Nokia Cuts Ovi
Today Nokia announced that it was dropping the Ovi brand, replacing it with Nokia. My opinion: the move makes sense but it doesn’t solve Nokia’s core branding challenge. Nokia created the Ovi brand for its software products and services. On the Ovi website you can find software for mapping, email, games and music. The concept […]
Why Green Products Don’t Sell
The New York Times has an interesting article on the front page this morning: “As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure.” The article notes that sales of a number of environmentally friendly products such as Clorox’s Green Works have fallen sharply. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?_r=1&hp The article presents the results of a study done by Sanford C. […]
Flip: Time to Update the Slides
I am always looking for examples of great marketing to include in my different courses. For the past few years, one of my favorite examples in the area of new business strategy has been Flip. Flip is a wonderful example of a company changing the rules in an established category. When Flip entered the video […]
P&G’s Pringles Sale: Bad News for PepsiCo
Yesterday P&G announced that it was selling the Pringles brand to Diamond Foods. This is a good move for P&G and Diamond. It is bad news for PepsiCo. Pringles is a fascinating marketing story. Despite a very slow start, P&G supported Pringles for many years and eventually the brand caught on. P&G created great advertising […]
Starbucks and Seattle’s Best
This week Seattle’s Best coffee has been in the news; the brand is rolling out a new simplified packaging system. Seattle’s Best is adopting a new level system, featuring different coffee blends at different amounts of intensity. The move is all part of an effort to reinvigorate the Seattle’s Best brand and, perhaps more importantly, […]
Nokia’s Branding Problem
Nokia continues to clean house. On Monday Nokia announced that the head of its smartphone division was leaving. This follows a change in CEOs. Rumors are that Nokia’s chairman, Jorma Ollila, will leave later this year. These moves seem very appropriate given Nokia’s stunning collapse. Several years ago, Nokia was one of the dominant global […]
Michigan Sticks with a Winner
Things are tough in Michigan. Tax revenues are slumping. The U.S. auto industry continues to struggle. And the big news in Detroit is that the city is getting ready to knock down thousands of buildings, which is always a sign of progress. Despite all this, Michigan is continuing to invest in its compelling tourism campaign, […]
Spirit’s Bold Move
Spirit Airlines generated quite a bit of commotion this week by announcing that it would soon start charging passengers for carry-on luggage. Every piece of carry-on luggage stored overhead will now cost $45 each way. The price drops to $30 if purchased in advance. This is a controversial move but a smart one. Spirit is cheap. […]
Differentiating Vanilla
Selling mainstream spices and seasonings has to be an enormous challenge. There are a number of strong brands in the market and there is always a risk that people will assume all the brands provide similar quality, and buy on price. In a tough economy I suspect that many people are very willing to let price drive […]
BMW’s Joy
Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal featured a rather striking insert from BMW. The message: BMW creates joy. The advertisement reads: We do not make cars. We are the creators of emotion. We are the keepers of thrill. We are the guardians of one three-letter word. Joy. This is quite a change from BMW’s long time focus on […]
Healthcare Reform: Where are the Savings?
I am hoping that someone reading this post can help me answer a basic question: how will the proposed healthcare reform reduce costs? It is very hard to disagree with President Barack Obama when he says that we should reduce inefficient and unnecessary healthcare spending. I am entirely in agreement. Who can be against that idea? […]
Integrity and Healthcare Reform
I am astonished by the healthcare reform debate. Let me focus on just one issue. Apparently in the proposed legislation, ten years of incremental tax revenue is used to pay for six years of benefits. In other words, taxes go up immediately and the benefits begin in a few years. And by using ten years of […]