Monday was Earth Day and it’s a good time to think about the recycling crisis facing the US. Last year China that took in most of the developed world’s recyclable trash decided to up it’s quality standards. Do recyclables going into the recycle bin have quality standards ?- the surprised reader might wonder. Yes they do as this article in Mercury News explains. It is timely for all to understand what you should NOT be putting in the recycle bin.
Category Archives: Printing and Packaging
Coca Cola “social sharing” can is a brilliant idea
Coca Cola results today pulled down the stock market as overall global sales volumes dipped. Just to cheer up all those Coca Cola loyalists out there, check out the Coca Cola social sharing can video which is truly a brilliant idea. The "sharing can" idea has come from Coca Cola ad agency Ogilvy and MatherContinue reading “Coca Cola “social sharing” can is a brilliant idea”
Newsweek to close print edition: should you close your bricks business and go all digital?
Newsweek has a print customer base of about 1.5 million;and has decided to go all digital. Should you close your bricks business and go all digital? No,
and here is why from the magazine business that should apply to other
brick/click combo businesses:
[Note: This post is from October 19, 2012 and was updated for formatting and video content on June 4, 2021. The post is of historical interest although several points persist to this day]
Innovation : top management need to get involved in the first three stages
It’s sort of amazing when top management in a variety of industries from high tech aerospace to comparatively low tech outer packaging seem to be disengaged and “hands off” in the first three stages of of innovation (see previous post on the 5 stages). Top leaders start taking interest when the product is in serious development(Stage 4) and many top managers become alert and awake as the product is getting launched(Stage 5). At this time things are too far ahead to change except at high cost. These include airfreight when sea freight might have worked on the supply chain side, customer apathy in the market because concept testing was not done well and there was no time to do product and market testing because top management was so un-involved that the budgets were not approved when the New Product team had put them up.
Happy 100th Birthday to Oreo cookies: keeping the soul of a brand
In a rapidly changing world- Oreo cookies give you a sense of stability and comfort and that is the soul of the Oreo brand. The largest selling cookie of the 20th century has survived numerous wars,technology upheavals,financial meltdowns and extreme globalization. If you were used in childhood to "twist,lick and dunk" and are now watchingContinue reading “Happy 100th Birthday to Oreo cookies: keeping the soul of a brand”
Integrating web marketing to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
It was in the 1990's that IMC started getting popular in marketing. The Internet was just getting started and social media was in the distant horizon.By the early 2000's organizations particularly in consumer products started figuring out IMC between their packaging,billboards,TV ads,magazine and newspaper ads and Point of Sale materials. The time has now comeContinue reading “Integrating web marketing to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)”
Search marketing explains the 15% rise in online sales?
In a slow US economy it's refreshing to know that online sales grew by 15% over last year. This huge increase is really because customers searched on line for the best deals and took them! The ability of customers to search and initiate contact is a fundamental shift in marketing that organizations have not fullyContinue reading “Search marketing explains the 15% rise in online sales?”
German E. Coli outbreak and regulating a global fresh food supply chain
The German E. Coli outbreak seems to be one of the first fresh food global supply chain problems that have come to the fore. Germany imports 40% of its cucumbers from Spain a total of 182,000 tonnes a year. Initially, German authorities blamed Spanish cucumber contamination for the deadly outbreak and now the Germans areContinue reading “German E. Coli outbreak and regulating a global fresh food supply chain”
B2B Marketers think “value” while Supply Managers think “risk” – the Risk-Value Matrix and Kraljic Model
B2B marketers think about providing value and innovation to their customers. These include existing customers and also new customers. How can our product or service add more value to the buying company’s business? is the question B2B marketers constantly ask themselves, their teams and their own organizations. Innovation is somewhat spurred by this organizational motive to provide “value” to its customers.
Pringles moves from P&G to Diamond Foods and global markets
Pringles potato chips in a can ("once you pop you can't stop") moves from P&G in Ohio to Diamond Foods in California primarily for strategic synergy reasons.P&G wants to focus on its core detergents,beauty and hygiene products like Tide,Oil of Olay,Crest toothpaste business. For Diamond Foods it makes sense as they are a snack foodContinue reading “Pringles moves from P&G to Diamond Foods and global markets”