Our thinking appears in marketing articles and publications around the world

In this article, Michael Dunn argues that in order to be effective, marketers need to up their game, take on the new media, and be prepared to be adventurous, extending their influence over many of the critical business growth drivers.

This issue of Marketing y Ventas features a 6-page interview with Joseph Gelman.  In it, he discusses the notion of the empowered CMO, emotional branding, and challenges facing Spanish brands. *Please note, this article is in Spanish.

Andy Stefanovich shows how organizations can be engineered to create an innovation competence. Engineering innovation should include five key drivers: mood, mindset, mechanisms, measurement, and momentum.

Look at any product category and the answer is the same. All of the meaningful changes in market position and sales of individual brands occur only when the brand creates a “must have” for which competitors lack visibility and credibility to be considered. However, most fi rms seldom foster such innovation and bring it to market—and in most cases, it is not because there is a lack of resources. Firms that are profi table and successful are actually less likely to fund market-changing innovation than fi rms that are struggling or in crisis. Why? One answer is the curse of success, which can take several forms.

Joseph Gelman analyzes how BBVA's offering of new products and services might affect the financial entity's brand. *Please note, this article is in Spanish.

According to David Aaker, today's CMO may wear up to five potential hats: facilitator, consultant, service provider, strategic partner, strategic captain.  In this excerpt from David's new book Spanning Silos, he discusses the five roles and what impact they potentially can make in an organization.

In this article in one of the leading Spanish financial dailies, Joseph Gelman and Pablo Barrientos reflect on the planned sale of the leading Spanish airline Iberia and the consequences it could have on the brand. *Please note this article is in Spanish.

Prophet contributed to the 70th anniversary of the GfM (Swiss Marketing Association) through 7 articles published in their symposium. Articles in English and in German

The Future of Pharma Profitability Lies in Building Corporate Brands

The global financial services crisis raises issues for CMOs who now find themselves with new brands in their portfolios. Actions undertaken to protect brand equities of all the players — whether acquirers or acquired — must be carefully considered against a backdrop of customers, comparative health issues, and strategic compatibilities.

The “human library” has its roots in the city library in Malmö, Sweden, which allows curious visitors to check out living people for a 45-minute conversation. Th e experience is designed to confront prejudices and promote understanding. Th e people available to be “checked out” at one point included a gypsy, a transvestite, a blind man, a journalist and an animal rights activist. The conversations are intended to allow people to learn about the life and beliefs of an individual who has been misunderstood, stereotyped and often avoided.

In his article Joseph outlines the typical behaviors that can kill creative thinking.

A common scenario in corporate headquarters these days features the Chief Innovation Officer having a meeting with her Innovation Council in the recently completed, state-of-the-art Innovation Room, frowning at the results of their efforts to create a “culture of innovation.” Why don’t they have it? Why aren’t they getting the output they need?

In this article, Andy, Fred, and Jesse explain how every organization can become a productive source of inspired and actionable ideas by practicing the Inspiration Discipline.

This article reviews the challenges facing many insurance company executives as they attempt to extend their brand(s) into a broader financial services market.

Joseph Gelman argues that the concept of bank branches is still alive, despite claims to the contrary. Banks should therefore take advantage of this situation to transmit the essence of their brand to clients at all points of interaction, particularly in light of the current cash crisis.

Creating a connection between marketing and tangible business benefits is job one for the CMO. This article outlines several specific business benefits in which marketing can play a larger supporting role.

Although analyzing “big data” has the power to transform your business, the ease of doing so has been over-stated. In reality, harnessing big data is still a messy and labor-intensive business. We are incredibly excited by what we can do with data but also think some of the hype is doing brands a disservice, because it creates a false expectation of how easy this work is going to be. Most things in life that are important and worthwhile are difficult, and the analysis of Big Data is no different. Don’t believe these commonly heard myths…

Prophet's James Walker and Joerg Niessing presented at London Business School and taught a brand valuation class as part of the MBA program’s core Marketing course. The lecture highlighted the paradoxes of valuing brands but also created a clear roadmap of do's and don’ts and illustrates the power of brand valuation as a brand-management tool.

Philip Otley explains in his article why pricing may be the sharpest double-edged sword that senior management can wield in their bid to create value for the enterprise.