Monday Morning Muse

Not What it Seems

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:00:50 +0000

Yesterday in my mail I received a “pre-approved guaranteed” $5,000 from a finance company. It wasn’t the misleading offer that got my attention. It was the address on my mail.

Nearly 20 years ago I was married to someone with the suffix Jr. on his name and we had a joint credit card account. When the [...]

Putting Out The Welcome Mat

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:00:45 +0000

For communities, regions and states, the revenue generated from tourism and travel, both leisure and business, can often be perceived as a marketing “catch 22.” It is a classic example of needing to spend money to make money.

To attract tourists a destination must have activities and amenities. While most of these are funded through private [...]

A Discount Recovery

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 06:00:06 +0000

In the last two weeks of August, a muse article called “The Discount Dilemma” was the third most popular topic read by thousands of people who visited the Muse page on our Web site.

Discounting continues to be a topic of interest, especially as we are about to enter the busy 4th quarter retail season. [...]

Radical Change

admin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:00:11 +0000

Mention General Electric (GE) and the name that comes to mind most often is Jack Welch. Rarely, if ever, will you think of Lawrence Bossidy. Bossidy was a contemporary of Welch, but never garnered the same degree of fame. It was Bossidy, however, who guided the growth and success of GE’s financial division, GE Credit [...]

The Snake Oil Syndrome

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:00:37 +0000

In the 1800s, when marketing was very personal and done at the local level, itinerant purveyors of goods would travel from town to town, holding product demonstrations with promises of wondrous benefits to be had by using their wares. Frequently the hype far exceeded the results and the term “snake oil salesmen” came to mean [...]

Nothing to Fear

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:00:14 +0000

Thomas Edison holds more than 3,000 patents. Many are for items we now take for granted such as electric lights. Edison was a man who achieved immense success. He was quick to acknowledge that success comes as the result of persistence. Edison himself claimed, “I have never failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that didn’t [...]

The Irrational Consumer

admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:00:44 +0000

There is a seduction scene in the Hitchcock movie North by Northwest with Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant. Exactly who is seducing who depends on your point of view. It is during this scene when Saint whispers to Grant that as an advertising man, he gets people to buy things they don’t really need [...]

The Disappearing Act

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:00:29 +0000

It’s a sure thing that belts are being tightened at all income levels. Consumer and business spending is being carefully calculated, pondered and restrained. Only the government seems to be on a spending spree.

Perhaps the product segment where this is the most significant is in upscale brands and luxury products. Until the recent plunge, average [...]

Doing the Unexpected

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:00:41 +0000

Open a copy of Entrepreneur magazine and you’ll see ads for business opportunities. Flip through the pages of Vogue and you’ll find ads for designers, perfumes, and cosmetics. Most people would agree that matching the message to the media and the reader is common practice and good advertising.

After all, what better place is there [...]

The Red Dress

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:00:10 +0000

In 2006 Delta Airlines unveiled some new looks in flight attendant uniforms. Among them was a red dress. The dress was designed to provide attendants with a classier, and somewhat sexier, look. But there is a problem. It seems that the dress is only made up to a size 18 and now the union [...]