Our thinking appears in marketing articles and publications around the world

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.

When your company is expanding rapidly and experiencing double-digit growth, evaluating your sales force performance, in most cases, becomes a low priority. But growth will inevitably slow down due to change. Internal changes (mergers, new product launches, entries into new markets), competitive changes (loss of market leadership, price competition, lower barriers to entry, lower share of voice), or environmental changes (deregulation, new infrastructures, economic cycles) should all prompt you to reassess your sales force. 

Many business leaders are making important strides in transforming their marketing strategies to address changing competitive environments, emerging product and service categories, and evolving customer needs. They’re thinking in terms of solutions rather than products, stakeholders rather than customers, and redefining rather than upgrading. To be sure, these are significant advancements. Too often, however, leaders expect new marketing strategies to be successfully executed with old marketing capabilities. The fact is that great strategic plans have failed in the absence of capability shifts.

Jay Milliken and Andres Nicholls discuss how strategy-led design and understanding customer behavior are the key elements for the success of Emart.

Merger and acquisition activity is again skyrocketing, but the complexion of the deals is changing. Cost savings alone are no longer enough to justify the high premiums being paid. Instead, the focus is increasingly on gaining revenue synergies, with the end goal being to fuel greater business growth.

In his latest Marketing News column, David discusses the silo crisis. He argues that product, country, and functional organizational silos are creating waste and inefficiency and, worse, are leading to lost opportunities to develop great products and marketing programs.

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.

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

Sony's three silos thwarted their efforts to create a new category and preempt Apple's iPod. It is likely that a product that combined the energies, resources, and customer insights of the three silos and was improved over time would have been successful and that the iPod opening would not have materialized.

The existence of functional silos is a serious challenge for CMOs. This article, based on David Aaker's latest book, "Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative," discusses ways to combat silos to advance marketing and develop stronger offerings and brands.

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.

Kevin O’Donnell believes innovation’s role as a driver of organic growth and a differentiator that adds substantially to a brand’s value remains as critical as ever. In his inaugural column in the newly relaunched Marketing News, a publication of the American Marketing Association, O’Donnell spells out one solution: Creation of innovation “systems” that foster actionable creativity.

In this article, Scott discusses the challenges being faced by Senior Marketers and four key mandates they should address on the path toward becoming empowered CMOs.

In many of today's leading organizations, marketing is front and center in driving solid business performance - based on a heightened understanding of and responsiveness to the customer. Leading the charge are empowered chief marketing officers, who have developed a more expansive influence, range of responsibilities, and view of marketing's capabilities in the broader business scheme.

A recent survey of marketing executives found only 30% want to be a chief marketing officer. Small wonder, then, that CMO longevity is what it is: exceedingly short. How to make the CMO's job more attractive and, perhaps, stretch the tenure out? Read on.

It is important to create a brand-centric culture that's open to and encourages change, where management is aligned on everyone's role in fostering that environment, and where the basis for moving forward is a shared vision of and commitment to the best of what the brand stands for.

CMOs need to leverage corporate and business-unit capabilities to reinvent the marketing function.

There is a growing need for businesses, and particularly their marketing leadership, to look differently at what constitutes innovation, and create a culture that fosters and rewards it.

Corporate and business unit marketers must recognize their differences and their common ground, and work together to maximize business success.

Today's red-hot market for mergers and acquisitions spells huge opportunities - and challenges for marketing leaders and their teams. Three principles are discussed to ensure a successful transaction.