Yesterday it as reported that Wendy’s passed Burger King as the second largest hamburger chain in the U.S. in annual sales – $8.5 billion versus $8.4 billion – even though Burger King has 1,500 more stores. What does this have to do with the future of Arby’s? A few months ago, Arby’s hired Burger King’s […]
View PostYou, yes you can become more creative.
I just spent the weekend finishing up Idea-Links, a book on creativity written by my friend and colleague, Jim Link. Jim is an innovation consultant who leads new product development programs for companies all over the world. I was lucky enough to meet him when we were asked to collaborate on a project for Sargento and […]
View PostPromises, promises
If you’re running a business, here’s a tip: Only make promises you’re prepared to keep. A friend of mine, driven by the desire to shop at a locally-owned business and swayed by the promise of a free tune-up within one year of purchase, spent nearly $2,000 on a new bike at Williamson Bicycle Works last year. Willy Bikes […]
View PostRush Limbaugh, social media and the lessons learned
Last week Rush Limbaugh said some hateful things on the radio and now he’s paying the price with a loss of advertisers and pressure on local stations to drop his syndicated show from those who’ve always wanted to silence his voice and now sense he’s given them the perfect opportunity. While I doubt any marketer […]
View PostThe idea factory
Your brain is an idea factory and like any factory it needs a few things to create quality output. Quality Raw Materials: Ideas, observations, knowledge, art, stories and everything else you’ve ever experienced in your life. Your experiences are just like the materials factories buy – they can be of either low or high quality. […]
View PostWhere are you headed?
Vision is the most critical element in executive leadership. It’s also the most rare. The stock market favors this quarter’s performers. Everybody starts a company with an “exit strategy” in mind. When the average tenure of a CMO is 18 months, it’s hard to look beyond the next promotion. Because maybe if you throw enough coupons […]
View PostContext is everything
There’s nothing unusual about a Harvard graduate. There are tens of thousands of them around the country. There’s nothing unusual about an American male of Taiwanese descent. There’s nothing unusual about an undrafted free-agent becoming a successful NBA player. Put these all together in the center of the media universe, New York City, and you […]
View PostSony hits a sour note
Here’s a tip: Profiting from someone else’s misfortune or death always reflects badly on your brand. Sony found out the hard way this weekend after they hiked the wholesale price of Whitney Houston’s “Ultimate Collection” by 60% on iTunes in Great Britain just hours after her death. After much hue and cry from her fans, […]
View PostIt’s not always the big things
While this spot and campaign have been around since last August, I just found out about it through an article in today’s New York Times. I like it for a few reasons. First the strategy. The marketing guy at Chipotle is smart enough to know that even though 75% of their customers said that taste, value […]
View PostTen lessons from the Super Bowl
We all love the Super Bowl. We love the bigness of it, the spectacle and the drama. Not just of the game, but also the ads. They’re fun to watch, criticize and occasionally praise. But the fact of the matter is, most businesses can’t afford to advertise in the Super Bowl. So what marketing lessons […]
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