Think about the last time you stared at a loading spinner. The irritation arrives quickly. You count to three, sigh, and hit the back button. You do not think about server latency, database queries, image compression, or code bloat. You simply feel that your time is being wasted.
Each year, research firms such as CB Insights analyze why both startups and new products from mature companies fail. On average, about 80 percent of VC-backed startups fail (and those are the best of the startup world), and somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of new products launched by mature companies also fail. Invariably, the primary reason for failure is “no market need.”
It is just astounding that after more than 35 years, some marketers are still using the flawed funnel approach to how advertising works. This is one reason that real, credible, data-supported brand management must be taught in business schools. For decades, we have known that using the funnel approach to advertising, in hopes of building brand loyalty, is a form of mismarketing on a major scale.
Most mid-market leaders are not short on ideas. They are short on confidence. They are being asked to move faster with less certainty, make bigger bets with less room for error, and separate useful AI-enabled opportunities from expensive distractions. They have growth initiatives to evaluate, pricing pressure to manage, customers to reassure, sales teams to equip, and the realities of an AI-informed future arriving faster than the organization can absorb them. The question is no...
Claire’s, the tween accessory retailer, is in turnaround mode. Again. Claire’s is hoping to pierce the boredom barrier among its target audience of not-yet-teenage girls.
