Category Archives: Branding

When Nobody Cares About Your Brand…

Posted on Monday, 23 March 2015 1:55 pm by markpilip

…marketing gets easier. Wait, how can that be? As Bob Hoffman reminded us today and as I’ve been saying for years, nobody cares about the vast majority of the products or categories in which they buy. When you dismiss the … Continue reading →

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Social Media: How To Focus On The .02%

Posted on Wednesday, 11 February 2015 8:06 am by markpilip

Before the next social media maniac wants you to invest large swaths of your marketing budget entering into “conversations” with customers and prospective customers, watch this video. Greet them at the door with a calculator and do a little math. Then, … Continue reading →

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Trident Gum: Paying Peanuts and Getting Monkeys?

Posted on Monday, 9 February 2015 6:55 am by markpilip

Think your advertising copy is lousy? It could be worse. You could work for Mondelez. I was standing in line at Walmart–hoping that nobody I knew would notice me there–when I looked up and saw this POP display right over … Continue reading →

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Creating Interest Through Jargon

Posted on Wednesday, 23 July 2014 9:18 am by markpilip

If you look at some websites you’d come to the conclusion that some companies believe this theory. I was doing a quick analysis for a client this morning and bumped into a company that clearly subscribes to the theory. As … Continue reading →

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The Customer is Right. Usually.

Posted on Wednesday, 16 July 2014 7:26 am by markpilip

Today Seth Godin clarifies Rule #1 by breaking it into two parts a. the customer is always right b. if that’s not true, it’s unlikely that this person will remain your customer. Part b reminds us that our products should never … Continue reading →

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Your Customers Are Not Consumers

Posted on Thursday, 19 June 2014 10:01 am by markpilip

Kudos to Unilever’s CMO Keith Weed for starting to banish the word “consumer” from the marketing vocabulary. Molds, fungi, and bacteria are consumers. People buy your products and services. In a talk at Cannes today, he discussed Unilever’s marketing transition from … Continue reading →

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The Only Five Arrows That Matter for The New York Times

Posted on Thursday, 29 May 2014 6:45 am by markpilip

This graphic from BI Intelligence showed up in my email yesterday and I took the time to scribble all over it. (I tend to think with a pen in hand.)  I found it relevant to my recent post about the … Continue reading →

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Innovate Creatively or Die, New York Times

Posted on Thursday, 22 May 2014 1:44 pm by markpilip

I love the New York Times. I learned how to read newspapers in school, with the Times as the teaching vehicle. What I recall learning: It contains “All the News That’s Fit to Print” The Times always gets the facts … Continue reading →

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Lost on the Shelf? Build a Category of One.

Posted on Friday, 13 December 2013 11:55 am by markpilip

When I start a consulting engagement, I ask my new clients “what’s a Company X?”  This is shorthand for “what do you stand for, how do you do it, and why should anyone care?” When I hear “Uber for pet … Continue reading →

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Don’t Let MBAs Mess With Bourbon

Posted on Monday, 18 February 2013 9:18 am by markpilip

I’m a fan of Maker’s Mark bourbon and usually drink the stuff mixed with Diet Coke, so I wasn’t terribly upset when I heard they were lowering the alcohol volume to 84 proof from 90. I’d never notice the difference. … Continue reading →

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