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Monday, September 26, 2016

Two routes to creating brand value

A while back I wrote about a hypothetical future in which a smart washing machine bought its own detergent. I suggested that with the Internet of Things marketers would find it difficult to incentivize new buyers except with price discounts and special offers. Why? Because machines are unlikely to recognize intangible value any time soon.

#Brands

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Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Will rising nationalism undermine global brands?

Today sees the launch of BrandZ™ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2016 and just as we saw with the latest Indonesian ranking the results find that the growth of locally-grown brands has outpaced that of global brands with a local presence. Given a widespread rise in nationalism around the world what might the implications be for global brands?

#Brands

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Monday, September 19, 2016

Consistent measurement of impact for digital and TV

TV is evolving and how we measure its effectiveness needs to evolve too. In addition to good old fashioned linear TV, we now have Connected and Addressable TV. These new incarnations put TV on a par with digital when it comes to targeting, but hold TV to a higher measurement standard. Increasingly TV will need to prove it provides impact, not just reach.

#Media

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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

What brands can learn from the Bernie Sanders campaign

Irrespective of whether Bernie Sanders’ message resonated with you or not, there are still things marketers can learn from his campaign, not the least of which is that it takes more than a year to really establish what a brand stands for.

#Brands

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Monday, September 12, 2016

Is edge marketing the solution to a locked in world?

’What is edge marketing?’ I hear you ask. Stick with me and I will explain. ‘And why “a locked-in world?”’ Let’s start there.

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Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Are Chipotle’s woes more than temporary?

I work by a maxim of my own: if it looks like a finding, it is wrong. It is a reminder that no matter how exciting a research finding looks, there is always a potential that it is the product of an error. So when I noticed that Chipotle Mexican Grill’s brand had been weakening well ahead of the recent widely-reported health outbreaks, I decided to see if I could corroborate my finding elsewhere.

#Brands

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Monday, September 5, 2016

Marketing is a slow growth world

The IMF downgraded global growth prospects in July, China’s economy decelerated again and economists are forecasting potential recession for the UK following Brexit. Maybe it is time we figured out that the heady days of economic growth are behind us and focus on how best to grow brands in a slow growth world.

#Brands

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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Turning findings into insights

The other day I was chatting with a colleague who consistently used the word ‘insights’ to refer to what I might have called ‘findings’. To my mind a finding is useful, an insight is transformational. And in today’s world of slow growth and big data I think we have plenty of findings, but what we really need are insights that lead to action.

#Research

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Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

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