Physicians, Insurance Companies and Incentives
Incentives motivate everyone. When someone rewards us for something, we tend to do more of it. Carrots really work. Insurance giant WellPoint is taking the idea to heart. According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, the company will soon start offering oncologists $350 a month for every patient on one of the insurer’s recommended […]
Three Questions about Amazon
Amazon recently released its quarterly results. The company grew revenue sharply, exceeding $16 billion for the quarter. Profit, well, there wasn’t much of that. The company made just $82 million, a margin of 0.5%. Amazon is a very strange operation. Here are three questions to think about. Question #1: Where is the profit? Amazon is […]
The LA Clippers, Donald Sterling and Branding
The LA Clippers are in the news today and not just for their playoff performance. A series of brands are dropping sponsorship deals with the team. It is an all-star list of companies including State Farm, CarMax, Kia and Virgin America. The commotion began when TMZ released a taped phone call between Clippers owner Donald Sterling and […]
Kraft’s Disappointing Annual Report
It is annual report season, the time of year when companies send out proxy information and annual reports to investors. I own a few shares in several companies so my mailbox fills up with these documents. It is interesting to see what the firms choose to send. An annual report is an important branding tool. […]
The Great Breakfast Battle
Every once in a while you see two strong brands crash into each other in a desperate struggle for market share and customer loyalty. These Great Competitive Battles are always fascinating to watch and you can usually get some pretty good deals as the fight goes on. In the United States, April will feature a GCB between […]
Brands, Baseball and Missing the Call
Brayden King, one of my colleagues at Kellogg, is in the news this week with a new study about baseball. It is a fascinating bit of research and highlights why brands matter so much. King worked with Jerry Kim from Columbia Business School on the study. They looked at umpire accuracy, comparing the umpire’s call […]
A Surprising (and Savvy) Move by Emirates
Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, was in the news recently when he said Emirates would prefer not to have a U.S. Customs and Border Protection post in Dubai. On the surface, this seems like a surprising announcement. A bit of background is in order. The U.S. has established customs posts in several countries including […]
GM’s Branding Disaster
General Motors is in the headlines today. Both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that a House committee is investigating how the company responded to issues with faulty ignition switches. The story is astonishing. Apparently in 2004 GM learned that several of its car models had a faulty ignition switch that […]
An Odd Move by CVS
Pharmacy giant CVS recently announced that it would no longer sell tobacco products. CEO Larry Merlo explained the decision in a statement, noting “Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better […]
Sochi’s Olympic Surprise
The Sochi Winter Olympic Games wrapped up yesterday. Overall it was a surprising win for Russia and Sochi. It was not a flawless event. Going into the Sochi Games the discussion focused on Russia’s approach to human rights, especially the LGBT community. The event kicked off with reports of unfinished hotel rooms and amusement parks. […]
Super Bowl Results: 2014
The 2014 Super Bowl was a marketing extravaganza. Never has the world seen such massive hype and discussion about advertising; during the two weeks leading up to the game, companies released dozens of teaser spots and social media campaigns. Advertisers clearly invested heavily in this year’s game; it was a remarkable mix of celebrities, famous […]
Four Super Bowl Ads That Touched the Heart
In just a few days, advertisers will spend millions of dollars running Super Bowl commercials. If history is any guide, most of these spots will feature funny jokes and impressive special effects. Few of these ads, however, will make an emotional appeal. They will try to amuse and dazzle more than touch the heart. This […]