Marketing

The increasing sophistication of consumers, new behavior-altering technologies, channel growth and media fragmentation, and the speed of transactions and innovations, among other factors, have all combined to challenge marketers everywhere regardless of company, industry, size, or geography. Every company, every brand, everyone now faces the same situation – how do we engage consumers to become brand loyalists and advocates?

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and industry-leading research firm Anderson Analytics issued the results of its second annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2009. The survey of MENG members, conducted by Anderson Analytics, focused on top marketing concepts, buzz words, global areas of opportunity, targeted customer demographics, as well as the books and thought leaders that marketers look to for inspiration and growth opportunity.

According to a recent analysis of BIGresearch’s SIMM database by Prosper Technologies, wide gaps exist between how ad dollars have been spent versus what consumers say works best when it comes to buying a car. The Prosper analysis and media allocation model utilizes the SIMM Survey of 17,231 consumers to determine “what” and “which” media forms are most influential to consumers for buying a car, the consumption of the media, and pricing of various measured media.

Named after advertising legend David Ogilvy, The ARF David Ogilvy Awards annually celebrate his spirited advocacy of research in making good advertising better.

What form must marketing take to survive and thrive in a changing media landscape? What role will the agency play going forward? These are some of the questions many in the marketing community will be mulling over holiday breaks. Like a cliffhanger before a commercial break (that you can’t TiVo past), 2008 is quickly coming to an end by posing some intimidating questions. Want to see what happens next? Stay tuned and watch the drama unfold in 2009 after a short break. Not that patient? Read on.

This article presents a new perspective for planning and designing company logo/branding systems. It is researched based, giving support to new theories about logo design and branding. New terms, Credibility Based Logo Design, Credibility Based Branding and Brand Credibility are introduced by the author to describe new perspectives for logo design and branding in this article.

Much like living organisms, brands have a lifecycle. At times, they take on a life of their own. While some brands stand the test of time, others fade away soon after they come to market. What happens when it’s time for brands to die, and why?

A primary reason for brand fragility is the very nature of the brand world. Consider this: in 2006, over 20,000 new products were introduced just in the food and beverage category, according to research firm Datamonitor. While many new products may be extensions of an existing brand, imagine the number of new brand names embedded in that statistic.

The study tracked the purchasing behavior of nearly 54 million American shoppers over a 12-month period. It found that in an era of increased brand proliferation and specialization, CPG marketers must improve strategies and tactics to better engage with “Pivotal Point Consumers,” representing today’s influential volume buyer base, in a precise, personal and relevant manner.

More than eight in ten influencers say they often go online to find out more after reading something in a magazine or newspaper (84%) or hearing something on TV or the radio (84%.) These traditional media sources help shape public opinion in the complex world of online influence.

This paper offers a unique perspective on the history of branding and specifically the importance of internal branding and delivering value at key moments of truth. Using a cowboy branding analogy from the American West, Randall Rozin, Global Director of Brand Management for Dow Corning Corporation, takes the reader through a historic journey of both branding of cattle and brand building at the employee and customer levels.

Marketing executives are under growing pressure to show a return on investment for their programs, but many are struggling and finding the process complex, according to a report by The Conference Board.

Many executives say they lack the technological resources necessary to measure these programs. Others say they are facing strong cultural resistance

The most ethnically diverse and technologically savvy generation in U.S. history, the adults of Generation Y, born from 1979 to 1990, number about 40 million. Also known as Echo Boomers, Millennials and a host of other catchy titles, Gen Y adults tend to be self-confident, team-spirited, politically liberal and more digitally literate than their elders. They take for granted the quick convenience and seemingly infinite options afforded by cell phones, the Internet, indulgent parents and a marketplace eager to meet their mercurial tastes. Gen Y adults also stay single longer, remain more emotionally and financially attached to their parents, and delay their own parental responsibilities longer, while indulging their inner child more vigorously, than the generations before them.