In my last UpMarketing post, Dart and Science, I described how combining quantitative and qualitative research with good old-fashioned gut instincts can drive results. This post examines a related topic: big data. Everyone’s talking about the mountains of data at their fingertips, just waiting for analysis and action. But it seems that no one has figured out an effective way to begin excavating to find the hidden treasure.
“The only real valuable thing is intuition,” said Albert Einstein. Within the consumer healthcare industry, nowhere is that more true than in the realm of brand management.
If you are like a lot of people, hanging a new calendar has inspired you to embrace new beginnings and experimentation. Every January morning begins with plans to put insights into action.
Products often fail before they ever find their way to market. Because our firm reviews more than 2,500 new health, beauty and wellness products, and sees approximately 13,000 packaging changes and line extensions annually, I’ve seen this firsthand.
I was fortunate. I was born into a wonderful family. Each of my four siblings and I have certainly chosen individual paths, but it is amazing how interconnected we remain and how we can still rely on each other when necessary.
This year’s Olympics coverage on NBC stood in stark contrast to the television network's failed attempt to offer expanded audience choice through their pay-per-view “Triplecast” in 1992. Remember that 20 years ago, NBC aired the Olympics through three pay-per-view channels? Their total number of subscribers, either for a one-day pass or any of the “gold,” “silver” or “bronze” packages probably couldn’t equal even the smallest service area for a major cable company.
Remember when retail transactions were completed based only on the assortment found within the confines of a brick-and-mortar store? Truth is, we may never return to those days.
Your store may be turning off potential customers without your even knowing it. Plenty of fully functional stores have this problem. How can you be sure yours isn’t one of them?
In its early days, social media meant "connecting with people." That’s still what it’s mostly about. But obviously, we’ve come a long way from those now prehistoric list-servs where we simply posted messages back-and-forth with people of similar interests and pursuits. It’s still about connecting. But now organizations use it for targeted marketing purposes, where once social media was considered the protected domain of the individual. Consumers seem to accept that it has become just another means by which brands are going to try to earn their loyalty.
An average consumer encounters the same or very similar product mix from retailer to retailer. Unintentionally, we have almost trained them not to expect anything special from their shopping experience. The retailer that does offer something beyond the ordinary shopping experience can score big points with shoppers. Do something unexpected to surprise and delight shoppers, and word will spread – probably quickly. So what is it that really makes consumers tick? I think it boils down to five main things.
