the organization to build up substantial cash reserves. And so the challenge has been on understanding the profitability of customers and the cash flow implications...

Last week, the Dow broke through the psychological barrier of 10,000 and many breathed a sigh of relief. The call went out that the economy was about to emerge from what can be characterized as the darkest financial period in recent history.

There certainly are green shoots indicating that the...