Marketing Insights from A to Z

anies tend to overfocus and overorganize on the basis of their products and brands, and underfocus on managing their customers well. Call it brand management myopia.

The better choice would be to establish a new name for a new product rather than carry the company’s name and all of its baggage. The company name creates a feeling of more of the same, rather than something new. Some companies know this. Toyota chose not to call its upscale car Toyota Upscale but rather Lexus; Apple Computer didn’t call its new computer Apple IV but Macintosh; Levi’s didn’t call its new pants Levi’s Cottons but Dockers; Sony didn’t call its new videogame Sony Videogame but PlayStation; and Black & Decker didn’t call its upgraded tools Black & Decker Plus but De-Walt. Creating a new brand name gives more opportunity to establish and circulate a fresh public relations story to gain valuable media attention and talk. A new brand needs credibility, and PR is much better than advertising in establishing credibility.

people must live out the brand spirit at the corporate level and at the job-specific level. Thus if your company brands itself as innovative, then you must hire, train, and reward people for being innovative.

In fact, the quickest way to kill a poor product is to advertise it. More people

Advertising

will try the product sooner and tell others faster how bad or irrelevant it is.

How much should you spend on advertising? If you spend too little, you are spending too much because no one notices it.

Advertisement Message Test
What is the main message you get from this ad?
What do you think the advertiser wants you to know, believe, or do?
How likely is it that this ad will influence you to undertake the implied action?
What works well in the ad and what works poorly?
How does the ad make you feel?
Where is the best place to reach you with this message—where would you be most likely to notice it and pay attention to it?

The ad’s mission can be one of four: to inform, persuade, remind, or reinforce a purchase decision. With a new product, you want to inform and/or persuade. With an old product, like Coca-Cola, you want to remind. With some products just bought, you want to reassure the purchaser and reinforce the decision.

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.”

The best advertising is done by your satisfied customers.

Ferrari automobile delivers on three dreams: social recognition, freedom, and heroism.

The aim of advertising is not to state the facts about a product but to sell a solution or a dream. Address your advertising to the customers’ aspirations.