At 44 months, the average CMO tenure is one of the shortest in the C-suite, according to a report this year from Spencer Stuart. On the retail side, new data from a survey of 100 marketing leaders showed that ecommerce companies averaged two CMOs over five years. The survey also revealed that 42 percent of…
Isolating product benefits and connecting them to customers is marketing 101. For some reason, it’s always been easier in theory than in practice. From hospitality to pharmaceuticals, there’s no clear path for making it work. Compare the following pharma products, for example. There is a consumer drug that is advertised like crazy. It is used…
Thinking hard about those agency retainers? Sure, many brand and agency relations are scoped to deliver a specific set of activities under a set price, defined by a given staffing plan. But have you ever considered a switch, at least with some of your agencies, to a deliverable-first model? Imagine agreeing on not only a…
At a time when so much attention is being given to the negative side of teens’ relationships with technology (i.e., tech addiction, isolation from the outside world, moody and impetuous behaviors), our 2018 Gen Z Passion Point(TM) Study paints a very different picture. In the 2018 wave, we included a representative sample of “Tech-Heavy” and…
The corporate world is inherently square: compartmentalized, rigid and distant. Conventional corporate policies tend to box people into a certain stereotype and set teams at odds with each other and clients, with overly safe, bureaucratic procedures. Work is centered around information organized in squares to be viewed in squares. It’s an approach rooted in limiting…
The corporate world is inherently square: compartmentalized, rigid and distant. Conventional corporate policies tend to box people into a certain stereotype and set teams at odds with each other and clients, with overly safe, bureaucratic procedures. Work is centered around information organized in squares to be viewed in squares. It’s an approach rooted in limiting…
The argument in support of allocating resources to social has evolved over time. 2008: We have to because it’s free. 2011: We have to because content is king. 2014: We have to because–authenticity. 2017: Do we have to…? So, what now? What’s the value proposition in a world where organic reach is all but dead…
Working in advertising and marketing these days is a wee bit stressful. People are losing their jobs. Accounts are under review. Data scientists keep publishing reports. Agencies keep highlighting their data capabilities. Large-scale consultancies are muscling in on the business. Creativity is under siege. But all the charts, reports and data points in the world…
In the Mad Men era, every copywriter had a novel in the drawer. Don DeLillo, Joseph Heller, Dorothy Sayers all famously started out writing for ad agencies. While it seems more often that copywriters now aspire to write for screens, some still try novels, undeterred by how many more words are needed for one–at least…
It’s no one person’s fault that sales and marketing have grown apart within recent years. These departments play fundamentally different roles within organizations, and over time, this has led to a natural division of processes, goals and even the technologies used. Decision makers are to blame, however, when they allow this distance to stand in…
Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Some argue that Genghis Khan and the Mongols are responsible for international influence and trade. Others believe the World Wars economically drew the globe together. Whether you think expansion started in the 13th century or the 20th, one thing is certain: Digital technology is bringing the world a lot…
With new laws governing data privacy of and for consumers, companies are forced to be transparent about what data they collect, how they use that data and where they are distributing or selling it. The question from audiences is no longer “Are you using my data?” but “What exactly are you planning to do with…
The changing role of the chief marketing officer has been the talk of the proverbial town for nearly a decade. But given the frenetic pace of change in our industry under the influence of data and technology, the role of senior marketers is only just beginning to evolve. The digital era changed the game forever,…
The success of the world’s greatest companies comes back to the quality of their products. A world-class product is irreplaceable to the user and generates word-of-mouth marketing. Many of the world’s most innovative brands are capitalizing on the Experience Economy and consumers’ desire to spend their resources on live experiences, and they are diving headfirst…
By the time the holiday shopping season arrives, you and I will have been exposed to, on average, well over one million brand messages in this calendar year alone. As a result of that onslaught, we’ve spent 2018 sending signals every time we clicked, tapped, physically visited or flat-out ignored these communications, which averages out…
A new study from Harvard Business School challenges the effectiveness of open office plans, an icon of modern advertising agencies, stating that they actually decrease interaction and collaboration among employees. I’m not crazy enough to dispute Harvard’s thorough research, but before we start putting walls up everywhere, I’d like to suggest there’s more to consider…
Bullying, both in and out of schools, has been an issue for decades, even centuries. In recent years, the stories we’ve heard of bullying and the research that shows the impact it has on our children has become more and more worrying. Gone are the days of brushing these issues under the rug–now is the…
Bullying, both in and out of schools, has been an issue for decades, even centuries. In recent years, the stories we’ve heard of bullying and the research that shows the impact it has on our children has become more and more worrying. Gone are the days of brushing these issues under the rug–now is the…
To meet the intensifying demands of running global businesses with relentless change, we need to improve the way we grow our leaders from the ground up. Otherwise we risk idling into irrelevance. Everything about our marketplace, from who customers are to how they engage with media to how we understand and reach them, looks to…
To meet the intensifying demands of running global businesses with relentless change, we need to improve the way we grow our leaders from the ground up. Otherwise we risk idling into irrelevance. Everything about our marketplace, from who customers are to how they engage with media to how we understand and reach them, looks to…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
