Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The top ten collection...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Marketing Myopia
The classics of innovation discussed by Ted Levitt are timeless. The article elaborates the strategies marketers have applied to avoid marketing myopia - "The Three Cs" -
Consumer value positioning
Calibration of consumer knowledge
Credibility of product claims.
Consumer Value Positioning
- Design environmental products to perform as well as (or better than) alternatives.
- Promote and deliver the consumer-desired value of environmental products and target relevant consumer market segments (e.g., target money savings benefits to cost-conscious consumers).
- Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling (or adding) consumer-desired value into environmental products (such as fixed pricing for subscribers of renewable energy).
Calibrate Consumer Knowledge
- Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect environmental product attributes with desired consumer value (for example, "pesticide-free produce is healthier"; energy-efficiency saves money" or "solar-power is convenient".)
- Frame environmental product attributes as "solutions" for consumer needs, for example, "rechargeable batteries offer longer performance." With indoor air quality a growing concern and fumes from paints, carpets, and furniture now linked to headaches, eye, nose, and throat irritation, dizziness, and fatigue, Sherwin Williams offers "Harmony," a line of interior paints that is low-odor, zero-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) and silica-free.
- Create engaging and educational Internet sites about environmental products' desired value, e.g., Tide Coldwater's interactive website allows visitors to calculate their likely annual money savings based on their laundry habits, utility source (gas or electricity) and zip code location.
Credibility of Product Claims
- Make sure that environmental product and consumer claims are specific, meaningful, and qualified. Liken to comparable alternatives or likely usage scenarios. Recognizing the ambiguity of the term green, Toyota dismissed a slogan for Prius, "Drive Green, breathe Blue" in favor of "Less gas in. Less gasses out."
- Underscore credibility with product endorsements or eco-certifications from trustworthy third parties, and educate consumers about the meaning behind those endorsements and eco-certifications. More than 40 product categories now bear the Energy Star seal.
- Encourage positive word of mouth via consumers' social and Internet communication networks with compelling, interesting, and/or entertaining information about environmental products. Increasingly, consumers have grown skeptical of commercial messages, and they're turning to friends and peers for advice. The Internet, through e-mail and its vast, accessible repository of information, websites, search engines, blogs, product ratings sites, podcasts, and other digital platforms, has opened significant opportunities for tapping consumers' social and communication networks to diffuse credible "word-of-mouse" (buzz facilitated by the Internet) about green products. The website for Tide's Coldwater Challenge includes a map of the United States so visitors can track and watch their personal influence spread when their friends request a free sample.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
GREEN - A sustainable competitive advantage advantage
WMT's efforts on developing and maintaining a sustainable supply chain network is truly noteworthy and a great lesson for the up and coming partners, suppliers and competitors - The Greening of Wal-Mart's Supply Chain.
Some nuggets for the readers.
Implementing New Supply Chain Strategies
1. Identifying Goals, Metrics, and New Technologies
2. Certifying Environmentally Sustainable Products
3. Providing Network Partner Assistance to Suppliers
4. Committing to Larger Volumes of Environmentally Sustainable Products
5. Cutting out the Middleman
6. Consolidating Direct Suppliers
7. Restructuring the Buyer Role
8. Licensing Environmental Innovations
Three Traps to Avoid
1. ncreased costs
2. a sub-optimal product assortment
3. criticism of factory labor conditionsIdentifying Goals, Metrics, and New Technologies
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Me & my love machine
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Often have names for their cars.
Tolerate failings or idiosyncracies in cars.
Subconsciously believe that cars respond in an emotional rather than a rational way.
Are affectionate about a car’s failings, but can be frightened that they are not in control of the technology.
Tend to prefer cars that cater for different needs at the same time; for example, sporty saloons.
EXPRESSIVES
See cars as a tool to explore their competence.
Drive at high speed when the opportunity presents.
Regard journeys as a test of man and machine.
Prize being able to corner with precision.
Only want the controls that are necessary – but like to customise.
Prefer one type of car for one job: a sports car or a saloon.
Men, women and beautiful wheels Are you having a deep relationship with your car? No? Well, have you named it? And how do you feel about other people touching it?
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Researchers have found that men are less comfortable discussing feelings about people than women, but when it comes to describing feelings about cars, men are more comfortable than women. Psychologists believe this is because men are less conscious of their own bodies than women, which makes their sense of “self” more easily disengaged from their bodies, and projected on to objects. This identification with objects may explain why men often describe their car as an extension of themselves, and why they get angry when others touch their cars. It may also explain why women (who see cars as separate entities) are more likely to give cars names.
WHAT OUR HANDS REVEAL
About 60 per cent of drivers drive with one hand on the wheel. For most men, the other hand was resting on the gear stick. For women, it was more often held in the lap. According to the driving researcher Professor Andrew Blake, driving with one hand is an indication of mastery of the car, that you see it as an extension of yourself.
SEATING ARRANGEMENTS
The researchers found that generally men assume they will sit in the driving seat, unless things are arranged otherwise. Family members always tend to take the same seats. Families spoke of a sense of “strangeness” if a parent sat in the back.
“I think the fact that Mum and Dad always have their backs to the kids gives the children a psychological advantage: more potential for unseen misbehaviour,” said one dad.