There is a common perception that all marketers are liars! I am not going to comment on this. Instead, I will focus on the two biggest lies that I have observed in marketing using an example that was elaborated in my book Value Merchants (co-authored with James Anderson and Jim Narus) targeted to business marketing…
Does Increasing Power Portend War?
For some reason, inexplicable to me, my two favourite research papers, are also my two least successful in terms of citations. Perhaps they were published in the wrong journals. This week I would like to report on one of them. While the empirical analysis was done in a distribution channels context, it has fascinating implications…
Au Revoir 2016
Welcome to the last blog of 2016. Since this weekend blog was set up, I have written 38 posts, which are aimed to be consumed in about 10 minutes. It is now emailed to more than 750 subscribers. But via postings on http://www.scroll.in and http://www.linkedin.com, another 10,000 to 100,000 views a week are garnered. Signing…
The Interview That Never Ran
A primary function of PR agencies that are hired by companies is to feed journalists with stories / questions that will reflect poorly on the other side. Last week, I received one such set of gotcha questions from a senior journalist of one of India’s leading newspapers. For some reason, despite the tight deadline given…
Just Fired, and Moving On
An old school friend advised me that in the Indian context, it is better not to mention I have been fired to anyone as it would have a deleterious impact on my reputation and job prospects. Better, he said, say “resigned”. As all of you now know from last week’s blog “I just got fired”,…
I Just Got Fired!
“Calling all the people here to see the show Calling for my demons now to let me go I need something, give me something wonderful” As someone who almost opted to become a professional DJ, it’s fortunate that my favourite song of this year is Love and Hate by Michael Kiwanuka, with the lyrics above….
Brand Creep: The Challenge of Multi-Brand Portfolios
Many companies have multiple brands within the same category. For example, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has W, St Regis, Sheraton and Westin. For a multi-brand portfolio to be successful, each brand must be targeted to a specific segment and must embody a unique selling proposition (USP). Consider Procter & Gamble’s laundry detergent portfolio in…
Why Demographic Segmentation Rarely Works?
Marketing as a corporate function originated out of sales more than a hundred years ago. Rather than simply trying to sell what the company manufactures (the sales concept), the marketing idea was that it made more sense to start by first examining customer needs and then producing what consumers actually need. As Peter Drucker argued:…
Is Apple Doomed?
Over the past 15 months, the Apple stock has fallen by 20-25 percent and now trades at a price earnings multiple of around 12, which is not particularly high for a technology company that makes products so beloved by consumers. Followers of my posts know that I do not subscribe to stock picking and, as…
The Next #1 Economy in the World
With the growth in India, lots of interesting stories emerging on the India potential. The below link is from one of the many analysts who send out such reports, a prediction of India as the most populous and the highest GDP country in the world. Please only read the first page: http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/next-1-economy-world-70974#.VVra02Aqv8s Another story predicting…
Incremental or Radical innovation?
Innovation and leadership are two topics in management which have received so much attention from “gurus” that it is hard to say anything new on these subjects. I rarely read articles on these subjects as they tend to suffer from the “old wine in new bottles” curse. Yet, both topics remain vitally important for building…
Brexit: “The Negativity Effect”
UK voters chose Brexit and from the comments on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, it seemed that the reaction of my friends was one of shock and disbelief that anyone could have voted “leave”. Not a single friend on the Facebook feed supported the leave campaign as far as I could observe. When one of…
Nirmalya Kumar 