Super Bowl advertisers want to engage consumers; getting people to watch a sixty-second commercial during the Super Bowl is good, but getting them to visit a site and interact with a brand is better. The challenge is doing so in an effective manner. Turning over total creative control isn’t a good idea; this is why […]
One of the advertisers I’ll miss seeing on the Super Bowl this year is CareerBuilder. CareerBuilder first advertised on the game back in 2005. The brand was quite new at the time; Monster.com dominated the space and CareerBuilder was a much smaller challenger. CareerBuilder ran a charming commercial featuring the now iconic chimps. The Kellogg […]
The Super Bowl is a great place to launch a new brand; the event’s huge viewership provides a platform for introducing a new product to a significant portion of people in the United States. Brands like Monster, CareerBuilder and Go Daddy used the Super Bowl effectively during their launch. One of this year’s new brands, and […]
Every once in a while an advertiser tries something new on the Super Bowl and fundamentally changes the marketing game. Apple’s Super Bowl spot “1984” falls into this group, as does the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl program. It is becoming clear that Chrysler’s 2011 spot featuring Eminem should join this group. Chrysler broke a […]
Super Bowl XLVII, marketing’s biggest event, is less than one month away. This year Kellogg Professor Derek Rucker and I will once again be leading the Kellogg School Super Bowl Advertising Review; we will assemble a panel of Kellogg students and evaluate all the advertisers, awarding grades of A, B, C, D and, on occasion, […]
The New Year brings significant challenges for many brands. Here are several brands that are worth keeping an eye on as 2013 unfolds. J.C. Penney is implementing a major turn-around plan under the leadership of CEO Ron Johnson. Results to date have been fairly grim; sales and profits have slumped and the stock with it. […]
This week Chobani opened one of the largest yogurt factories in the world. Agro Farma, Chobani’s parent company, celebrated the event with a marching band, Olympic athletes and Idaho’s political leaders. You can read more about it here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/12/17/2384277/chobani-getting-ready-to-open.html The Chobani story remains one of the more remarkable tales in business today. Back in 2005, […]
Last week British grocery giant Tesco threw in the towel and announced that it would stop investing in its U.S. business. The company will either close or sell its nearly two hundred store “Fresh & Easy” chain. This isn’t surprising news; the U.S. business had apparently been struggling for years. Since its opening in 2007, Tesco has […]
Ford is in the news today for its efforts to reposition and rebuild its Lincoln Brand. One thing is clear: the company knows how to get attention. The story is everywhere. Ford staged a big media event at Lincoln Center in New York yesterday and CEO Alan Mulally is giving interviews to the big media […]
Frank Hurt, head of the second largest union at Hostess Brands, seems to have made a classic branding mistake, confusing brand awareness and brand value. Mr. Hurt’s union, as you know, recently went on strike and continued even when company management said that doing so would force it to liquidate the company. On Friday, company […]
The new James Bond film “Skyfall” brought in a remarkable $87.8 million in North America this weekend, an exceptionally strong start for the production. The strong results are largely due to two things: a good film and a terrific brand. You can learn three important things about branding from James Bond. First, a strong […]
Now that President Obama has secured another four years in the White House it is time to reflect on the election and what we can learn about marketing and branding from the past few months. There will be time for in-depth analysis and consideration, but here are three initial observations. 1. Marketing isn’t cheap. Total […]