Amid all the issues surrounding air travel over the holidays, one thing that makes flying worth considering is safety. We do not need to place safety on our list of holiday air travel woes, a list that is already extensive.
It is axiomatic that marketers should know their customers. In many firms, it is the role of marketing to speak for the customer – to represent the needs of and advocate for customers, and to build and maintain relationships with customers. These activities are essential to the long-term survival of the firm because customers are the ultimate source of revenue and other resources necessary for the firm. Without customers, a firm does not last long....
Seminal research demonstrates that companies who underinvest in branding potentially face an extinction event as diminishing share of market and declining price support make profitability elusive. Even in the best market conditions, brand investments play a key role in deciding outcomes among competitors.
The news from YUM! is that Pizza Hut may be sliced. The other two big brands in the YUM! portfolio – KFC and Taco Bell – are managing. Sadly, Pizza Hut is not hot.
Not to beat this Cracker Barrel fiasco into the ground anymore, but there is a problem when brand marketers use age as a definer of relevant values. When Cracker Barrel and its crack consultants decided that modernizing the Cracker Barrel brand meant jettisoning the totems of Cracker Barrel’s provenance, those involved made a mistake. It is possible to be old and new at the same time.
