Disney Pixar's Cars 2 / L'Oreal Sweepstakes

Enter L'Oreal Kids Cars 2 Sweepstakes


Winners selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about January 6, 2012.

Grand Prize: (1 winner) a bedroom makeover awarded as a $3,350 Rosenberry Rooms gift certificate and a $150 Toys "R" Us Gift Card which may be used to purchase an assortment of Disney Pixar's Cars 2 bedroom items.

First Prize: (5 winners) a toy shopping spree awarded as a $100 Toys "R" Us gift card.
Second Prize: (50 winners) Disney Pixar's Cars 2 merchandise.
Third Prize: (25 winners) a set of four (4) L'Oreal Kids Cars 2 shampoo products.

For more information and complete entry details visit the Official Rules.

The World’s Most Misunderstood Consumer Brands

The process of brand valuation is more an art than a science, or at least that is the conclusion of research done by 24/7 Wall St. The most well-regarded “brand evaluators” rarely come up with similar figures–except for among the very largest brands. Some of their opinions diverge dramatically.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the brand valuations and methodologies of BrandZ, Interbrand, and Brandirectory. The first two list 100 brands each in their public studies. Brandirectory lists 500. Each would defend its valuations which use different “black box” systems for calculating value. That is probably because all three charge hefty fees for their services.

The explanations for their methodologies are even more convoluted.

Here is what BrandZ says: “The brand value published is based on the intrinsic value of the brand – derived from its ability to generate demand. The dollar value of each brand in the ranking is the sum of all future earnings that brand is forecast to generate, discounted to a present-day value. Given the high volatility of financial markets over the past 12 months, the brand value is in some cases high relative to current market capitalization, reflecting true value rather than current market swings.” Where is the heart of that exercise? It is impossible to say.

Interbrands has three criteria: “1) Financial performance measures an organization’s raw financial return to the investors, 2) Role of brand measures the portion of the decision to purchase that is attributable to brand – this is exclusive of other aspects of the offer like price or feature, and 3) Brand strength measures the ability of the brand to secure the delivery of expected future earnings.” Without the exact data that Interband uses and details of how it is arranged to derive a value, it is impossible say how its process works.

Brandirectory describes its methodology this way: “The methodology employed in the BrandFinance Global 500 uses a discounted cash flow (DCF) technique to discount estimated future royalties, at an appropriate discount rate, to arrive at a net present value (NPV) of the trademark and associated intellectual property: the brand value.”

All three brand valuation companies admit that sales play a critical role in brand valuation. All three claim that their forecasts of future contributions of the brands to earnings are part of their proprietary analysis. All link brand value to the overall value of a brand’s parent company.

Again, the most telling part of the comparison among the three firms is that they differ very little on the 20 most valuable brands. Oddly enough, the best way to highlight the flaw in the three valuations methods is to look at Marlboro. Its value is ranked seventh best by BrandZ at $57 billion, 18th on the Interbrand list with a value of $20 billion and 499th on the Brandirectory list with a valuation of $2.3 billion. Marlboro is the primary brand of both Philip Morris and Altria. Altria has annual sales of $24 billion. Philip Morris sales are $67 billion a year. Even in the most cerebral and bizarre world, Marlboro could not be worth as little as $2.3 billion.

24/7 Wall St., to make its point about whether brand values can be fairly measured, looked at ten brands which are ranked high on one of the three brand value lists and much lower on others. We considered the brand value from the lists, the extent to which each brand is internationally known based on overseas sales, total annual revenue, and in many cases the age and durability of the brand.

Each of the brands on the 24/7 Wall St. list is not only a well-known name in the US but also in most places around the world. A review of the BrandZ, Interbrand, and Brandirectory lists leads to the conclusion that most brands are not valued properly. The ten we have chosen are particularly notable because the so-called experts have widely differing views on how much they are worth.

1. Xerox

Interbrand Brand Value: $6.109 billion

Total Sales: $15.2 Billion
% sales international: 46%
Market Cap: $14.2 Billion

The name “Xerox” has become synonymous with photocopiers, as well as the act of photocopying. The company, which has been around for more than a century, invented the first electro-photography plain paper photocopier. Xerox is in the top 200 of the Fortune 500, and remains a well-known brand around the world. The company’s revenue was more than $15 billion in 2010, with just over $7 billion coming in from outside of the United States.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Yahoo!
Interbrand Brand Value: $4.958 billion
Total Sales: $6.3 Billion
% sales international: 33%
Market Cap: $21.4 billion

Yahoo! was one of the first major web portals. Founded in 1995, the company survived the burst of the dot-com bubble and remains valuable today. Yahoo! is the second largest search engine in the US behind Google. Yahoo!, as of 2010, had the largest market share of online display advertising in the world, according to JP Morgan. Of the $6.324 billion the company made in 2010, just over $2 billion was made internationally.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. MTV
Interbrand Brand Value: $6.719 billion
Parent Company Viacom’s Total Sales: $13.4 billion
% sales international: N/A
Parent Company Viacom’s Market Cap: $27.2 billion

MTV has grown into an international media giant since its beginning in 1981. According to owner Viacom, the channel reached approximately 99 million television households within the United States in September 2010. On an international level, MTV Networks’ operations reached approximately 635 million households in more than 160 countries in September 2010. MTV has also expanded into film with its MTV Films division, which has produced such popular films as Zoolander and Jackass.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Heinz

Interbrand Brand Value: $7.534 billion
Total Sales: $10.5 Billion
% sales international: 62%
Market Cap: $15.6 billion

Heinz’s 57 is easily the most recognized brand of ketchup the United States, and is featured on most restaurant and diner tables in the U.S. While it is the most recognizable in the U.S., more than half of the company’s $10.5 billion in annual sales comes from abroad. Besides ketchup, Heinz sells a variety of condiments, including mustard, relish, and horseradish. The last of these was actually the first product Heinz produced.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Kellogg

Interbrand Brand Value: $11.041 billion
Total Sales: $12.4 Billion
% sales international: 37%
Market Cap: $19.7 billion

Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg was founded in 1906, and is responsible for some of the most popular breakfast cereals in the world, including Corn Pops, Corn Flakes, Crispix, Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran and Rice Krispies. Kellogg competes with General Mills as one of the two largest breakfast food makers in the world, producing other extremely successful products such as Eggo waffles and Pop Tarts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


6. Phillips

Interbrand Brand Value: $8.696 billion
Total Sales: $25 billion
% sales international: ~98%
Market Cap: $31.3 billion

Dutch-based Philips Electronics is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, competing against Sony and Panasonic. The company employs about 120,000 people around the world and sells merchandise in more than 60 countries. The company invented or helped invent nearly every modern form of media storage. Along with Sony, the company has been the go-to brand for the compact cassette, the CD, the DVD, and the Blu-Ray disc. The company also sells electronics, including a popular line of televisions and sound equipment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. KFC

Interbrand Brand Value: $5.844 billion
Parent Company Yum! Brands Total Sales: $11.343 billion
% sales international: N/A
Parent Company Yum! Brands Market Cap: $23.76 billion

Originally founded in 1930, KFC is now one of the largest brands owned by Yum! Brands, along with Pizza Hut. According to Yum!, as of the end of 2010 there were 5,055 KFCs in the United States and 11,798 in other countries. A surprising 3,244 of these restaurants are in China. KFC has restaurants in 110 countries and territories worldwide. In 2010, Yum! Brands had a total revenue of $11.34 billion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Danone

Interbrand Brand Value: $6.363 billion
Total Sales: $24.2 Billion
% sales international: 75% or more
Market Cap: $28.6 Billion

Group Danone, the French food-products company which markets its products in the United States under the brand name Dannon, had sales of just over $24 billion in 2010. According to the company, Danone is “the world’s leading producer in volume of Fresh Dairy Products.” The company is best known for its yogurts and bottled water. It moved into baby food after purchasing Numico in 2007.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. Caterpillar

Interbrand Brand Value: $4.704 billion
Total Sales: $42.5 Billion
% sales international: 70%
Market Cap: $68.2 Billion

Caterpillar is the largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the world, with annual sales of more than $42 billion, more than 100,000 employees and 178 dealers. Caterpillar’s “Cat” brand is well- known among the public and construction firms alike.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10. Adidas

Interbrand Brand Value: $5.495 billion
Total Sales: $17.03 Billion

% sales international: N/A

Market Cap: $18.45 Billion

Adidas, the German sports apparel company, had sales of just over $17 billion in 2010. The company is the second largest sportswear manufacturer in the world, behind Nike, and the largest in Europe. Parent company Adidas AG also owns the popular brands Reebok and Rockport.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

©2011 24/7 Wall St.

Search Engine Optimization: You Can Do It!

For quite some time many of our clients have been asking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is simply doing "stuff" so your website appears early on a search results (page 1 or 2) when someone conducts a search related to what your company provides.

Unfortunately, that is about as thorough an explanation given by "providers" of SEO services. Even worse, that is the extent of the understanding of those that contract out for this service.

Here are some tips and tricks that anyone with basic website development skills can learn and do.

1) To improve your position on a search engine result, ensure your metatags, page titles and homepage text have the key (aka common) words or words that searchers will use to search for what THEY need.
Those should include the goods or services your company provides, the industry and markets your company serves, the name of your business and the location(s) served by your business. The more inclusive and specific the list, the better your position will be.

2) Another important key to getting on or close to page 1 of search results is the amount of links to your site. How do you achieve that? Blogs, social media, partner websites and cooperative linking with other sites will improve your position on search engines.

3) Update your homepage often. Web crawlers like finding new stuff. Web crawlers look through your site for key words and relevancy to searches. Thus when content is changed, it triggers newness. When you add new or change text and key words, your position greatly improves and starts move closer to the top of the list. Why? Websites with old text are thought to be inactive or abandoned. Search engines provide value if they give you useful results. So the search engine's approach is that newer stuff is better and more useful so it gets move forward on the search results list.

If you have any questions or concerns about your current website or your SEO provider, contact us.

The 11 Keys to Success

By Julie Jansen, author of "I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This"

In his best-selling book "Emotional Intelligence," Daniel Goleman writes, "There are widespread exceptions to the rule that IQ predicts success ... at best, IQ contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80 percent to other forces."

Goleman goes on to explain, "These other characteristics are called emotional intelligence: abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one's moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope."

This book is full of assessments, tools, resources and how-tos to help guide you in finding new work that will better meet your personal and financial needs. No matter which category you fit in, however, unless you are able to demonstrate and master a specific set of life skills and traits, you will find it difficult to find the work you want.

Observing people in the workplace has yielded 11 keys to success. Time and again, it is apparent that those individuals who exhibit these 11 keys and use them most productively are consistently the most successful and well-liked individuals overall. The good news is that most people are born with at least some of these keys or learned them at a very young age, and all of these keys can be developed or learned later in life.

These are the 11 keys to success:

1. Confidence: an unshakable belief in oneself based on a realistic understanding of one's circumstances; a trait that most people admire in others and strive to acquire themselves.

2. Curiosity: being eager to know and learn; always showing interest and giving special attention to the less obvious; always being the person who says, "I want to know more about . . . ."

3. Decisiveness: arriving at a final conclusion or making a choice and taking action; making decisions with determination even when you don't have all the information you think you need.

4. Empathy: demonstrating caring and understanding of someone else's situation, feelings and motives; always thinking about what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes.

5. Flexibility: being capable of change; responding positively to change; being pliable, adaptable, nonrigid and able to deal with ambiguity.

6. Humor: viewing yourself and the world with enjoyment; not taking life or yourself too seriously; being amusing, amused and, at times, even comical.

7. Intelligence: thinking and working smartly and cleverly; being sharp in your dealings; "not reinventing the wheel"; planning before acting; working efficiently and focusing on quality over quantity. (Important note: This is different from IQ, the common abbreviation for intelligence quotient.)

8. Optimism: expecting the best possible outcome and dwelling on the most hopeful or positive aspects of a situation; believing that the glass is half full rather than half empty.

9. Perseverance: having passion, energy, focus and the desire to get results. Motivation, persistence and hard work are all aspects of perseverance.

10. Respect: remembering that it is just as easy to be nice; protecting another person's self-esteem; treating others in a considerate and courteous manner.

11. Self-awareness: a sophisticated form of consciousness that enables you to regulate yourself by monitoring yourself, observing yourself and changing your thought processes and behaviors.

Which of these keys are among your strengths? Which of the 11 are among your weaknesses? Self-awareness, the 11th key, is really the foundation for understanding yourself. If you are not sure how self-aware you are, ask several people whom you trust which of these 11 keys they believe are your strengths and which are not.

Again, while no one person possesses all of these keys in equal amounts, each of them can be developed and improved.

Copyright 2010 Julie Jansen All rights reserved.

Best Practices: What to take into Account When Direct Marketing to Hispanics

Portada talked to Karen Habib, Hispanic Marketing Director, at Eclipse Marketing Services about best practices in direct marketing to the Hispanic population.The Objective (Hispanic or not)…."Ultimately, marketing campaigns – Hispanic or not – are intended to appeal to the consumer, presumably with a value proposition that will make him or her buy your product. In that sense, a Hispanic and a GM campaign aren’t that different.” says Habib.
…and yet, there are Worlds apart….

According to Habib, on the creative front, the Hispanic campaign must speak to the cultural sensibilities of the Latino audience and not just be about the offer. “By customizing our message to their set of values, we will be more successful, and marketing budgets can be more efficiently spent’, she adds.

Another major difference between the Hispanic and the General Market campaign lies in the segmentation process. There are many additional demographic and psychographic criteria that must be considered when doing Hispanic marketing: acculturation level, language preference, multigenerational household, for instance. “As the Hispanic market becomes more complex, direct marketing becomes that much more relevant – vital even to the marketing mix”, says Habib.

Advice to Marketers
Advertisers need to recognize that cultural relevance, demonstration of product value, and language sensitivities playa higher role in marketing to Latinos. Campaigns that focus on offer alone to drive the response may not be as effective, nor create the brand loyalty the marketer is hoping to achieve. Good direct response campaigns (TV, direct mail, radio) will elicit an emotional response, regardless of target. “However, we must remember that although Hispanics can trend to be more emotional culturally, they tend to over-index on researching products online than their GM counterparts. Hispanics want to make sure they are getting value for their purchases and if the purchase experience and product use is positive, they will become loyal”, Habib concludes.

Leading Brands Converge to Discuss Outreach to U.S. Hispanics - Fastest Growing Consumer Market in America

Latinum Network Brings Together Marketing Executives at 7-Eleven, Inc. HQ to Explore Market Shifts and Their Implications. Participating Companies Include The Clorox Company, H&R Block, Heineken USA, Kraft Foods Inc., Nestle S.A., Sara Lee Corporation and Subway(R) Restaurants

BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing executives from at least 20 big brands, including The Clorox Company, H&R Block and Nestle S.A., will meet at 7-Eleven, Inc. headquarters in Dallas on Wednesday, Feb. 24 to examine the rapid evolution of the U.S. Hispanic market and the ways acculturation and other important social and economic forces are reshaping this growing demographic.

Led by the Latinum Network, the conference will focus on the practical implications of major demographic and cultural trends for Hispanic and multicultural marketing strategies.
According to Latinum Network principal Michael Klein, "The interplay between demographic changes and the multi-faceted acculturation of U.S. Hispanics is one of the foremost issues shaping marketing decisions by companies with well known brands. We will take this opportunity to share our analysis with these brands and take it to the next level through peer-to-peer interaction."

Through discussion of original new insights by the Latinum Network and interactive working sessions, business leaders from these top companies should gain a new understanding of what differentiates U.S. Hispanics from the general market and from one another. Other topics will cover the opportunities created by rapid shifts in Hispanic consumer demand and what capabilities these companies should invest in to build Hispanic marketing functions to better take advantage of these opportunities.

According to Irene Sibaja, 7-Eleven's senior director of Hispanic marketing, "Latinum Network is doing what nobody else is – pooling the minds and resources of sophisticated brands to develop solutions that better meet the needs of Hispanic consumers. Our willingness to host this meeting demonstrates our commitment to the Latinum mission. By working together with other executives, 7-Eleven will better understand the nuances of the Hispanic population, allowing us to create more value for this consumer segment, as well as the company."

About Latinum Network
Latinum Network is a business network that assists brands in taking advantage of the growing U.S. Hispanic market through collaboration, networking and cutting-edge research. The company was established by David Wellisch - founder and former GM of AOL Latino - and Michael Klein - former top executive at the Corporate Executive Board, the world's largest business network provider. Latinum Network assists executives and their teams in developing deeper insights into the market, more effective strategies for the segment, and the solutions required to successfully design and execute core marketing initiatives. Latinum Network enables CMOs and other designated executives how to identify shared challenges, interests and best practices, then apply analytical rigor and original content creation to develop solutions.

For more information, visit http://www.latinumnetwork.com/.

SOURCE Latinum Network

Leagues Make Pitch to Hispanics

By ANA CAMPOY

Thousands of Hispanic fans wearing bright yellow T-shirts and waving Colombian flags crowded Homestead Miami Speedway Nov. 22 to root for Juan Pablo Montoya in Nascar's final race of the season.
The Colombian driver finished 38th after a wreck, but helped pull in the largest proportion of first-time fans ever recorded at the racetrack: 55% compared with the usual 20%, according to Curtis Gray, president of the speedway, which keeps a database of attendees. "We've never seen anything like that before," Mr. Gray said.

Major U.S. sports, from car racing to football, are stepping up their efforts to draw Hispanic fans, in the belief that the rapidly growing group will drive sports businesses -- and fill enormous new stadiums -- in the years to come.

Hispanics make up 15% of the U.S. population and by 2050 are expected to make up almost 30%, at 128 million people, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Their purchasing power, which doubled over the past decade, will expand a further 36% by 2014 to $1.3 trillion, or 10% of the country's total, predicts the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

According to a poll by Scarborough Research earlier this year, 51% of Latinos watched, listened to or attended a football game over the past 12 months, compared with 68% of the total population. For baseball, 50% of Hispanics follow the sport compared with 57% of the general population. Meanwhile, 36% of Latinos tuned in or attended a soccer match, compared with 14% of the general population.

Sports promoters uniformly refuse to say how much they are spending to attract Hispanic fans. But the Homestead Miami Speedway bumped up its spending on marketing to Latinos by 30% from last year, and teamed up with Spanish radio stations to sell tickets.
The National Basketball Association recently recast itself as "éne-bé-a," its Spanish pronunciation of its initials, for a marketing campaign that includes advertising in Spanish-language TV networks, a first for the league.

Eduardo Nájera, a forward with the New Jersey Nets who was born in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, expects the campaign to multiply the number of Hispanic basketball fans. "If we can somehow get to them and relate to them, they're going to respond," he said in an interview.

Similar efforts are under way by Major League Baseball and the National Football League, where salsa star Marc Anthony has bought a stake in the Miami Dolphins, or "los Delfines."
Many Hispanics hail from countries where soccer -- known there as fútbol -- is a national passion, which Major League Soccer is trying to tap. The U.S. league is sponsoring games featuring Latin American teams in the hope that fans will stick around for U.S. matches the same day.

"For us, the Hispanic market is incredibly important," said MLS commissioner Don Garber.
But catering to "the Hispanic market" is a big challenge for U.S. sports promoters, in part because Latinos here have ties to more than a dozen countries.

Eduardo Carvacho has been navigating the Hispanic market for U.S. soccer teams since 2007. He started out building a fan base for the Columbus Crew in Ohio, where most Hispanics were recent arrivals. To start a "porra," a group of diehard fans who set the tone at the stadium, he relied mostly on personal interactions, like eating tacos with community leaders.

Mr. Carvacho now works for the soccer team in Dallas, a much bigger market with established Hispanic institutions where he can proselytize through businesses such as Fiesta, a Hispanic-food grocery chain that sells FC Dallas tickets.
"You have to customize every single thing," he said of appealing to Hispanic fans, depending on the local community.

Back in Miami, Mr. Montoya, the race-car driver, is using his popularity to attract donations to a foundation he created to help children in his native Colombia. But he says winning races remains his main focus. "I'm not racing Nascar to create Hispanic awareness," Mr. Montoya said at a recent news conference. "I race Nascar because I want to kick everybody's butt."

Source: The Wall Street Journal (World) Nov 30, 2009

Hispanic Business Owners are Different

It is interesting how Hispanic Owned businesses approach their customers. Marketing Excellence recently conducted a Retention Marketing workshop to Hispanic business owners in San Ysidro California. The event was sponsored by the San Ysidro Business District.

During the workshop, it was interesting to note how the owners and senior staff viewed their customers. They all held their customers (and clients) to the highest regard. They shared that when a customer walks into their business, they try to treat them as if the customer was walking into their house. They want to make them feel welcomed and at ease. They were already implementing retention marketing strategies without ever being formally trained or introduced to this business strategy.

The big lesson learned was that they valued each and every customer. They are willing to do what is in the best interest of their customer. They understand that their main purpose is to provide the customer a solution. It could be clothing, furniture, insurance, food products or any other product or service. But they view the transaction with their customers as a "partnership agreement" for future business. They are certainly not looking to make one score or take advantage of their customers. They fully appreciate and embrace the concept of life time value of a customer. Some may argue that this is not really a lesson; this is good business sense. The difference demonstrated by the Hispanic business owners is the PASSION in their execution and business practices.

Could this be the reason American manufacturing is failing?

Recently Marketing Excellence was invited to bid on a major contract. The contract involved some promotional products. Well actually a large volume of one product.

I looked up several American manufacturers (which will remain nameless). Being a veteran and with the state of the US economy, I wanted Made in the USA. I was excited by the size of the potential order so I quickly started contacting American manufacturers. When I called the first company to ask about product specifications, shipping details, and pricing, the person who answered the phone was very polite but a little overwhelmed by the large order. After the 3rd consecutive question that she could not answer, I asked if could speak to whomever she was asking. I had a lot more questions and the put on hold for a brief wait (30 seconds to 2 minutes) to answer every question was starting to frustrate me. The response was "I can help you, sir. Sir, please allow me to help you." My reply was 'I have about 17 more questions so I think it would be easier for both of us?' Well I got no where with that. So I ended the call immediately after the next question which of course was accompanied by the delay in responding while she asked someone else.

What's interesting is that this was my easiest call. The other American manufacturers were less knowledgeable about their product offerings and several had attitudes. After the fourth call I had enough. I asked the person if I was bothering them or annoying them. Her response was a candid "We get people who are always asking questions and don't buy, especially people asking for large quantities like you." I was stunned by her logic for dismissing my request. I tried to share some business 101 with her so I responded with, 'Don't you think that maybe they are not buying because of your attitude. Customers want to be treated like customers not like interruptions. Perhaps that is why you are not getting this or any large order.' I respectfully said good bye and hung up. I could only shake my head.

Attention American manufacturers: Treat customers like they are the customer!

I am not a believer that the customer is always right. But I do believe the customer should be treated with respect and professionalism even when they are wrong.

If 5 out of 5 did not know or present their product well and over half were rude, how can American manufacturing succeed?

What is branding?

It is interesting how many non-marketing professionals use the term branding incorrectly. Branding is a powerful strategy and marketing objective. When implemented and created effectively, the brand can become a real competitive advantage.

Branding involves the analysis of four areas:

1. your capabilities relative to your competition for your target market and customers,


2. your marketing message that communicates your capabilities that are different and more desirable for your target market and customers,


3. the decoded marketing message understood by your target market and customers,


4. and, your target market's and customers' perception of your product and or service quality.

Branding is the mental and emotional connection that the consumer, customer, prospect or user of your product and or service has associated with your name. This connection could be good or bad.

A strong branding strategy is more than just creating an attention-getting advertising campaign or slogan. The communication campaign should infer a promise of a certain quality level. That quality level now becomes the expected quality for the consumer. So the company must at least deliver, but preferably exceed, that expected level of quality. The communications campaign should also position your company, product or service to differentiate it from your competition. The final component is delivering quality. That quality is the perceived quality of the customer. You must deliver better value, image, or solutions than what your competition can deliver. The use or your product or service will also convey a message and will help stimulate perceived quality.

If you miss the mark on any of these, you certainly do not have a strong brand and some might even argue that you have no brand.

Customer Equity thru Retention Marketing

Customer Equity is a very difficult asset to measure. That's right I said asset. First let me explain what customer equity is. It is the combined present value of current customers and potential customers (not prospects). This equity grows with loyal (repeat buying) profitable customers.

Many marketing professionals and experts profess that customer equity is a much better measure of effective marketing (through retention marketing) than revenue and sales units. The logic behind this school of thought is that sales is a measure of past performance while customer equity is a measure of current and future performance.

One of the most important characteristics that improve customer equity is current customer age. A loyal younger customer will have a longer time to repeat buy than an older customer. Thus the younger customer has more life time purchasing power than an older customer. So looking at brands that have a loyal yet older customer base have a lower customer equity than a one with younger customers.

Now before you go and stop paying attention to your older customers...think again. Older customers tend to have more disposable income. They also tend to be trusted by their children and grandchildren. They in essence will become advocates for your product.

So what is the lesson. Keep your young customers happy forever until they become senior citizens and continue to bring in those potential new, especially younger, customers. In other words have a complete product portfolio that meets the needs and attracts the young and the old customer segments with different products of course.

Paula Abdul leaving American Idol changes the AI product

There are rumors that Paula Abdul may be leaving the hit show American Idol. Now I must say this is not an endorsement of Ms Abdul but she is a key part of the American Idol product. She is goofy, sweet and a shrewd business women. That is right she is a shrewd business women. She knows that the show is hot and that she is key. She is part of the product. Her arguing and flirting with Simon adds a dimension to the show. Every once in a while when she does say something not pleasant, she shocks everyone.

As a marketing professional lets look at the product called American Idol. It is made up of many ingredients and sub components. Paula Abdul is a key part of that product. If she goes, the product will change. Will American Idol survive without her? If its about the singing contest, then yes. But anyone who watches it knows that the singing contest ends when the top 10 or 12 are selected. The weekly audience vote is nothing more than a money making machine. The best singer does not always win. And the "losers" that do not get crowned the American Idol still have received tremendous exposure. The ones that are motivated and have real talent go on to bigger and better things. Look at Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry.

Is Paula contributing to that success? Absolutely not...kind of sort of. Do her silly yet compassionate advisory statements help refocus some of the losers. The three mentioned above would say absolutely YES! So losing Paula Abdul changes the product which may turn off many customers aka viewers.

So if you were giving marketing advice to American Idol, what would you advice?

American car companies must refocus on the PRODUCT portion of the Marketing Mix

The American car companies have been mismanaged for decades. The focus for this time period has been money and profits. Improving quality and addressing customer demands have not been used to drive the business objectives. It is terrible business practice when the accounting and finance departments are driving decisions that affect product quality and customer demands.

American car companies have no valid plan for getting it right. If they focused on basic customer needs such as extended reliability, defect reduction and increased miles per repair costs, they would have never needed bail out money.

Detroit ask car customers (yours and the competitions') what they want in a car. Ask them to elaborate so you can fully understand. Listen closely and read between the lines and then ask more questions. Then focus on meeting their needs. The Japanese get it and the Korean car makers are getting it. If you don't play correctly you are going to continue to lose and should just go away. It is that simple!

Republican Party needed to focus on Public Relations like Democrats did

The Republican Party can learn something from the Democratic Party when it comes to Relationship Marketing and Public Relations (PR) . They need to learn how to communicate their message so people receive it and understand easily.

Now this post is not an anti-republican or pro-democrat statement. It's just a statement as to how the Republican Party can improve on their delivery of their message and position on items that Americans really care about. To really understand where the break down is for the Republican party one must look at the Bill Clinton Campaign and now the Barack Obama campaign. Both gentlemen used the press and every speaking opportunity to consistently engage the audience with what they (the audience) needed to hear as well as a little of what they wanted to hear. For example the Obama message that John McCain will be 4 more years of the Bush Administration is really sticking with some of his listeners. This is a carefully thought out message that is being consistently delivered and really makes the listener "feel" something.

These are keys to a good PR Campaign-consistency and emotions. You are not always trying to necessarily persuade by reason and logic. A good PR message must evoke emotion. In the case of Obama's message, the listener may take their disapproval towards President Bush and redirect it to McCain. Right or wrong, fair or unfair, it is effective.

The other key point to learn from the Obama Campaign is the use of various tools. Print, audio, and visual are all needed because different people learn and retain information in different ways. Take for example the 30-minute infomercial style appearance that Obama held on Oct 29 that was covered by 6 or 7 networks . With just 1 week before the elections, this PR tool provided some testimonials and visuals that evoked an emotional reaction by the viewer.

The republicans are talking about high level issues that though they may be significant are hard to really relate to on a massive scale.

In business you need to do the same. Engage the audience emotionally and use different tools so the audience uses different senses. It also has to be consistent and repetitive so it sticks. Miss any of these and your audience misses the message also.

Voters should be viewed as customers...visit http://marketing4excellence.blogspot.com/2008/09/place-value-on-your-current-customer.html#links

Branding and Brand Equity: Not only creates value but is valuable

Branding is an association. An association ...to what you ask? It is the association between a product or service name and its perceived value. The more value and the stronger the association between the name and the value the better it is for a brand.

In other words if a brand (product name or service name) conveys a message of high quality, numerous and or unique customer benefits as compared to its competition then it is said to be a strong brand.

For instance, FedEx and Xerox. For many years these two great companies dominated their respective industries. FedEx was the premier overnight delivery company and all others fell short on capabilities and benefits to its customers. In fact the FedEx brand got so strong that overnight delivery service was dubbed "FedEx it!". Xerox was the big cheese with copiers. Their market leadership resulted from a high quality product. Like FedEx, new terminology was created by a strong brand. People requiring to make a 'photocopy' created the phrase "Xerox it!".

The brand is the mental link that consumers draw between what the product or service does and something it does not do. The link when viewed positively an the value to the owner of the brand is called BRAND EQUITY. If you have brand equity, you have a competitive advantage. But remember that you are being targeted by your competitors.

If you don't have any brand equity, then you are missing a key strategic element and are putting your product or service (and company) at risk and at a competitive disadvantage.