Last week I received an email from a former marketing class student about Budweiser beer reportedly changing the name on cans over the summer from "Budweiser" to "America". She thought for sure it was a hoax, or at the very least a publicity stunt meant to garner headlines for an established brand in a mature category fighting for every last incremental decimal sales increase. … [Read more...]
Is it time to disrupt your industry?
Nobody enjoys a disruption, but it’s a fact of life. Kids ask to be picked up in the middle of a great movie. Meetings are scheduled right when you’re actually being productive. And occasionally competitors or a new technology turn an industry on its ear. Increasingly competition is coming from outside your industry, or influenced by technology that changes your industry. … [Read more...]
The 35-divide
In 1964 a student at the University of California Berkeley named Jack Weinberg coined the immortal phrase, "Don't trust anyone over 30." When he invoked that sentiment in 1964, Mr. Weinberg was a civil rights activist frustrated by bureaucratic inaction. Yet today, curiously that line still exists, in particular with respect to technology. I call it the 35-divide. My company … [Read more...]
Internet ad spending out paces TV
Internet ad spending in the UK out paced TV ad spending for the first time ever in history. While TV ad spending commanded 22%, the internet took up 24% of advertising expenditures. While some were quick to write the obituary for traditional media, the UK market is a bit of an anomaly with its restricted advertising on the BBC and an abundance of broadband penetration. However, … [Read more...]
It’s not easy being green – or is it?
Increasingly that statement is becoming harder to make. In fact, it's not only easier to be green these days, it's getting harder not to be. That can only be a good thing. The stage we are at now is being likened to Green 2.0 - where green 1.0 was all about reusable bags, low hanging fruit such as recycling, and a washing advertising in often shallow environmental promises. … [Read more...]
