Tag Archives | consumer

The mantra of Connection

After the Economist’s special section on the "A world of Connections" (April 28), I was glad to receive a link from a new (connected) acquaintance, Vincent, on Connected Marketing:  http://www.connectedmarketing.org/surveys/.  Connection is in the air.  The ten predictions made by Justin Kirby in 2005 are a testament to how fast the marketing world is changing.  [...]

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Getting rid of plastic shopping bags

When in Nice on holidays, I gladly paid 5 cents at the Monaco Carrefour for a plastic shopping bag. Upon researching the topic, there are apparently between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags used every year by consumers worldwide. I am glad to see that San Francisco has recently actually outlawed plastic bags. They [...]

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Ben & Jerry

Un-derstanding the un-world, a new marketing concept

This is not an ode to the underworld. It isn’t even a portrait of the world’s [dirty] underwear. It is a description of a new marketing concept: The new Value-Added is Nothing. In the un-world, the value added in the consumer’s eyes is the lack of complication. We, as consumers, are looking for plain simplicity, [...]

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The life cycle of a [successful] company and the importance of the brand

Inspired by this blog on “Pink Slip,” “Business Darwinism and the will to survive“, I ponder how even great companies survive long term. The very concept of lasting [forever] can almost seem counter intuitive (in the world of capital markets). I see the cycle of even those companies “built to last” as destined to un-last [...]

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Where is the brain’s brand button?

As a consumer, I do not want to spend oodles of time comparing prices and the quality(-ies) of the product. In the shop, or whenever and wherever I buy, I want trust and a preferred relationship [I may sound like a snob, but our current condition encourages this behaviour]. And, in order to create that [...]

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Spending on US political campaigns

Until recently, I wasn’t aware that US presidential candidates were only allowed to accept $2,300 from a single individual in the primaries and another $2,300 for the presidential campaign. The only exception is the candidate him/herself who is allowed to invest as much as he/she wants. A candidate such as Michael Bloomberg therefore has a [...]

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