Alex Woodruff Biz Buzz

Many markets are made terribly complicated by government legislation and restrictions that, to marketing people, do nothing but make life difficult. But the P for political/legal in the PEST model won’t go away, so you have to decide whether to go with the flow or do something about it. Could you eat the contents? Two [...]

Addicted? Plug in and suck. I’ve recently had two bizarre products pointed out to me. Both leave me shaking my head in disbelief. The first is the e-cigarette. Yes, you heard it here, the cigarette that isn’t actually a ciggie, it’s an electronic device pretending to be a ciggie. As they say on some of [...]

Modern marketing is keen to embrace customisation, especially online. With an increasing number of tools to track the surfing habits of users, work out where they are, and work out what interests them, marketeers are exploring whole new avenues of “match the message to the audience”. This is all part of one-to-one marketing: tailoring the [...]

Two recent examples of how listening to the much revered customer does not always go right – especially if they take over your marketing for you! And using Web 2.0 and inviting online junkies to define tactics …? Online geeks hijack P for Product.Source: flickr We’ll start in Australia. The Land of Plenty. This includes [...]

What do the following have in common: onions, apricots, Brussels sprouts, watermelons and cauliflowers? Since 1 July 2009 they’re on the list of 26 items that can be marketed in Europe with knobs, bumps and curves. The money-wasting regulations that classed cucumbers with a bend of 10mm per 10cm of length differently from cucumbers with [...]

Online, and pushing the new service Pons, which English dictionary users will know more as Collins, has finally taken the plunge and not only gone online, they’re openly advertising the fact. This will have been a tough decision for a company that sees itself as a seller of books. In strategic terms it represents a [...]

Stand closer, and read. There are strange laws and legal obligations in every country. In England banks promoting mortgages have to warn you that your house may be at risk if you fail to keep up payments. In many countries medical companies have to warn you about the possible side effects, in Germany with “Ask [...]

Sale, percentage, reduction Changes in the law often present marketing departments with unexpected headaches. Now that the bizarre German law relating to “Kaufzwang” (purchase obligation) has disappeared, German retailers can have sales whenever they want (as long as the goods on offer are genuinely reduced). This is nothing new in many other countries, but in [...]

My eye was caught recently by an article in an English newspaper on a loophole in the law. Marketing johnnies have been quick to exploit it. Like many nations, the Brits are keen on home-grown foods (and although others mock us, there are actually some superb dishes in British cuisine). British food? Read the small [...]

Companies often use things happening in the news to inject their products with interest and move forward the AIDA process. But this recent idea caused a bit of a cafuffle. Obama Fingers. Yes, you read that right: OBAMA fingers, like fish fingers only with chicken. What the ….? [Image source: spiegel.de] What in heaven’s name [...]