Focus groups, the beloved method of many British and American marketers, are under attack in the US. An article in New York Magazine drew up a long list of focus groups run in Manhattan.
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Mark Ritson, Author at Branding Strategy Insider - Page 28 of 58
More than 20 years ago, I went to university. A marketing man from the start, I picked the oldest and biggest Marketing department in the country, at Lancaster University. It was in one of my first classes, Retail Marketing, that I learned about Tesco.
The news that Microsoft has hired a senior Wal-Mart executive to spearhead a move into retail will not come as much of a shock. These days retailers run the world, and companies like Microsoft, which have typically supplied big retail, are now increasingly drawn to the idea of opening up for themselves. The marketing advantages are great.
Open the big book of celebrity endorsement scandals, it’s time to make another entry. Swimming star Michael Phelps was just having a bit of fun last November while visiting his girlfriend at the University of South Carolina when, along with all the shots and beer he consumed at a house party that weekend, he also had a toke on a bong that was being freely passed around.
Allow me to go back to late 2002 to make my point today. There were two stories that dominated the business press. Most of the media began by sounding the death knell for McDonald’s. Citing falling US sales and litigious obese Americans, the press concluded that the fast food company’s days were numbered.