Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

My thanks go to Christina who pointed out a great article on what the Germans call Standortmarketing (a term the English language sadly struggles with – the nearest equivalent would be “Location marketing”. It’s about marketing The Big Apple or similar tourist attractions which are actually a place; more here). As Spiegel will probably sue [...]

Marketing a product as everyday and unimportant as tissues falls into the area of buying behaviour Assael would call “habitual”. So how do you inject interest? By adding something that doesn’t really make a difference, but at least gives you something to make your product stand out. Or something that could just make you feel [...]

We all know about the big M’s ongoing problems with health issues, so what – now that most people have heard the controversial statements and seen films like Super Size Me – are they doing about it? Well, in the UK they’re sidestepping a recently introduced ban on junk food advertising (as if that’ll stop [...]

No one could claim that buying a mobile phone is easy. There are so many different options and charges it makes you wonder whether anybody actually finds the best deal possible. This is quite normal for complex buying behaviour. You want to get it right (you might have to live with the consequences of a [...]

I recently discovered a product on an expat forum that worries me. Product managers’ creativity obviously knows no bounds. Anything to get people to buy their product, and not somebody else’s. Now we have the Musical Sponge Bob Rectal Thermometer. Source: above website So not only can you convince your child that sticking a thermometer [...]

I remember as a teenager how much easier it was to swear in a foreign language. In your mother tongue swear words always shock. In other languages they sound harmless. Which is probably why I find this poster for a German employers’ liability insurance company shocking. I hear a lot of Germans saying “shit happens” [...]

Mercedes: conquering double deckers Mercedes have had some pretty awful PR recently in the UK. For the third time in only four months one of their bendy buses has caught fire.     Who would have thought that the iconic double decker would ever be replaced in London? But they were. By – of all [...]

And the latest creative MBA winner was a concept called Meltaway. Quite clever the way they basically covered off the whole market and all product ideas, which is potentially dangerous, but so is a niche strategy!

The spread many kids grew up with Unilever’s Marmite product clearly falls into a market what would be classified as “variety”. It’s definitely not a “complex”, “cognitive dissonance” or “habitual” purchase – unless of course, for you, this smelly yeast extract (which tastes fabulous on toast) is an everyday product.     If it is [...]

This poster for an environmental lobbyist in China took a while to make its point, but it made the point well. A simple idea: the poster has glue on it. Dust particles stick to the glue. After a few days you see how dirty the air is in the city. The message: pollution pollutes.