We’ve all learned a lot about brands and crisis management in recent months. First, even the best brands can run into major issues. Toyota, one of the world’s most admired companies, took a huge hit as stories surfaced about potential safety and quality issues earlier this year. BP and J&J have taken hits, too. Second, […]
More and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day. For many years almost every retailer closed on the holiday. Then a few started opening on Thanksgiving. This year the trend is clearly accelerating: Sears, Kmart, Gap, Walmart and Old Navy all will be opening at least some of their stores. Is this a good idea? Personally, I […]
This week Sears Holdings released quarterly results. The latest numbers suggest that the company hasn’t managed to slow the declines at Sears. Overall results for Sears Holdings were poor, with revenue for the quarter ending October 30 down 5% from $10.2 billion in 2009 to $9.7 billion this year. The company lost -$215 million this […]
This week Sara Lee announced that it was selling its bread business to Mexico-based baking giant Grupo Bimbo, for $959 million. The sale is an embarrassment for Sara Lee. According to the Financial Times, Sara Lee acquired the baking unit in 2001 when it bought Earthgrains Corporation for $2.8 billion, making this a fine example […]
Chevrolet is out with its long-awaited new advertising effort; the campaign began running at the end of October. The effort is apparently the work of Chevy’s new advertising agency, Gooby, Silverstein & Partners, and head of marketing, Chris Perry. You can see the TV spots here: https://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/27/the-why-behind-chevy-runs-deep-slogan/ So how is the new campaign? I’ll begin with […]