It has been a few weeks since we last had a guest post on our site. For this reason, it was a pleasure for us to receive the following article from Angelo Ponzi, who is Director at C3Centricity‘s partner PhaseOne. His comments on the luxury industry and how to communicate to potential clients is illustrated with examples from the watch industry. As a marketer, you know that different audience segments have different needs and motivations for making purchase decisions.  And, regardless of the amount of money your customer has in the bank, the decision process leading up to the...

Two posts caught my eye this week as they both referred to the importance of multi-channel communications. If you are looking for inspiration and new ideas in this area, then read on. In particular we will speak about the often forgotten opportunity for communicating through packaging. The first article was by Jim Tierney at Loyalty360 in which he commented on the results of a new survey in the USA by IBM, concerning cross-channel integration. The research found that “only 35% of leading marketers currently integrate their campaigns across all channels, with 8% indicating they are...

There is so much buzz around the uses and benefits of social media today that everyone is doing it; but are they doing it right?  DreamGrow recently announced the Top 10 US Social Media sites, which showed huge gains for YouTube and LinkedIn and falls for Facebook and Twitter. Whilst these results are for the USA, when was the last time you looked at the latest statistics of the usage in your own market? If your customers have changed their habits, then wouldn’t it make sense for you to do the same? With that in mind, I came up with four steps to consider, for the continued...

I remember reading an article in the Financial Times last year that challenged companies to search for a new style of  marketer. They weren’t speaking about the latest need for marketers to be both creative and comfortable with data. They were actually referring to the growing need for marketers to stand up to the challenge of taking local brands global. The marketer who understands when local specificities make sense and when they don’t. (Read the article here) In this networked, global market in which we live, more and more successful local brands are being groomed for global...

Spring is most definitely in the air!   We certainly waited a long time for it to arrive this year, didn’t we? Summer will soon be with us. Along with the trees and flowers, communications for weight loss products and programs are also blossoming everywhere. That’s why I decided to write a post on some changes I have noticed in advertising that suggest that many companies are finally beginning to take their customers’ perspective. If you would like to do the same, read on. One advertisement that caught my eye recently was the campaign for Slim Fast from Unilever. I shouldn’t be...

Like many successful entrepreneurs, I enjoy helping local associations with their marketing problems whenever I can. It seems that often simply offering a new perspective can be all that is needed to move things forward.  Recently, I ran a re-positioning session for my local outdoor sports association and during it, I realised that many of the things we were doing together would also be of value to other organisations, big or small, who are in a similar situation. For this reason I share some of the brainstorming we did, in the hope that it will inspire you to try something...

Last week I spoke about updating your market research toolbox and how to review your metrics. This week I want to take the next logical step by turning the knowledge you gather into actionable insights. Insights are the pot of gold that many businesses dream of but rarely find. Why is that? Are you one of them? If so then I have some ideas on how you can get better at developing insights. #1. Insight doesn’t come from a single market research study Management often thinks that insight is “just another word for market research”. I remember one of my previous CEOs saying exactly...

We are pleased to share with you another guest post from C3Centricity partner PhaseOne, our communication experts. This week Terry Villines, their SVP speaks about the challenges of taking campaigns global. Why implementing global creative is risky:  5 market factors must align. If just one of them is off, the entire initiative will likely fail! Most major, global organizations have tried it – attempted to use the same creative around the world, across markets.   Coca-Cola has tried it, so has Procter & Gamble, Unilever and even luxury brands like Rolex and Patek Phillipe. The...

Over the last few months we have heard many scandals based upon the disappointing discovery of unfounded consumer loyalty and trust. Rigged football matches, numerous athletes taking illegal drugs and more recently the horse meat scandal. Have you ever been faced with a loss of your customers’ trust in business? If so, or you believe that it could happen in the future, then this post is for you. The 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer report, published last month, concluded that there are clear signs of a leadership crisis in both business and government. In fact in many recent scandals, leaders...

Which did you answer subconsciously when you read the title question? Do you consider your packaging to be a part of the product, protecting its contents and framing its on-shelf life? Or do you consider it to be an integral part of your connection with your customers at an important moment of truth, that of usage? If you answered both, then I believe that you are making maximum use of your packaging or at least you recognise its potential for communication. If you answered only one of the choices, then you may be missing an important opportunity, so let me explain, with a few...