The ball and chain of short-term results The problem with marketing in general, and even more so in digital marketing, is that customer loyalty is far from ingrained in the executive’s mindset. And there is good reason for that: the focus is frequently on the wrong ball. The ball they focus on is tied to [...]
Best practice is all about the experience Is best practice sharing actually possible? Certainly, by the number of times you hear the term bandied about in business conferences, you would expect the concept to be well rehearsed and successful. However, it is just not possible to reproduce the singular Apple success story, any more than [...]
In search of the CEO Myndset In a world of economic crises, burgeoning competition, regulatory oversight and the revolution that is the Internet, I think it would be fair to say that the role of the CEO is under siege. The “strategic” allocation [read = reduction] of resources in search of that extra margin — [...]
Time to reflect I recently saw the new Scorsese film, Hugo. While I didn’t like the film particularly (see the review here), time is certainly a central tenet of the film. Clocks abound. Hugo keeps winding {us} up the clocks… and Scorsese keeps winding us back in time. Time is precious. Our souvenirs, too. People [...]
Great Branding: Great Listening The social web has been said to turn the world upside down, putting the power into the hands of the consumer. Others harken back to a time when the street shopkeeper knew all of his/her customers by name. You will find some people foretelling the end of the email, while others [...]
Words that go So-Lo-Mo must go Co … As the So-Lo-Mo (Social-Local-Mobile) expression gradually goes mainstream, I ponder how the myndset within organizations must change to accommodate the new style(s) of marketing. Being social is already a challenge. Providing a mobile platform is forcing a shift in habits. Creating a local programme means being super [...]
Digital Education not just for geeks I have long believed that Digital Education must become a staple of a company’s Permanent Education (i.e. with the internal, corporate University). It can no longer be just a “specialty” class, merely for IT, geeks or those working on the website. My strong belief is that there should be [...]
Oyé Oyé: managers listen up In the 16 years that I worked in the professional salon business around the world for L’Oreal (Redken, Kerastase…), I met a great number of extraordinary men and women who are hairdressers, several of whom I still count as close friends. Social beings by definition, the best hairdressers have a [...]
2012: The year of seismic elections Next year is the year of presidential elections in a vast array of countries, with particularly high profile elections in US, France, Russia, India, Turkey and China. Moreover, arguably as important from a geo-political standpoint, there are the inaugural and/or still-to-be-fixed elections in hot spots like Egypt, Tunisia, Angola, [...]
Working toward ENGAGEMENT in digital marketing After a 16-year career at L’Oreal — managing a brand worldwide (Redken), running a subsidiary (Canada) and as head of business development & digital marketing (ExCom Worldwide) — I was lucky enough to work with some of the best agencies and consultants in the world. Now that I am [...]
