Soporte

It is axiomatic that marketers should know their customers. In many firms, it is the role of marketing to speak for the customer – to represent the needs of and advocate for customers, and to build and maintain relationships with customers. These activities are essential to the long-term survival of the firm because customers are the ultimate source of revenue and other resources necessary for the firm. Without customers, a firm does not last long....

Brands constantly speak of innovation. They celebrate transformation, responsibility, customer-centricity, and long-term value. Yet every November, many return to one of the oldest commercial reflexes: the mass-discount ritual known as Black Friday. This article is part of Branding Strategy Insider’s newsletter. You can sign up here to get thought pieces like this sent to your inbox. A practice wrapped in modern packaging, but rooted in a logic from another era. A practice that once emerged...

Probably no surprise to those who chronicle our fractured behaviors, we have become unwilling to compromise. As uncompromising consumers, we want benefits that contradict and complement at the same time. We want brands to consistently deliver a paradox promise. A paradox promise is when a brand offers and delivers the optimization of two contradictory benefits. Success today requires brands to address needs-driven, occasion-based conflicts by developing compelling, trustworthy branded paradox promises that deliver relevant, differentiated...

Branding is a business strategy. It can justify higher margin because customers trust the brand based on their prior experience or because the brand is the best match for their preferences with respect to one or more product characteristics. The value of the brand to the firm is the price premium it commands. Successful branding can increase loyalty among customers, making them less likely to switch from purchase occasion to purchase occasion, even when competitors...

The news from YUM! is that Pizza Hut may be sliced. The other two big brands in the YUM! portfolio – KFC and Taco Bell – are managing. Sadly, Pizza Hut is not hot. There are several reasons why Pizza Hut is experiencing difficulties operating in today’s restaurant environment. Late last year, QSR magazine wrote an in-depth story about Pizza Hut and its tribulations. The article cited the various Pizza Hut evolutions: from a dine-in...

The world of marketing has evolved, and today the companies that supply marketing communications and brand strategy are very different. There was a time when ad agencies were also the chief brand builders for their clients. It was called the 20th century. But that era is over and even big and brilliant agencies are no longer qualified to work on brand strategy. Ad agencies should do what it says on their tin – be agents...

Timelessness. It’s an ideal that any brand hopes to embody. Timelessness signals staying power when trends fade and…

In those times when maximum effort is not enough, and this happens to everyone and every enterprise, what heartens first is observing others — partners and competitors — who have endured the same condition and prevailed. In the cases where redemption eludes, the second point of heartening is the comfort found in venerating the one element that adheres to every vestige of an endeavor: values. Enterprise values typically express the core beliefs, principles, and ethical...

Not to beat this Cracker Barrel fiasco into the ground anymore, but there is a problem when brand marketers use age as a definer of relevant values. When Cracker Barrel and its crack consultants decided that modernizing the Cracker Barrel brand meant jettisoning the totems of Cracker Barrel’s provenance, those involved made a mistake. It is possible to be old and new at the same time. This article is part of Branding Strategy Insider’s newsletter....