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Customer Manufacturing Update | ![]() |
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Dear Mitchell, Welcome to the February 2005 Customer Manufacturing Update. This month's white paper focuses on ingredient brands. How can you successfully brand something the end-customer doesn't buy, except as a part of something else? If you have friends or colleagues who would appreciate receiving this e-zine, feel free to forward a copy to them using the "Forward e-mail" link at the bottom of the e-zine.
![]() Branding is all the rage in marketing today (again). While complex, it is well documented what actions a brand marketer should take to build brand value with products or services directed to the end-customer. However, a substantial number of products and services are never sold to the end-customer directly. Can marketers of these "ingredients" take advantage of brand marketing? This month's white paper looks at the various issues. ![]()
![]() Another Super Bowl has come and gone. Many millions of dollars were spent once again on advertising. With 84 million people watching, marketers had an opportunity to communicate with an extensive audience. Because of its visibility, history of advertising significance, and the nature of people desiring to express an opinion (us included), much is made of these advertisements. Countless pundits chime in with their views on the merits, or lack thereof of these 15-second extravaganzas. We plan to do so also, shortly. However, before we do, we thought it appropriate to step back and consider what the actual purpose of a Super Bowl ad is. It only seems fair to evaluate the ads based on their purpose.
The most viewed, replayed and talked about ad on
the Super Bowl was the wardrobe malfunction spoof
from godaddy.com. There is no way anyone could
really know what godaddy does as a result of that
ad. In truth most people we talked to after the Super
Bowl did not even know whose ad it was. For many people, the ads are part of the entertainment. At least one of our wives, who has no interest in football whatsoever, asked to be interupted whenever an ad played so she could watch. She soon decided this year's ads weren't particularly entertaining, so she stopped watching them. But, should the ads be entertainment? On the Super Bowl it is probably expected, but is that sufficient? We don't think so. With one exception. Anheuser Busch, which runs several ads on the Super Bowl that are entertaining and feature their brands prominently, took a spot to do nothing but honor U.S. troops serving in Iraq. Regardless of your political views, this was a great piece. As a public service announcement it was very well done, and we believe enhanced A-B's image. Our award for the best ad overall goes to careerbuilder.com for their working with monkeys ad. Very entertaining and right on their message. That's our opinion and we're sticking to it ... at least for now. ![]()
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The unfortunate truth is that most training doesn't
work very well, unless it is tailored to your business.
And even then, it may not accomplish your goals. If
you, or your people, have been looking for a
training program that works, we offer you the
opportunity to experience Accelerator Groups.
The problem with most training programs is that they
are generalized for all business types not tailored to
your business (unless you can afford a tailored
in-house program), and the learning really doesn't
stick. With
Accelerator Groups
you will actually learn the skill by doing it with your
business. Not a case study ... your business. We have three topic areas available today. They include:
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As many of you know, Lean Thinking is the relentless
practice of removing waste from your processes.
Waste is defined as anything which does not add
value for the customer.
Surprisingly, no other airline has ever adopted that
philosophy. Despite the fact that Southwest makes
money when most others don't, it appears to have
escaped the recognition of other airline executives
that this operational strategy of Southwest might be
one of the keys to profit.
We commend them for finally seeing the value of lean
thinking. Unfortunately their initial target time is
about 3x what Southwest is currently doing. I'm sure
their operations people have a belief that they can't
turn a plane around in 20 minutes because ... ![]()
![]() We appreciate any feedback you can provide to help us make sure these Updates give you value each month. Feel free to respond to this e-mail with any comments or suggestions for future topics or ways we can make these Customer Manufacturing Updates more valuable to you.
Thank you for your interest, and if we can provide
any
additional assistance in sales, marketing, strategy, or
innovation to help you increase your sales,
let us know. ![]()
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