Category: Marketing Ideas & Innovation

I’ve just read a great book by Richard Wilson – the philosopher and writer ( http://richardwilsonauthor.wordpress.com/ ) – which concerns the worrying trend for people to believe and think uncritically. From religion, to politics and business. It’s a very interesting read that challenges your own beliefs. And it made me think; just how sceptical am I? And should the best marketers be more sceptical? Or put another way – do the best marketing ideas and activities extend from an open or a sceptical, critical mind? Continue reading “Marketers: Be They Sceptics?”

The list is purely my subjective opinion and is not based on sales, academic references or reviews. It is of course, a brilliantly selected list and impossible to fault by any sane person with an ounce of marketing knowledge. But, if you disagree and want to swap one of the books below for a different choice, then email me on drewster2007@googlemail.com – with three good reasons why your choice is better than any of mine below. (i.e. you must tell me which book you want to remove from the list). And, if I agree – I will update the list.

I am open to logical reasoning, amusing persuasion and bribary.

the seven greatest marketing books ever sold >>>> Continue reading “the seven greatest marketing books ever sold”

For amusement and insight, the stranger bye-ways of history often give some interesting perspective on our present. In the 17th century, Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulips reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. At one point 12 acres of farm land were exchanged for one tulip bulb. Continue reading “tulipmania and the madness of marketing”

Gordon Ramsey got it right – he built a great brand by using F-Words. Do you remember the P words? It was business as the centre, eminating out in a controlling, systematic arc of influence. Then – in a world where the only thing in short supply was human attention – the C-words took over. It was all about the Concept, Channel, Costs, Communication, Care, Change Management. And now – I find my little F-key on the laptop is getting a lot of use. Today, it is all about the Focus (product and brand) being Fast (service), being First (to market) being Fashionable (design), having Friends (business partners) and above all having Function, (product differentiation). And as Hamel points out, it will be the Facebook-generation that will shape the next ten years. There is nothing mystical about the choice of letter of course – but this change of argot does reflect the change in what keeps us on our toes (or keeps us awake at night, it its one of those weeks). The original marketing reflected a militaristic risk, plan – command and control mentality. The nineties saw the rise of the seventies and eighties kids, with a softer approach, and the concern about the tricky human and non-mechanical parts in the marketing system. And now – we’re in an era which combines the two. Not only must you have a cracking product thats better and out before your competition – but you have to understand the ephemeral position of a consumer, who is not only increasingly difficult to communicate to (media fragmentation) – but is now capable of changing brands, products and services more easily than ever before and then telling all their pals about it within a few seconds. There is one last great F-word of course, that may sum up the increasing position of the poor marketer. Frazzled. What were you thinking of?