In the early 1990s, two Russian artists, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, took the unusual step of hiring a market research firm. Their brief was simple. Understand what Americans desire most in a work of art.
Jack Welch, renowned CEO of General Electric, used to say that your business should be #1 or #2 in your market. If not, get out. This belief was derived from the famous PIMS work begun in the 1960s. Initiated at General Electric, PIMS, Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy, focused on identifying factors that would impact economic success. ROI (Return on Investment) was the primary measure of success, alongside Return on Sales (ROS) and real (organic)...
The buzzword in marketing right now is AI. Well, acronym, that is. But either way, AI is all the rage. Every firm of every sort is working hard to incorporate AI into every process, every output and every pitch. It’s AI or bust. It’s not clear if it’s tulips or not, but interest in AI is unprecedented and shows no signs of abating anytime soon.
Some of the most consequential decisions a brand makes never arrive looking consequential. They appear as cost decisions. Growth plans. New operating models. Policy changes. Shifts in KPIs.
In 1967, the song “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie described “a whole generation, with a new explanation.” The line still captures a central challenge for brands today. Customers continually redefine what they want from the products they choose: more health, less sugar, greater functionality, better value, or simply a better fit for the moments in which they consume them.
