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Editor's Note: Marketing News is inviting guest bloggers to post to our blog when they have news or views we think might interest you, our readers. This is the first in that series of guest postings. Please let us know what you think, and also let us know if you'd like to guest blog from time to time. Thanks. ---JNF

We at RSW/US recently completed our 2009 ½ Client-Agency Economic Outlook Survey with respondents including 200 marketing executives and 100 advertising agency executives. We had a nice range of agencies (Leo Burnett and Mindshare for example) as well as clients (Abbott, Kraft and Lego for example).

We found agencies are a bit more optimistic than clients regarding the economy and the ad business for the remainder of ‘09.

Continue reading "There's a Client-Agency Disconnect Going On" »

Posted by John at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As if potentially fatal health consequences, increasing implementation of banishment, rising prices, major advertising restrictions, falling consumption and the recently-imposed highest tax increase in federal history weren’t problems enough, tobacco marketers have been dealt another blow.

Continue reading "More Tobacco Marketing Troubles" »

Posted by Piet at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a recent survey of 270 marketers, PR professionals, advertisers and others conducted by the American Marketing Association and Fleishman-Hillard, more than half of the respondents said they believe that sustainability involves finding a balance between human, natural and financial resources for long-term benefit. That's a pretty broad definition with regard to how sustainability might fit into your everyday business practices, but it's a good start.

The good news is that some companies are committed to taking the lead on sustainability; others are working hard to incorporate sustainable practices however and wherever they can.

At a breakfast meeting this morning hosted by Fleishman-Hillard in Chicago, FH execs joined Don Bartell, senior director of environmental initiatives at Motorola; Francesca DeBiase, vice president of worldwide supply chain management at McDonald’s; and Jamie Firth, senior vice president of corporate communications at Exelon in a panel discussion of each organizations' goals, hurdles and achievements regarding sustainability.

The discussion unearthed several interesting insights:

Continue reading "Sustainability: More than the business buzzword du jour" »

Posted by Elisabeth at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The wildest speaker at AMA Chicago’s BrandSmart conference last week was concluding presenter Amy Curtis-McIntyre from Hyatt.

As a journalist trying to get useful information for you, I cringe when conference speakers stick to a boring script. Curtis-McIntyre was fresh, informative, entertaining and a bit shocking for some (you don’t often hear four-letter words in formal business presentations; those are usually reserved for meetings back in the office. For the record, as someone who grew up in Brooklyn and went to high school in Manhattan, I was far from shocked. It was more like a mini-homecoming for me.)

Along the way, she also was honest, noting, for example, that Hyatt’s “brand strategy is confused.” She also echoed an earlier speaker when she said, “I think marketers over-complicate things because they can.”

Continue reading "A Wild Finish to BrandSmart; Thanks Chicago AMA" »

Posted by John at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I spent a fascinating day last week at an AMA Chicago chapter annual conference called BrandSmart, hearing a wide range of ideas about how marketing should be working these days.

Andy England, CMO of MillerCoors, advanced my favorite concept. “The best ideas are simple,” he said, and then discussed how involved it is to keep the best marketing ideas simple and direct.

Research, testing, product development, all important and necessary, but don’t let those divert you from finding and using simple ideas that connect with your core audiences and speak to them. His examples of brands keeping it simple, successfully – Apple, Mini and Acura.

Continue reading "Keep it Simple Still Works" »

Posted by John at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)