What Gives Red Bull Wings? Creating a Successful Market-Oriented Organization
Building Retro Brands: Harley Davidson and the 4 As
After a seemingly unstoppable growth period during the beginning of the 21st century, the iconic American brand Harley Davidson was in serious trouble. Not only did the 2008 global economic crisis hit it hard, but more importantly, its core target market was shrinking fast (Seizemore 2013). Composed primarily of American Baby Boomer males, this aging demographic had plenty of disposable income and sought an escape from the monotony of daily life by indulging their long-lost aspirations of rebellion (Holt 2004). As profitable as this market segment once was, Harley Davidson had no choice but to shift branding gears and create new customer experiences.
Artificial Intelligence as a Customer Experience
The Volkswagen Crisis: What's Next?
Consuming in Canada
Why Is My Smart Home So Stupid?
4 Values at the Heart of Good Experience Design
Valentine's Day: A Global Perspective
This week, people all around the world will make very similar consumer decisions: buying a card, ordering flowers, getting chocolate, and booking a nice restaurant. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it seems that we are celebrating our feelings in a global village of love and romantic consumption. But is there more to the event than meets the commercial eye?
What Makes MBAs Stand Out?
Today I deviate a bit from standard protocol and write about MBA teaching. That’s because I just saw a great ft.com interview featuring the Ross School’s Dean Alison Davis-Blake. She had an important message: Business schools must change their tactics for MBAs to get jobs.
How Beyoncé Made Market-Based Feminism Work
Target Canada: Why It Failed
Creating the New Man
Chivalry may not be dead, but today’s “modern man” is much different from days of old: he applies moisturizer and even wears makeup. While you may accept this as the norm (or find it shocking that we are even calling attention to it), it’s important to acknowledge it hasn’t always been this way. Sure our fathers applied Brut and Brylcreem, but these were basic items, commodities of sorts. Today it’s much more complicated.
McDonald's Marketing Misery
How Disney Has Inspired Loyalty and Love
Why do people insist on Starbucks when Second Cup is right next door? Or buy Apple products instead of Dell even though they make the same technologies? Why do people love Disney? To most, the answer is simply, they “just do.” So how do we justify the irrationality of our choices? The answer lies in the brand itself and how they have effectively moved in to the “lovemark” territory, inspiring action and loyalty beyond reason and coming out as the only choice.
Boutiquification Strategy
Do you remember when the best part of waking up was hearing the sound of the dripping and percolating Mr. Coffee coffeemaker preparing for the blissful moment of Folgers in your cup? For many coffee drinkers today, this is just a faint memory of their parents coffee habits in the 1980’s and 90’s. At that time, coffee was a bipolar product: regular or decaf.
Customer Experience is the New Marketing
Marketing the Moon: Four Strategies
Putting the Magic in CMO
Rich Karlgaard, in his Innovation Rules column in Forbes, suggests that two C-suite roles that are sure to change are the chief information officer (CIO) and chief marketing officer (CMO). “The CMO will spend less time communicating to the outside world and more time shaping the inside story,” writes Karlgaard. “What else can hold a liquid organization together, but purpose, values and story?”
The Power of Objects in Customer Experience Design
Ever thought about why there is a nicely decorated table in every Pottery Barn? Objects have been traditionally marketed through the marketing mix using the four Ps to make products more appealing to consumers. However, objects can be more than something that is leveraged through product, price, promotion and place.