They say the first stage of starting a revolution is to begin with the language. OK, here's an attempt: What if marketers started to change the marketing lexicon? For example, instead of referring to the marketing budget, what if they were to call it a loan? One that needs to be paid back, with interest? And that ROI should be recast as a profit or loss? And advertising and marketing channels should be viewed as alternative investment funds designed to maximize marketing profits?
A brand is the tip of an iceberg. How big and how deep the iceberg is will determine how powerful the brand is. The iceberg is the category. If it melts, the brand will melt too. Take Kodak, for example. Just eight years ago, Interbrand ranked Kodak as the 16th most valuable brand in the world, worth $14.8 billion. Every year since, the Kodak brand has fallen in both rank and value. This year, Interbrand ranked Kodak No. 82, worth just $3.9 billion.
Read the business press today and your heart can easily bleed for chief marketing officers. Their average tenure is estimated at 26 months, they're slammed for not connecting their efforts to meaningful, positive return-on-investment numbers and many are condemned for lacking the ability to communicate with CEOs. Most often judged against short-term metrics, CMOs still persist in positioning their value in terms of their long-term impact.
Want New Products That Get Noticed? Change the Process
Written by Webmaster
Monday, 01 October 2007
"Results From a New Survey Show Marketers Are Reluctant to Financially Invest in True Innovation". The media are always looking for new "darlings," and every now and then a sensational new product emerges, whipping them into a frenetic state. Swiffer, the iPod, TiVo, Crest Whitestrips, Red Bull -- all are products that had the industry gushing about their features and benefits. Part of what drives these stories is the fact that there are so few wildly successful new products...
They say the first stage of starting a revolution is to begin with the language. OK, here's an attempt: What if marketers started to change the marketing lexicon? For example, instead of referring to the marketing budget, what if they were to call it a loan? One that needs to be paid back, with interest? And that ROI should be recast as a profit or loss? And advertising and marketing channels should be viewed as alternative investment funds designed to maximize marketing profits?
A brand is the tip of an iceberg. How big and how deep the iceberg is will determine how powerful the brand is. The iceberg is the category. If it melts, the brand will melt too. Take Kodak, for example. Just eight years ago, Interbrand ranked Kodak as the 16th most valuable brand in the world, worth $14.8 billion. Every year since, the Kodak brand has fallen in both rank and value. This year, Interbrand ranked Kodak No. 82, worth just $3.9 billion. 
Read the business press today and your heart can easily bleed for chief marketing officers. Their average tenure is estimated at 26 months, they're slammed for not connecting their efforts to meaningful, positive return-on-investment numbers and many are condemned for lacking the ability to communicate with CEOs. Most often judged against short-term metrics, CMOs still persist in positioning their value in terms of their long-term impact.
"Results From a New Survey Show Marketers Are Reluctant to Financially Invest in True Innovation". The media are always looking for new "darlings," and every now and then a sensational new product emerges, whipping them into a frenetic state. Swiffer, the iPod, TiVo, Crest Whitestrips, Red Bull -- all are products that had the industry gushing about their features and benefits. Part of what drives these stories is the fact that there are so few wildly successful new products...
