Monthly Archives June 2014

June 30, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Marketing practice, The Art of Influencing and Selling  No comments

Retailers that simply try to appeal to shoppers during waking hours may be in for a shock, according to new research from the US by brand strategy consultants Vivaldi Partners Group.

There’s a new breed of consumer that can’t actually be reached through traditional marketing channels and marketers need to have deployed strategies in order to reach this group who are active at any time of day.

And it’s not enough to break your customer base down into groups according to age and gender – marketers need to build up the fullest possible picture of each customer in order to target them with highly individualised messages.

The days of traditional bricks and mortar, 9am to ...

June 28, 2014,  Brand marketing, News, Public Relations practice, Sales practice, Social marketing practice, Sponsorship News  One comment

According to Nike, this year’s spike in sales of its merchandise can be attributed to its World Cup marketing platform ‘Risk Everything’ campaign that’s helped it achieve a 13% increase in sales to £4.34bn in the three months to 31 May.

Nike is not a sponsor of the FIFA World Cup and these rights are held by rival Adidas.

Nike ramped up its marketing spend in the period, spearheaded by ambassadors Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr ahead of the start of the World Cup in Brazil.

The company didn’t strip out marketing spend but said that a 36% increase in ‘demand creation’ expenses was driven by marketing support...

June 28, 2014,  Brand marketing, Guru in a Bottle, High Impact Marketing that Gets Results, Sponsorship News, The Art of Influencing and Selling  One comment

The company says it’s “definitely” on track to break trading records this year having registered strong sales figures pre and during the current World Cup. Adidas has been gradually building demand for its shirts, boots and balls since last November to try and ease the pressure on its retail network during the tournament trading period.

As a sponsor of nine national teams, Adidas has sold more than 8m shirts, a significant increase on the 6.5m shirt sales it achieved for the 2010 World Cup...

June 23, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, High Impact Marketing that Gets Results, Marketing practice, Social marketing practice  No comments

CPM metrics could be a thing of the past as website owners look at delivering more than eye balls to advertisers.

The traditional metric of cost per 1,000 page views (CPM) relies on the advertiser paying the website owner in advance to showcase their ad on the website for a certain number of times that the web page is accessed by visitors to the site.

Typically, CPM rates ranged between £4-£10 per 1,000 page views and could be more for reaching niche audiences. Website owners that sell traditional advertising on their sites have to be prepared to show advertisers detailed reports of page view visits and click-through rates in order to cash in on the traffic to the site.

Adv...

June 21, 2014,  Consumer behaviour, Guru in a Bottle, High Impact Marketing that Gets Results, Innovation  No comments

There can be few sectors that have been disrupted to the extent that marketing has been by digital.

The days when marketing directors splashed the cash on elaborate global TV campaigns with gigantic budgets and expenses to match harks back to a bygone era that’s much more Mad Men than the reality brand owners face today.

Most marketing is campaign driven. Brand owners are constantly under pressure to get product and service to market in the shortest time possible. This then takes on a life of its own, spinning activity on a monthly, quarterly and seasonal basis.

Just take a look at the adverts on TV if you don’t believe me...

June 20, 2014,  Essential Law for Marketers, Guru in a Bottle, Public Relations practice  One comment

It was Winston Churchill, one of the greatest statesmen that ever lived, who said “In war: resolution. In defeat: defiance. In victory: magnanimity. In peace: goodwill.”

Given the acrimonious legal battles that the PRCA has been having with the NLA and the subsequent decision at the Court of Justice of the European Union, I think it’s time for both sides to do well in remembering those words.

Let’s face it.

Both sides must build a new bridge – a better, more robust bridge – where the focus is on collaboration rather than conflict...

June 15, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, News  No comments

The new Indian PM Narendra Modi has outlined his 10-point vision for the Council of Ministers to follow and this offers a glimpse into his policy priorities that include energizing the economy, kick-starting infrastructure projects and reviving confidence in the creaking bureaucracy of Government.

Modi wants all Ministers to have their own time-table on the priorities in each ministry for the first 100 days.

His 10 priorities are:

1. Focus on economy and infrastructure ministries
2. Better inter-ministerial coordination
3. Restore the confidence of bureaucrats that they won’t be hauled up later for taking crucial decisions.
4. Use of technology and social media to maximize public inte...

June 7, 2014,  Brand marketing, Guru in a Bottle, Sales practice  No comments

Cobra Beer is one of the fastest selling beverages in its category and is to be found in over 98% of all Indian restaurants in the UK.

But without the tenacity of its founder Karan Bilimoria, it could so easily have been a very different story.

Prime Minister David Cameron recently paid a visit to to the brewery in Burton-on-Trent in the West Midlands and Lord Bilimoria advises the PM on Anglo-India relationships.

As a small businessman, Lord Bilimoria understands first-hand what it feels like to take risks as well as borrow money to finance a venture that requires substantial capital but that has phenomenal prospects of being hugely successful.

Lord Bilimoria survived a “pre...

June 6, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, News  No comments

Pfizer’s attempted takeover bid for British drugs company Astra Zeneca has been permanently consigned to the history books and with it the dream of creating the world’s biggest drug company that would’ve been worth a colossal $119bn.

So what went wrong?

Clive Rich, an expert negotiator who’s been behind some pretty big deals in his time, offers the following incisive point of view: “Whenever people negotiate the airwaves always seem to be dominated by organisational issues like price, delivery date, quantity, or valuation. We are all very comfortable hiding behind these issues...

June 6, 2014,  Guru in a Bottle, Innovation, News  No comments

As a result of being part of the Accenture Alumni network, I was invited to a fascinating event this week at the firm’s swanky city offices in London.

The agenda for the Breakfast Briefing was ‘Sustainability24’ and this turned out to be a 24 hour global event over 10 countries across six continents simultaneously broadcast over the internet.

Accenture had set out to explore every facet of the sustainability agenda by engaging in debate with its brightest brains alongside clients, journalists, social commentators, academics and of course invited guests and Alumni like myself.

As an example of ‘thought leadership in action’ it was an extremely impressive effort...