Our thinking appears in marketing articles and publications around the world

Does reputation matter? If attracting and retaining the best talent, getting customers to buy more and pay more for products and services, and strong financial and/or stock market performance is a priority for your company—then the answer is “Yes.”

Repairing the damage done to consumer confidence is not going to be easy, and many of the sector’s brands that were once pillars of the community (Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, and others) are beyond the task. But the work starts now, and falls to marketing leaders to draw on all the best thinking and resources at their disposal to get the job done.

Your customers—current and intended—have certain expectations of both your brand and your category. There's a fine line between outrageous and offensive messaging, and the risk of crossing it and alienating more customers than you entice must be evaluated.

In this article, Vanessa discusses Pizza Hut’s rebranding of some of its outlets as ‘Pasta Hut’ and whether or not it will produce long-term growth for the brand. (Also available at http://www.brandstrategy.co.uk/)

Retailers have always been driven by the seasons. The holidays, of course, and particularly Christmas. Fall and back to school. The ushering-in of spring and summer, with promotions around fun and leisurely pursuits. Since the recession officially reared its head in January of 2008, retailing has added a new season to its lineup: The “season of discontent.”

Technology has made it possible, through advanced research and information gathering techniques, to forge a deeper understanding of what matters most to customers.

Michael Krauss, a writer for Marketing News, calls David Aaker’s book a “must-read for every chief marketing officer and any marketer that aspires to that lofty C-level role.”

Please note, this article is not available online. Please contact Prophet for a copy. 

David Aaker sits down with Brilliant Results to discuss concepts from his book, Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative. 

David Aaker’s latest book discusses the prominence of silos within organizations and the disruption it causes to marketing efforts and overall company survival. He argues it’s up to Chief Marketing Officers to break down silo walls to foster cooperation and synergy.

A discussion of the key observations form a survey of Financial Services Forum members on value and its role in marketing strategy.

The healthcare interaction model was traditionally defined by the patient-doctor relationship, with the physician “brand” the source of decision-making, short- and long-term care planning, and also the foundation for patient loyalty. Patients went to the hospital that their physician recommended, whereas healthcare systems relied on hard facts to help physicians and patients make decisions. They weren’t actively managing their brands.

Customers may not know it, but senior executives are counting on them to help reinvent, reposition, re-ignite, and regain brand relevancy. In this article we use Hyundai, Microsoft, and Domino’s as examples of how to regain relevancy.

This article discusses the test-and-learn approach to marketing investment and how it helps build marketing credibility while providing a platform for continuous optimization of the overall marketing mix.

In this opinion article published in the Spanish advertising and marketing portal Marketing Directo, Luis-Eduardo Rodríguez Baptista expresses his views on the current challenges facing the food service industry. *Please note this article is in Spanish.

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.

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.

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.

The Future of Pharma Profitability Lies in Building Corporate Brands