Jim Meier, (an executive at MillerCoors), is an expert on getting marketing and finance to work together. Let’s call this the marketing finance partnership. He has written a fascinating chapter on the problems of doing this. Perceptions Of Marketing The portrayal of marketers through the eyes of finance people is amusing. Still, it isn’t pretty….
CLV In The CPG Industry
V Kumar (the editor of the Journal of Marketing) and student Sarang Sunder have undertaken a review of the use, and potential use, of Customer Lifetime Value, CLV in the CPG industry. (CPG being consumer packaged goods, think P&G, General Mills). Challenges For CPG Marketers The authors talk about the problems that CPG marketers face…
The Long-Term Impact Of Advertising
One of marketing’s greatest challenges is that its benefits are often long-term. Spend now, gain later. What is the long-term impact of advertising? Measuring The Long-Term Impact Of Advertising Long-term benefits can be very tough to measure. This is especially true when lots of other activity is happening at the same time. For an analogy…
A Common Marketing Language
A major problem in marketing is that one often has only a general idea of what another marketer is speaking about. “Unfortunately, marketing still does not have that commonality of terminology” (Farris, Reibstein, and Scheller, 2016, page 46). We need a common marketing language. We Lack Shared Meanings A marketer will talk of loyalty and…
A Secret To Being Productive?
Charles Duhigg’s book are always entertaining. The central thesis make me dubious. That isn’t important though as the stories are full of interesting observations. This is true of Smarter, Faster, Better. Duhigg shares a secret to being productive. Great Stories I’m not a fan of some of the literature at the basis of the book. As such, it…
Academics And Political Conclusions
We all have political opinions. (Having no opinion is a stance in itself). What can we say about academics and political conclusions? Academics Have A Role In Political Discourse Academics have an important role to play in political discourse. Yet, we have to try to rid ourselves of bias and use appropriate evidence. It is therefore disappointing…
True But Useless
The Heath brothers, Chip and Dan, have an entertaining style and together they have generated a number of readable, informative popular psychology/business books. I enjoy the books and generally agree with a lot of what they say. A nice addition to the language is True But Useless. The Problem Of Certainty The brothers do run into the problem facing a lot…
Controlling Your Political Brand
One of the key challenges for any party or politician is controlling your political brand. Case studies are a useful tool. They show that has been done in the past. Political Versus Administrative Tension often arises between the political and administrative aspects of government in a democracy. Elected politicians set the strategy. This should (ideally) reflect…
Measuring Brand Value
Measuring brand value is a huge challenge. Even the best methodology available is far from perfect. (And there are many would argue I’m being too generous in that assessment). There are, however, a number of significant potential benefits if you know the value of your brand. Most obviously you have a better idea of your firm’s…
You’re An Original
The study of creativity seems worthwhile but challenging. Creativity seems hard to consistently measure. Given it is hard to assess what is actually creative, it must be even harder to work out what drives creativity. Adam Grant tries this in Originals. I doubt his is the last word on the topic but it is worth a read. What is the message: You’re An Original. The…
