Lessons from Category Disruptors Eroding market shares, low profit margins & declining distributions in an increasingly fragmented & overcrowded marketplace. Daily conversations in the halls of most traditional CPG companies have transitioned from growing sales to retaining market shares, consolidating brands. The legacy brands in CPG companies are facing an uphill challenge from upstart …
Let’s connect Brand to the M.O.N.E.Y. The term is ‘Brand Equity’. In the simplest of terms, it is the commercial value assigned to the brand, derived from consumer perception of the brand, rather than from the product or service itself. But what does it mean in the real world? You have 2 identical phones, …
Seven major social media platforms compete to hold your attention within the 2.5 hours you spend on social media every day. Is it, then, any surprise that one of the biggest issues faced by businesses today is a failure to stand out in the chaos? There are 2 key ways that businesses can break through …
Patagonia’s Anti-Black Friday Stand For years now, Patagonia has been synonymous to conscious consumption, fighting climate change, while retaining its position as a mass-premium, hardy winter wear brand. When it came to the largest sales event of the year this weekend, it felt good to see the brand take a stand and refuse to participate. Staying …
Emotional Realism – a messy range of real emotions that we all feel, but nobody wants to talk about. Marketing is a lot more about emotional associations than the products/services themselves. However, most companies, unfortunately, only understand a fraction of their customers’ emotions. A study by NonFiction Research, explored Spotify Playlists of Americans, along with other data points. The …
A lesson in Branding from Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria I was walking the streets of New Haven earlier this week, and we got hungry. Where do you think we got lunch? I will give you 3 guesses… If you guessed Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria, you would be right. But why would your mind suggest Frank Pepe’s? What makes …
Your logo is not your brand. A brand is made up of many different elements: the logo, the visual aesthetics, the tagline, the tone/voice in which it speaks, and more. But it is NOT any one of these or even all of these combined, that make the brand. It is something bigger. A brand …
When a new business is starting out, sometimes you have an urge to be everything to your customers. However, in most cases, that is NOT the route to building a successful brand. There are several ways to identify your brand’s promise. One such framework, developed by Jennifer Aaker in “Dimensions of Brand Personality”, first published in the Journal …
As a founder of a marketing consultancy, yellow pebble, I watch Super Bowl ONLY for the ads. This year, brands leaned into some familiar, some new themes for their Super Bowl spots. Here are 15 spots that made good use of their 30–60 seconds of fame, broken down into the key themes. Plus 4 new businesses that also pulled into …
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” No aspect of marketing starts with the product. It all begins with the customer. Who is your customer defines everything from what kind of product innovation you pursue to how you communicate with them. Marketing begins …
Empathy in Marketing: Customer Insights for Businesses on a Budget Read More »
