I have a confession to make: I rarely miss an episode of The Apprentice. I know, I know… this is only a pseudo-business programme where pseudo-business men and women get rewarded for short-term success and their ability to shift blame. But occasionally – very occasionally – there are some good, simple lessons to be learned. … Continue reading You are hearing, but are you listening?

Initiatives such as Fairtrade certification or cause marketing bring together two basic human activities: consumption and helping the other. For instance, by choosing to consume fairtrade wine, you can contribute to raising the living standards of the communities that created it; while buying blue-ribbon adorned merchandise this month will raise funds for prostate cancer research. … Continue reading Cocaine – a paradox of ethical consumerism?

Note: This article was originally posted on October 21st 2010, but later deleted by mistake. This is a re-posting of the original message. Word of mouth (WOM) influences about two-thirds of consumer decisions, with 90% of respondents in a NOP survey saying that WOM was the best, most reliable and trustworthy source of information. The … Continue reading Understanding eWOM

Is Marketing Research an Art or a Science? Well, neither, according to Bors Hulesch, Captain at Marketing Research firm, Brains and Cheek. In a recent talk at Oxford Brookes University Business School, Bors explained why he believes that Marketing Research is a craft – more specifically, the craft of managing anxiety about uncertainty. To reduce … Continue reading 15 pitfalls to avoid in marketing research

This summer, my 9-year old got a new hobby: friendship bracelets. Mind you, it is not as if she did not know about them before. She did, and she even bought a set with her own pocket money, a year or so ago. But she never really spent more than 15 minutes at a time … Continue reading Friendship bracelets

Zagat has recently launched Zagat Exclusives, a group-buying scheme where customers who sign up can save up to 50% on meals at Zagat-rated restaurants. The deal is available for a limited time only, and the price point decreases as more and more people take up the promotion. When time is up, everybody (who signed up … Continue reading Group buying – The web breathing new life into a long established behaviour

My local public library has a service counter rectangular in shape and with 2 tills on each long side. If you approach the tills on the right hand side, you can check in books, but not check out. Conversely, if you approach the left hand tills, you can check books out but not check them … Continue reading The pain points

The UK government has just announced plans to use credit bureaus to fight benefit fraud. The exact role of these agencies and the process for screening benefit applicants are yet to be decided[1], but there are high expectations regarding the savings that such collaboration may generate. How do credit reference agencies work? These agencies collect … Continue reading On the use of credit bureaus to fight benefit fraud

Pricing is a key element of the marketing mix. It is so important that large organisations such as GE have whole departments managing it. Price a product too high, and you may kill it; price it too low, and you leave money on the table. But pricing decisions impact on other variables, in addition to … Continue reading Pricing: focus on the customer and the marketing eco-system