RECENT INSIGHTS
In a recent meeting with a client who’s spent 30 years as a consultant to large education publishers as well as private colleges and universities, we started talking about the 800-lb question: How can the people responsible for marketing private colleges re-stage what the experience is about? Private college is expensive. Get past it. Any […]
It takes 1/5 of a second for someone to form an impression of your site. In another 2.6 seconds, they will have located the content that interests them. In that time span of 2.8 seconds the user has scanned the page, made some judgments, and is ready to move deeper into your site. Or move […]
Few professionals are more reluctant to market to their peers than healthcare providers. [Although lawyers, for the record, are a close 2nd.] It’s not that healthcare providers don’t see the value of marketing to other providers to develop their brand and build their patient base. It’s just that marketing isn’t in their DNA. It sometimes […]
Nonsense, poopypants. True, in the earlier days of the web, when it came to big-ticket retail purchases online, a brand’s site could move the target deeper into the sales cycle, but closing the deal was out of the question. Items like luxury watches, premium appliances, and other high-end merchandise needed to be sold in person, […]
Of the 3 main ways to purchase a product or service – through a retailer (think of an REI store), an online-only marketplace (such as amazon), or directly from a brand (such as adidas) – which would you choose, assuming the price was the same in each channel? That’s one of the questions asked in […]
Viewbooks are demanding, resource-draining, black holes from which neither light nor budgets can escape. They’ve been around in various forms since the 1860s, and yes, someone actually composed a history of viewbooks if you’re in an odd mood. Today it’s still an article of faith among many that having a sharp, hi-quality viewbook is a […]
Did you hear about the Zoe Kravitz Super Bowl ad for Michelob Ultra? The spot uses the sounds of near-silence – whispers, tapping finger nails, carbonated fizzing – to draw viewers into the ad by their ears as much as their eyes. The auditory phenomenon Michelob was leveraging is called ASRM, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian […]
A recent pro bono engagement with Mount Snow’s adaptive ski program reminded us of a few central (but not always visible) truths regarding the ski resort industry. And life in general. If ever there was an industry that needed to adapt to change, it’s the ski resort industry Climate change. The slow eclipse of Baby […]
Boating in transition: A Progressive point of view As Progressive Insurance leans into its 2nd five-year stint as lead sponsor of NMMA’s 18-event boat show circuit, it’s worth asking the question: What does Progressive – a bellwether consumer brand – see in its crystal ball? Consider the following: Progressive is one of the […]
Greetings, ski resort marketers. It’s midseason. We hope you’re getting steady snow and that your most serious resort problems are related to lift-ticket lines, maxed out lodging, and instructors tired from teaching the a parade of new skiers to your slopes. But our advice at this time is: Avoid falling into a recumbent marketing state […]