Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Pioneers of Advertising Agencies: What In The Name of Ogilvy, Benson & Mather, Ogilvy & Mather, Ogilvy Group? Ogilvy's History.

History and background of Ogilvy and Mather, Ogilvy Group and others from 1850.
David Ogilvy lived from 1911-1999, and WPP acquired his agency in 1989.
  • 1850: Mather's was founded in Fleet Street, London by Edmund Mather. 
  • 1888: Edmund's son, Harley Mather, took Herbert Crowther into partnership, forming Mather & Crowther. 
  • 1893: S H Benson was founded and registered as a limited company. 
  • 1935: Francis Ogilvy hired his younger brother for nine bucks a week at Mather & Crowther.
  • 1936: Mather & Crowther sent David Ogilvy (1911-1999) abroad to study American advertising techniques for one year. Later on, with investment from S H Benson, Ogilvy started his own agency.
  • 1948: Agency opened as Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather (HOB&M). 
  • 1953: Hewitt Ogilvy Benson and Mather became Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. 
  • 1964: Ogilvy, Benson & Mather merged with Mather & Crowther Ltd. of London to become Ogilvy & Mather International.
  • 1966: Ogilvy & Mather International or O&M became the first advertising agency to go public, both the London and New York stock exchanges.
  • 1971: S H Benson Ltd London merged with Ogilvy & Mather.
  • 1985: Ogilvy & Mather International Inc. became the Ogilvy Group. 
  • 1989: WPP Group acquired the agency in 1989 
Have taught 79 semesters of advertising, marketing and global studies since 1975. Was full time at Grey Advertising three times. Know way too much about Mad Men and the backgrounds of advertising agencies. Click here for a special section on Mad Men in the classroom.

Visit here for more true Marketing and Advertising Trivia.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Wired Magazine and Retailer Target: Interesting Partnership And Sponsorship In Marketing. "Wired" Putting Its Magazine Name Endorsing Products Sold At Target.

Something new or new news in Marketing, Promotion advertising for partnerships, sponsorships, merchandising, promotion and more. Plus it's let's chaotic than working with Martha Stewart. "Wired" magazine is putting its name behind an assortment of gadgets sold at the retailer Target. They will be featuring products picked by the "Wired"editors. These selected products will be displayed in store on "Wired" endcaps, the retail name for their end of the aisles locations.

This is a unique relationships. Marketers can’t create customer value and build customer relationships by themselves.  They work closely with other company departments (inside partners) and often with partners and alliances outside the firm, such as a retailer like Target with Wired.

Changes are occurring in how marketers connect with their suppliers, channel partners and others. I define The P, "Partnerhship," in the Nine P's to be a "joint partnership; the joint relationships, partnerships and strategic alliances. The relationship existing between two parties; a relationship resembling a legal partnership and usually involving close cooperation between parties having specific and joint rights and responsibilities as a common enterprise. Usually plural or “Partners,” not Partner." From Philip Kotler: Value chains, of suppliers, distributors and customers. Partnering with specific  suppliers or distributors create a value-delivery network; also called a supply chain. Partnership Marketing; Partner Relationship Management.

Partnership and cooperative agreements are formed that enable parties to bring their major strengths to the table and emerge with better planning, products, services, promotion, distribution and ideas than they could produce on their own.

For more on ideas and Marketing concepts: Go to http://www.LondreMarketing.com and look under resources and the 9P's/Nine P's (c) 2007. Specifically find them at Nine P's/9P's Link.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Londre Marketing Trivia here.

Here to help you better understand. All the best.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Customization Of Products And Services: In Evaluating Different Market Segments, Your Firm Needs To Look At Potentials.

Updated with additional items from Larry Steven Londre on 3/23/2014 and 7/29/2014.

For years I have made a list and presented many examples of customized, for "individual" products. I have a list of them, which I will share in this post.

A company cannot serve all customers in a broad market such as computers, soft drinks, and many other products. As a marketing manager or brand manager you don’t buy market share with more and more advertising or discounting against the competition. Develop better products. You figure out how to earn market share. Better research, planning, will win market share. Companies needs to identify the market segments that it can serve more effectively.  Companies are embracing target marketing.  You distinguish major segments, target one or more and develop products and marketing mixes tailored to them.

I define Segmentation, as breaking a market of varied potential customers into subgroups of customers with similar needs, desired product benefits and purchase behaviors.
My product list of customized, customer products  is varied.

In sophisticated Marketing, it's vitally important that the market segment’s overall attractiveness and the company’s objectives and resources are planned and reviewed.
  • Does the potential segment have characteristics that make it generally attractive, such as size, growth, profitability, scale economics, and low risk? 
  • Does investing in the segment make sense? 
A list I have collected and researched over the years includes:
  • At Sweet at Hollywood and Highland they have "Build your own chocolate bar," with three steps. Choose your chocolate, fillings and inclusions, with 43 different inclusions.  They include Frosted Flakes(c) candied ginger, bacon bits (soy), and chopped candy cane 
  • Pepsi Spire, the largest allows consumers to customize drinks, up to 1,000 ways.
  • A farmer wanted a machine that would plant corn in tighter rows.  Deere & Co made the machine in 16 hours.
  • At American Fit, you can match any item you presently have or any classic look.  You’ll never be without the perfect fit and look.  
  • Custom Feet.  Allows customer to design new shoes—in styles, colors, and materials. Made in Italy. They are about $180 and made in three weeks.    
  • Autos
  • Banks and financial services
  • Breakfast Cereal at mycereal.com (General Mills)
  • Burberry trench coats
  • CD’s (music)
  • Clothing (Look at shoplocal.com, americanfit.com, landsend.com, zafu.com, dressbydesign.com, cafepress.com, stevemadden.com, myshape.com, freddyandma.com, spreadshirt.com)
  • Children’s books
  • custom-tailored suits
  • Customized cars
  • Custom-blend coffees, one example is at personalblends.com (P&G)
  • Computers
  • Concierge service at 2placesat1time.com
  • Credit Card companies
  • Dolls (Mattel’s “My Design” dolls)
  • Furniture
  • Ice cream (eCreamery.com; 78 base flavors, and 76 mix-ins, four pints are $49.95, plus shipping)
  • Industrial commercial Soaps (Chemstation)
  • Kinko’s personalized calendars
  • Jeans, one-of-a kind, khaki, pants, shorts, by mixing and matching styles, colors, length, and other options. (landsend.com, levis.com) 
  • Lighting controls
  • Make-up/Cosmetics, including lipsticks
  • Shampoo
  • Sheet music
  • Sneakers/Shoes (Nike iD)
  • Valves 
  • Vitamins (Acumins), plus herbs and minerals
  • Window’s (Andersen)
  • Women clothes 
Here's another example in the news today. Nike has a shoe-customization service for Instagram users. It's called PHOTOiD.  This service creates Nike Air Max shoes using colors that match the users' photos. "

From a marketing and financial viewpoint the market segments need to be:
  • Measurable (Size, purchasing power, and segment characteristics can they be measured?)
  • Substantial/Profitable
  • Accessible/Reachable
  • Differentiable/Distinguishable
  • Actionable
Marketing programs such as the Nine P's need to be planned and developed. I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions.

 I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Question: Could the Planning and Reasons Offered Have Been Clearer, As the Scooter Store Files For Chapter 11?

The Scooter Store recently filed for Chapter 11, with assets of $10 million and debts of $50 million.

The "Product:" Mobility products, motorized scooters and wheelchairs. I am a marketing and advertising expert and I found the reasons confusing concerning the past and future of the Scooter Store. It was also sad that 1,500 employees were laid off prior to filing Chapter 11.

I tore out a story in the LA Times and then I did some research. Here’s the reason or reasons given, according to its CEO, Michael Landon:
  • "Unfortunately, historical overhangs coupled with an increasingly complex regulatory environment and mounting economic pressure in the health care sector have significantly impacted the company's ability to operate under its current model."
You've got to read that again.

  • "Unfortunately, historical overhangs coupled with an increasingly complex regulatory environment and mounting economic pressure in the health care sector have significantly impacted the company's ability to operate under its current model."

The "model" may be the problem. If you read into this it seems like the economy; pricing; profitability, regulations; operations; Planning; Product;  Pricing; Partners. I am sure more.

He did comment on "People," or their potential customers: "A growing sector of the world's population."
Plus:
  • "Place:" We intend to keep our national distribution centers operating according to posted business hours.
  • Vision: Our employees, suppliers and customers are aligned on the vision that mobility devices can provide freedom and flexibility to so many. Really? 
I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Consumers Are Shopping More Often. And More “One-Stop” Shopping, More Often. Less Planning And the Nine P's.

Stores, stores, stores and more stores. Shoppers are making frequent trips to the store, grocery stores, dollar stores, club stores, mass merchandisers and drug stores. It is interesting with less "time" we are shopping more often as a society.

Consumers are shopping more often. And there is more “one-stop” shopping, more often.

What customer do buy can be dependent on a ton of marketing variables including store sales, parking, product offerings, product placement, signage, collateral, electronic couponing, social media, blogs, advertising, the customer’s shopping list, product availability, prices, specials, packaging, stock-outs, producer and manufacturer product development, distribution and coverage, brand equity, brand names, and others.

So I noticed a recent study by the The Hartman Group:
  • 44% of primary grocery shoppers are preparing a shopping list prior to a grocery store trip
  • 33% are making a list for club stores
  • 32% for mass merchandising stores
  • 22% for drug stores
  • 18% for dollar stores
Need a list? Part of the fun of shopping at a dollar store such as 99 Cent Stores is not knowing what they will have on the shelves or on the floor. I remember shopping at the first 99 Cent Store on La Tijera in Los Angeles, near Westchester and Inglewood, California. I used it as an example in both my advertising, business strategies and marketing classes. I took my aunt to several stores just to get her out of the house. She liked it and bought stuff she "may" have needed.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Kobe Bryant vs. LeBron James. A Look Back to 2003-2004, When LeBron Hit the NBA Scene.

Was Bryant on pay-per-view in high school, no, he was not. Was he televised on ESPN during high school...no, again.  But Kobe had been in the NBA for seven years, with three of his five championships, and five years on NBA's All-Star Team

There were great expectations back in 2003 and 2004 for LeBron. People and fans discussed that he may be the next Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird. 

It was the start of a new era. LeBron was identified as the $100 million kid. But LeBron James was also only 18. He hasn't yet played a single regular season NBA game. And when he took the court on Oct. 29, 2003, he would be playing for a team that won just 17 games last year. Could he really live up to all the hype?

Their NIKE deals:
  • Kobe's Nike deal:    Five year/$40-50 million (signed in June ’03)
  • LeBron's Nike deal: Seven year/$90 million
Judging by the number of page views on NBA.com, it was:
  1. LeBron James with 3.1 million hits. 
  2. Allen Iverson is number two with 2.7 million; 
  3. Yao Ming with 2.3 million and 
  4. Kobe Bryant with 2.2 million.
Some interesting quotes:

3/20/2004, Sports Illustrated
"What do you see when you see Kobe Bryant? The best player in the NBA? An accused rapist? An intelligent, charismatic, 25-year old athlete? A spoiled superstar? It is now almost impossible to separate any of those strands from the tapestry of Bryant’s image.For every fan holding up a KOBE 4 PRESIDENT sign or placard –or even more disturbing, the fans, such as those in Houston recently, shouting “she deserved it”--there’s another who feels betrayed by Bryant, as if God had bestowed his greatest gifts on an unworthy soul.
Every day Bryant lives with the contradictions that evoke such disparate passions; imagine O.J., while the trial was in progress, had to put on shoulder pads and cleats and carry the ball 30 times every Sunday.

Derek Fisher said “I don’t know how many guys could do what he’s doing.”

3/15/2004, Sports Illustrated 
Cavaliers gave away 10,000 LeBron James Bobblehead dolls. The LeBron doll is a little different. The head bobbles as he counts his money. 

And from Advertising Age, on 09/14/2004
“Kobe Kept on the Marketing Bench.”  Time needed for star to be deemed ‘safe’. Kobe signed a $136 million, seven-year deal.  Sports-marketing experts agree it will take years, if ever, for him to repair his image enough to again become a marketable pitchman.  Nike was to introduce a new signature shoe, when it signed a $45 million, five year contact prior to the arrest.  Six-year deal with Coca-Cola ends in December 2005.  Spalding and Upper Deck still have contracts in effect.  “Nike is the most likely company to get Kobe back to being an endorser again.”  But nothing has happened in first year of deal.  “Nike may at some point write off the deal because it will take some time before the radioactivity leaves him.”

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

A GM Pricing Example. New 'Vette convertible will be $56,995. Another Nine P's Example.

GM says the new Vette will deliver a combination of performance, design and technology for $52,000 plus. That base convertible will be $56,995 with destination charges, $1,240 more than its last model.

Today's economy is tough. Everyone wants to negotiate and wants a deal. OK, almost everyone.
Pricing in Marketing can mean value, convenience, efficacious and quality. Think about getting a "deal" at a wholesaler or the employee pricing or Employee Price" the auto makers promoted for a couple of years. Haven't heard that one promoted in a whole.

Standard features of the Corvette will include:
  • Seven-speed manual transmission
  • Dual, 8-inch infotainment screens with Chevy MyLink infotainment system and rearview camera
  • Bose nine-speaker sound system with Bluetooth connection
  • Carbon fiber hood and removable roof panel.
  • 6.2-liter V-8 engine with cylinder deactivation
  • Around 30 mpg on the highway, vs. 26 mpg for the current Corvette
  • Trapezoidal taillights
  • 3LT, is priced at $60,000 with color head-up display, navigation, heated and ventilated seats, leather seats, dash and instrument panel.
I want to put these and additional examples into some context. I have taught 79 semesters of Marketing, Global Studies and Advertising at USC, Pepperdine, CSUN, Loyola Marymount. I'm a guest speaker at UCLA, USC and CSUN and other schools  and I am a Marketing Expert in court and have my own marketing firm at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. I have a copyrighted concept which shows marketing planning with objectives, strategies and tactics. One of the Nine P’s/Nine P’s ©2007 in Marketing and the study of Marketing is “Price:” The college pricing and promotional offers in marketing would be found under "Price," in the Nine P's/9P's.

Price/Pricing, in Marketing: 
  • The amount of money a consumer is willing to pay to obtain the product. 
  • All aspects regarding "Pricing."
  • Includes wholesale/retail/promotional prices, discounts, trade-in allowances, quantity discounts, credit terms, sales and payment periods and credit terms.    
Prices are a key positioning factor and must be decided in relation to the target market, the product and service assortment mix, and the competition. There's a "price" we pay to be educated, whether in the classroom, or the marketplace, which may include producers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, direct marketers, and consumers and users.
People in the Nine P's: GM executives want to increase Corvette sales and attract younger buyers.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Bundling And Pricing of Services Are Tricky? The Nine P's and Did You See the Loss Of Subscribers By Time Warner?

Did you see that Time Warner Cable has shifted away from selling its bundling or "bundle" of the triple play package with TV, Internet and phone? Bundling or the selling of various services together is tricky to price, promote, partner, sell. Some questions:
  • How to promote the bundle of specific services? 
  • Who are our partners?
  • How do we bundle? 
  • What do we bundle? 
  • How do we price it and the different services? 
  • How much passion do we have to present and promote the bundle? 
  • How many different departments are involved?
  • How do we present it?  See the use of the 9P's here? 
The financial, regulatory and accounting departments get involved. We tried it at Directv with the telcos in the late 90’s. The research always comes back mixed. Some customers want it and some don't. Always more questions than answers. What do the customers really want in the package? The research never comes back the same.

With their Triple Play it is interesting that Time Warner lost 119K video subscribers and 35K voice subscribers in the first quarter. Probably pricing, services and products, along with the bundling? As a TW customer I can believe it is also a service issue or poor customer service and customer services, too?

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Clever Product Placement At the NFL Draft. Put Your Product Or Service Here.

Did you see the jars of M&Ms each NFL draft team had on their tables at Radio City Music Hall. Smart. Spot on: the candies were in the team's colors. We are all seeing and getting to know product placement. Many times it's too obvious. I liked this one.

I consult and do expert witnessing in Marketing and Advertising during the day and I teach at night. One of the questions I ask my Marketing and Advertising classes on the first night of each semester is "Tell us a specific product or service which was “placed in” or paid to be in a movie or a TV show?"

One night the students were on fire; we counted 30+ examples from them.  The students stated the Coca-Cola glasses in “American Idol” to the Mini Coopers in “Italian Job” or the Fords used in Jack Bauer’s, oh I mean, Fox’s “24.”  What about the beer, Budweiser, used in Wedding Crashers?

What is product placement? Part of Promotion and part of Presentation in the Nine P's; Product placement, or “embedded” promotional marketing is a type of overall promotion in which a product, an ad or advertisement is placed by companies and advertising agencies using real products and services in media.  The presence of a particular brand is the result of an economic exchange. It is also known as “product integration.”
                                           
                                 YOU MAY PUT YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE HERE

Product placement appears in TV programming/shows, plays, film, television series, music videos, video games and books. This is usually done without disclosure. (Note: FTC is always seems to be looking into this), and under the premise that it is a natural part of the creative work. Money usually exchanges hands or services are delivered.

Recently there was the new Turner Broadcasting and MillerCoors agreement  for exclusive rights on product placement, into "Dallas," "Rizzoli & Isles" and "Franklin & Bash." Miller Lite, Blue Moon and Coors Light are among their beers that will be integrated into the programming

I did some research. The earliest example of product placement was found involved a film from 1896 created by the Lumière Brothers for Lever Brothers’ Sunlight brand of soap (now Unilever).  A Sunlight soap cart was parked on a street.

Interesting, there are the product placements that just didn't happen.  A letter found in Alfred Hitchcock's files from “The Birds” mentioned that a moving van company wanted to “brand” the trucks in a scene when the people were escaping the town. In the Nine P’s this would involve both "Presentation" and part of "Promotion."

Film buffs remember:
  • A scene in "Double Indemnity" that takes place in a grocery store; Billy Wilder had Green Giant vegetables facing the screen while other products were faced backwards.  
  • Another scene in "All about Eve" with Betty Davis included Sunshine Hi-Ho's and Sunshine Grahams boxes seen on a shelf.  
  • The 1946 film “It's a Wonderful Life” by Frank Capra shows a boy who wants to be an explorer, displaying a copy of National Geographic.
For some time now, the Federal Communications Commission has been considering regulation over this marketing and advertising identification, clarifying branded entertainment, product placement, and perhaps full sponsorship in TV shows for viewers.

There are too many shows where the sponsors are too visible. The viewers know or now you know that money and services were exchanged.


I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Partners and Strategic Alliances: Another Example of the Nine P's/9P's in Action. FedEx Wins $10.5 Billion USPS Contract as UPS is Shut Out, Again.

After flying for the past 12 years under their current agreement, did you hear the news that FedEx (FDX) won a seven-year contract with the U.S. Postal Service valued at about $10.5 billion. FedEx will carry mail between U.S. airports. Unfortunately for United Parcel Service (UPS) they lost again. Twelve plus seven equals 19 years for this partnership of FedEx and USPS.

FedEx will continue to handle and fly Express mail and Priority mail. This agreement locks in FedEx’s business with the USPS and will not lose some work to UPS.  FedEx has a larger U.S. air network.

Marketers can’t create customer value and build customer relationships by themselves. They work closely with other company departments (inside partners) and often with partners and alliances outside the firm. Changes are occurring in how marketers connect with their suppliers, channel partners and others.

One of my Nine P’s 9P's) is Partners and/or Strategic Alliances. I define this component or part of the Nine 9P’s as:
  • A joint partnership; the joint relationships, partnerships and strategic alliances
  • The relationship existing between two parties; a relationship resembling a legal partnership and usually involving close cooperation between parties having specific and joint rights and responsibilities as a common enterprise. Usually plural or “Partners,” not Partner. 
  • From Philip Kotler: Value chains, of suppliers, distributors and customers. Partnering with specific suppliers or distributors create a value-delivery network; also called a supply chain. Partnership Marketing; Partner Relationship Management.
  • Partnership and cooperative agreements are formed that enable parties to bring their major strengths to the table and emerge with better planning, products, services, promotion, distribution and ideas than they could produce on their own.
I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics, as well as "Partnerships." The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Closing this September: Since '72, The Amphitheatre, Universal Amphitheatre And Now Gibson Amphitheatre. It's History, No Matter How You Call It.

I have been going to the Amphitheatre, Universal Amphitheatre and  now named the Gibson Amphitheatre, since 1972. It’s closing this September. I heard from variety.com. Interesting.

I bought a season package every year since 1975 and have been an ATOP and a Platinum member since 1976. So it is sad, it’s closing.

I saw Billy Joel open for Janis Ian, if you can believe that.

It was an outdoor venue then they put a top on it. It’s been reconfigured, numerous times. The entrance has been in many locations over the year. Parking, I can’t tell you how many versions they have had. The Amphitheatre will close to make room for Universal Studios Hollywood’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Who has performed both inside or outside:
  • Steve Martin, Kathy Griffin, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Louis C.K., Chelsea Handler, George Carlin, Cheech & Chong, George Lopez, Steve Harvey, Chris Rock and others have appeared. 
I remember seeing Fleetwood Mac for $16.
Others:
  • Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, GoGo’s, Vicente Fernandez, Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, the Beach Boys, Steely Dan, the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, Dylan, Bowie, Madonna, Stevie Wonder,  Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Kanye, Paul Simon, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, David Gilmour,  Joni Mitchell, BB King and others.
For more updates, more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

BCS Update on "College Football Playoff:" Eleven Football Commissioners Hire a Consulting Firm to Come Up With the Obvious "College Football Playoff."

Do you want, approve or like:
  1. College Football Playoff or 
  2. college football playoff or 
  3. College football playoff or 
  4. college football PLAYOFF .
Get it. The four choices are all the same copy.  Go to http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/

From Mad Men, a line that both Don Draper and Peggy have used: "“If you don’t like the conversation, change it.”  I feel that the committee and the commissioners could have done so much more.

That’s right they had a committee and paid one to come up with those three words.  As a fan all you get to do is pick or help vote on one of four different graphics or designs. You can go to http://www.collegefootballplayoff.com/    Or keep reading.

We do know that the national championship game or College Football Playoff had a site selection committee which will follow other separate processes, and that “final” game will also be held in a different city each year. Here’s more:
  • Creation of another selection committee that will rank the teams to play in the playoff, giving all the teams an equal opportunity to participate.
  • The identification of the host city for the first national championship game.
  • The identification or selection of the different bowls which will participate in the new playoff system or college football system.
  • Naming of the new event.
You may know that the BCS is a five-game post-season college football arrangement that is managed by eleven bowl subdivision conferences and independent institutions.  It tries to match the two top-ranked teams in a national championship game.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The planning, pricing, promotion, partners and more of the college football playoff fall into the Nine P's. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Monday, April 22, 2013

In Today's Economy, What Is Price and Pricing? Convenience, Technology. Discussion on Part of the Nine P's In Marketing.

Today's economy is tough. Everyone wants to negotiate and wants a deal. OK, almost everyone. With LivingSocial, Groupon, and other sites, it's also about how to save at a restaurant or food places.

Pricing can mean value, convenience, efficacious and quality.. Think about getting a "deal" at a wholesaler or the employee pricing or Employee Price" the auto makers promoted for a couple of years. Haven't heard that one promoted in a whole. A great question is how cheap are TIDE's Pods, which cost more but are easier to use.

I want to put these and additional examples into some context. I have taught 79 semesters of Marketing, Global Studies and Advertising at USC, Pepperdine, CSUN, Loyola Marymount. I'm a guest speaker at UCLA, USC and CSUN and other schools  and I am a Marketing Expert in court and have my own marketing firm at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. I have a copyrighted concept which shows marketing planning with objectives, strategies and tactics. One of the Nine P’s/Nine P’s ©2007 in Marketing and the study of Marketing is “Price:” The college pricing and promotional offers in marketing would be found under "Price," in the Nine P's/9P's.

Price/Pricing, in Marketing: 
  • The amount of money a consumer is willing to pay to obtain the product. 
  • All aspects regarding "Pricing."
  • Includes wholesale/retail/promotional prices, discounts, trade-in allowances, quantity discounts, credit terms, sales and payment periods and credit terms.    
I have written in a previous blog about colleges adjusting pricing and unit costs after the longest run-up of overall pricing. Pricing decision making also involves adjusting prices for companies, including colleges and universities concerning the competitive environment, economic situations and involve buyer perceptions.

Prices are a key positioning factor and must be decided in relation to the target market, the product and service assortment mix, and the competition. There's a "price" we pay to be educated, whether in the classroom, or the marketplace, which may include producers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, direct marketers, and consumers and users. .

For more on ideas and Marketing concepts: Go to http://www.LondreMarketing.com and look under resources and the 9P's/Nine P's (c) 2007. Specifically find them at Nine P's/9P's Link.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Londre Marketing Trivia here.

Here to help you better understand. All the best.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

One of the Nine P's, Packaging Is Part of "Product," in the Practice and Study of Marketing. Budweiser Will Introduce a "Bow-Tie-Shaped" Aluminum Can.

18 Million of them are going. Budweiser is introducing a "bow tie-shaped" aluminum can with a dented, squished-in middle illustrating their bow-shaped logo treatment, which goes back to 1956.

The can is an addition to the product line and will not replace their traditional can. It holds fewer ounces than its 12-ounce traditional can-- about 11.3 ounces of beer. If you care it will be 137 calories.

It won't be sold as a six-pack. The new can will be available exclusively in the U.S. as part of an eight-pack.

Last year, according to Mintel, 40,194 new products hit the market in 2012. As for new products which wouldn't include new packaging in 2013 you may have seen Anheuser-Busch’s Beck’s Sapphire, Lean Cuisine Salad Additions, Hillshire Smoky Bourbon ham. Jif Whips (PB in tubs), Dunkin Donuts Blueberry-flavored coffee, Armour39 (a digital training monitor), Simple Sensitive Skin Line, AHAVA (Active Deadsea Minerals) Eye Make Up Remover, Maybelline Hydrating Lip Balm, and others.

A number of important strategic philosophies and practices guide Marketing planning, efforts and/or Marketing relationships/partnerships. In the Nine P’s© 2007, “Product” is one of the significant components and strategies. In Marketing, the variable  "Product" includes new product development, product mix, features, designs, packaging, sizes, services, warranties and return policies.

I have taught global studies, Marketing, global communication, and advertising for 38 years. For my clients, in the courtroom and in the classroom, we define "Product" of the Nine P's as: A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.  (Kotler)
  • A product line is a group of products that are closely related because they function in a similar manner, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed or sold through the same types of outlets, or fall within given price ranges. The major product line decision involves product line length (the number of items in the product line. 
A company’s product mix has four important dimensions: width (number of different product lines), length (number of items a company carries within the product lines), depth (number of versions offered for each product in the line), and consistency (how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or in any other way).

A service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. (Kotler)“

Product” includes packaging, as a subset of the total offering. Brand managers use packaging as a badge, enhancing the product’s value. Here’s an example: in fall 2008, McDonald's scrapped and changed its package design across 118 countries, 56 languages. Packaging can increase the perceptions about the quality of the product.

A product or service also should have "Purpose," which is discovering the product’s real value, use, difference, reason, or function for the consumer and user.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Google Services Can Be Great. Google's Vital Open Source App, Person Finder or PFIF (People Finder Interchange Format).

More people need to know about this vital service, Person Finder, especially when you are looking for a loved one. Google's open source app, Person Finder, was brought out again after yesterday's horrific Boston Marathon tragedy. Developed by Volunteers from Katrina, the app was created by Google after the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti.

The Google app is an interface that trawls the web collecting and aggregating data from sites that collect info about missing persons. It's format is called PFIF (People Finder Interchange Format).

Google is making the information, data accessible and available to anyone. You can either input the name or photos of someone you're looking for, or someone you have info about.

In any crisis, like yesterday's, it is vitally important that many more need to know about this vital Google service. Especially after yesterday and major disaster.

The Person Finder may include satellite photos, shelters, locations, power outages, and more. TGFG (Thank God for Google) in this example.

People and targeting are part of the Nine P's of Marketing. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Here to help. All the best, during a really tough time.

Art and Portraits of Women in Advertising. Artists Blending "People," "Promotion," "Passion" and "Presentation" in the Nine P's for Dove.

Great campaign. Using advertising and a forensic artist in the "Promotion" of Dove Beauty Products. Dove's advertising portrays that "Women are more beautiful than they think."

Dove conducted a social experiment and it's part of its ongoing promotion and advertising for Dove on the theme of "real" beauty of women in its ads.

Dove employed a trained forensic sketch artist in their promotion and advertising. He created and compared portraits of women from their own descriptions of themselves, and then he drew them as others who had just met them, saw them. Comparing them to an "eyewitness" account, and the reason for using the forensic artist.

Presenting positive attitudes can be a means for change. This concept reminds me of one of my favorite books in college, Psycho-Cybernetics by Maltz. His book demonstrated how positive thoughts/wisdom and helpful insights can help most any one be a more successful person. Happiness and success are habitual. So are failure, unhappiness and misery. Negative thoughts and habits can be changed. A psychologist, an artist, advertising and a book may show you the way. There are surely differences between how we see ourselves and how others see us.

The full campaign for Dove will include a documentary, four films and OOH (Out of Home) outdoor advertising executions.

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Update on the Demise of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice." Few Are Watching. Observations and the Nine P's.

Here's an update. The show is too scripted. Too obvious. Only 5.2% of the audience is watching TV and finding a reason to turn to Trump's The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. Only 4% of the total TVs whether on or off. Want some observations and reasons?

Ten reasons why Celebrity Apprentice is going down, and down and down, in both interest and in viewership. It had a bad first night and needs help.Continuing it's bad formula. You know what is scripted.
  1. Easiest reason. Few reasons to watch and fewer are watching.
  2. The ratings and share were awful for the first show, this season, of Celebrity Apprentice. Only four percent of the audience watching TV were viewing. Or, in other words, simply put only four people who were watching TV out of a hundred were watching the show. Or 96 out of a hundred were watching other programs and programming. The show had a rating of 1.4, or 1.4 percent out of the total potential audience was watching or not.  I teach Marketing and Advertising. Later in this Marketing blog, I will give you the definitions from Media Planning which we use with my clients and in the classroom. I'm also a Forensic Marketing Expert in the courtroom. 
  3. NBC's got another problem for another show. Lack of awareness and reasons to watch. 
  4. PEOPLE Magazine rated it "one-star," last month Yes, one star. Sad, over the year's this show has turned into a train wreck.
  5. The show is taking one-hour of material and stretching it into two hours, for the season opener. They did that last year and and in previous seasons. I liked the original Apprentice and I use to like the Celebrity Apprentice
  6. Annoying and painful to watch: I watched the first episode for this year. Two-hour episodes will air each week until March 31, when the show moves to 10PM, with one-hour episodes. How many will be watching that long?
  7. While I like Piers Morgan most of the time, it's annoying to watch Omarosa and Piers Morgan. Is Omarosa really a celebrity? Donald finally voted her off. 
  8. Even in its own PR the show's publicity asks "If you've grown tired of Trump's silly shenanigans..."
  9. Are you shocked that the show is still around for a 13th season? Viewership is showing lack of interest. 
  10. A big #10 reason: The "so-called" All-Stars include Gary Busey, Dennis Rodman, Omarosa, Lisa Rinna, La Toya Jackson, Trace Adkin, Bret Michaels, Brande Roderick, Penn Jillette, Lil Jon, Stephen Baldwin, Dee Snider, and Claudia Jordan. 
Using their PR copy: ""Celebrity Apprentice" is back with what is sure to be an explosive all-star season." How explosive can it be if few are watching and this is the premiere episode? No legs...

Here are the definitions from Media Planning which we use with my clients and in the classroom. I'm also a Forensic Marketing Expert in the courtroom. 
  • Share (SHR): The percent of the Households Using Television (HUT) or Persons Using Television (PUT) which are tuned to a specific program or station at a specified time. 
  • Rating (RTG):The estimate of the size of a television audience relative to the total universe, expressed as a percentage, whether the TV is on or not. 

I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
  • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
  • Product
  • Place (Distribution)
  • Price
  • Planning
  • Promotion
  • Partners
  • Presentation
  • Passion
For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Here to help you better understand. All the best.

      Sunday, April 14, 2013

      Tattoos. Discounting. Pricing Specials. Coupons and Tattoo Removal Services. Have Tattoos Peaked? Marketing and the Nine P's.

      Tattoos are an interesting subject to discuss depending on your demographics, geographics, technographics, psychographics, and other characteristics. There are concepts in Marketing called Product Life Cycle, Promotion, Pricing, opportunities, trends, and fads. To analyze products and services, such as tattoos, you can look and review opportunities, problems, strengths, weaknesses, and treats. These subjects are part of any business class, marketing seminar and teaching situation.

      I have observed that tattoos are now being sold with discounts. On today’s Living Social there are two "special" price options... "Turn your tattoo dreams into reality … inking people up:"
      • $50 for $150 to spend on tattoo services
      • $99 for $250 to spend on tattoo services (I purposely did not include the link).
      Update: Again on April 27th, LivingSocial is offering more special coupons on three treatments to remove tattoos.

      Last month the Hard Rock Hotel had "pricing" specials, coupons on flyers. I've seen more discounting on tattoos everywhere. I have seen them advertised on TV and on outdoor advertising. I’ve also seen several tattoo removal services being promoted, advertised more. Just to be clear, I don’t have a tattoo. I teach and consult in Marketing. I’m more an observer and studying buyer behaviors.

      Using basic marketing theories and practices a company’s marketing and differentiation strategies must change as the market, product, and competitors change over the life of the product or service. I'm seeing the trend slow down. Even if Rick Pitino's winning Louisville basketball team encouraged him last week to "get inked."

      Products and services pass through different stages, each posing different challenges and opportunities to the seller.The big question: Have tattoos met their peak? Will tattoo removal services be bigger? Have tattoos peaked?

      Products and services require different marketing, targeting, passion, presentation, promotion, financial, pricing, partnerships, manufacturing, purchasing and personnel needs. Most product/products/service/services are typically divided into four or five stages in a life cycle. While I had one or two great uncles in the 50's who had tattoos from the Navy and Army, it didn't appear to be trendy until several years ago.

      To get a classroom discussion and dialogue going, I remember asking my Marketing class of 177 at CSUN, my Business Strategies graduate class at Pepperdine  and my class of 35 students at USC approximately seven to ten years ago "How many of you have tattoos or piercing?" They were lively discussions. Obviously different at each class and each school. Many opinions about the trends, practice and marketing opportunities, strategies and tactics on many related products and services. There are development and introduction stages which are the periods of usually slow sales or sales growth as the product is introduced into the marketplace. During the development stage there are more expenses than profits as awareness is generated.

      The second or third stage is the growth phase where a rapid rise of market acceptance increases substantial profit improvement. In the third or fourth stage there is usually a slowdown in sales growth and the product achieves acceptance. There are in many cases, improvements in product quality and new features/styling are made. And price discounting and special deals arrive.Will we see more neon signage? Mor differentiation? Probably.

      What’s next? Buy one or two and get a free tattoo? A bounceback coupon? Get the tattoo and the tattoo parlour makes an agreement resulting in a partnership with a tattoo removal service. New market segments, pricing, promotion, partnerships and distribution coverage/channels will be explored.

      I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product and Service
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Friday, April 12, 2013

      Celebrity Spokespeople, A Justin Bieber Promotional Example and How to Pick a Celebrity for Marketing and Advertising. Plus the Nine P's.

      Never heard of the debit card, SpendSmart, until today neither had I? SpendSmart announced last January that they will  use Justin Bieber as their pitchman or celebrity spokesperson. Cost: $3.75 million plus royalties and stock options.

      Justin will pitch their debit cards with parental oversight intended for teens. In a video he discusses "financial" advice and information which is being distributed on his YouTube channel, Twitter and Facebook portals. At the same time he and/or his friends are found on TMZ; to me and others he or they have been regulars lately.

      This week SpendSmart released Bieber's first installment of this video series called or named "Real Talk," for his "fans," cardholders or potential customers. "The marketing strategy and the choice of talent for this is brilliant, as is merging it into his social media network," reported CEN (Celebrity Endorsement Network).

      In my Marketing and Advertising classes at USC, CSUN, Pepperdine and UCLA I have taught how to use and pick a celebrity or celebrity spokespeople.

      Here's a formula or two on why celebrities are used, a series of questions to ask and doing your Marketing homework/background:

      Why are celebrities and spokespeople used? Using a Celebrity endorsement will, in many cases:
      1. Can attract attention
      2. Improve company or product’s image
      3. Boost company or product’s awareness
      4. Break through clutter
      5. Exploit celebrity’s popularity
      6. Increase sales
      7. Increase company or product’s credibility
      8. Use celebrity in marketing and sales meetings. Star can appear in and at internal and external events.
       In the selection process, here is a list of major questions every brand manager or marketing manager should ask.
      1. Is the celebrity appropriate for our product or service?
      2. Does celebrity subtract from product or service?
      3. Does the celebrity add value? Or generate a good impression?
      4. Does the celebrity add to the product’s image?
      5. How much is the fee?
      6. How is the contract structured?
      7. Do you pay the celebrity their fee, which will decrease media exposure/expenses?
      8. What about the history and future of the celebrity exposure?  What about “after hour” behavior, any criminal record, FTC issues? Health?
      9. Be sure celebrity uses and continues to use the product?
      10. Be sure the facts about the product are true and substantiated, before giving script to celebrity.
      11. You must disclose if the star or celebrity has considerable interest in the company or product.
      Two important strategy or strategies, which we discuss in class, clients and others:
      • Come up with the right idea or selling concept.  That must be first.  Then decide on the “celebrity” to present, sing or act.
      • What you are going to say is more important than the "who."
      I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Here to help you better understand. All the best.

      Thursday, April 11, 2013

      Rolling Stones' Top Ticket Prices. They Will Stop Touring. They Will Probably Get the Ticket Prices, Total Box Office And Revenue They Are Looking For. All of the 9P's of Marketing in Action.

      Update: It's not the first time that the Stones kicked off a tour on the west coast. In 1964 they replaced the Beatles at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino.

      Let's talk tickets and performances. The Rolling Stones will be in Los Angeles on May 2nd (depending on the playoff schedules of Lakers and Clippers) at Staples kicking off again their "50 And Counting" Tour.

      I just learned the pricing. The tickets will not be cheap, with approximately 85% of the audience paying a record ticket face value of $650.00, and that is not through brokers or stubhub.com. The breakdown of ticket prices at Staples is 85% will be $650. face; 5% at $450; 5% at 350; and 5% at $250.

      My post will blend marketing, pricing, promotion, and the Rolling Stones Tour ticket pricing, The right "price" needs to take into account the product, presentation, right place and more. One of the many definitions I use in my Marketing and Advertising classes and consulting practice is:
      • "Marketing is getting the right product or service to the right people (target market), at the right time, at the right place, at the right price with the right communications and promotion.
      The Stones, the venue, producers, and others set the pricing. Is it high, of course. Will they get it, of course. Will the brokers get more in markups, of course. There are seats already selling for $7999 and the "official" tickets haven't gone on sale yet.

      I want to put this into some marketing and business context. I have taught 79 semesters of Marketing, Global Studies and Advertising at USC, Pepperdine, CSUN, Loyola Marymount. I'm a guest speaker at UCLA, USC and CSUN and other schools  and I am a Marketing Expert in court and have my own marketing firm at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. I have a copyrighted concept which shows marketing planning with objectives, strategies and tactics. One of the Nine P’s/Nine P’s ©2007 in Marketing and the study of Marketing is “Price:” The ticket pricing and sponsorship dollars/deals in marketing fall under "Price," and other P's in the Nine P's/9P's.

      Price/Pricing: 
      • All aspects regarding "Pricing."
      • The amount of money a consumer is willing to pay to obtain the product. These concerts will be sold through many sources including brokers, stubhub, and the producers. Sponsors, media, agents also get tickets. 
      • In general, Price and/or Pricing includes wholesale/retail/promotional prices, discounts, trade-in allowances, quantity discounts, credit terms, sales and payment periods and credit terms. Think about financing on your credit cards; not a great idea in this economy. 
      • Don't forget the facility fees at the venues.   
      Pricing decision making also involves adjusting prices for companies, including the competitive environment, economic situations and involve buyer perceptions. Prices are a key positioning factor and must be decided in relation to the target market, the product and service assortment mix, and the competition. There's a "price" we pay to be entertained.

      The use of the Nine P's helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing. In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting) 
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas and Marketing concepts: Go to http://www.LondreMarketing.com and look under resources and the 9P's/Nine P's (c) 2007. Specifically find them at Nine P's/9P's Link.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Londre Marketing Trivia here.

      Here to help you better understand. All the best.85 percent  of staples is  650 face   5 ercent 450  5 percent at 350   5 percent  250

      Blending Grilled Cheese Day (Friday, April 12th), Marketing, Promotions and the Nine P's. Here to Help In So Many Ways.

      Let’s blend the following, and I'm not talking bread, butter and cheese, with a grill for Grilled Cheese sandwiches. Or adding a cup of soup. It's more about recipes for better Marketing and adding some lunch and dinner recipes, too:
      1. National Grill Cheese Day or the month of April
      2. The Marketing process
      3. Segmenting a market and developing promotions
      4. The Nine P's
      5. Some recipes for new Grilled Cheese sandwiches
      April, 2013 is National Grilled Cheese month, with the actual celebration for Grilled Cheese Day landing on Friday, April 12. I teach and consult in Marketing, Advertising and Promotions. I explain that the Marketing Process helps with planning and selling. The Marketing process consists of analyzing opportunities (people are always looking for new recipes and food marketing is always looking for promotions to sell food products; developing marketing strategies, including branding, new product development, pricing, distribution and promotion; planning marketing programs, such as promoting cheese and managing the marketing efforts.

      For any brand or advertising manager key marketing strategy decision-making includes:
      • How to divide up markets into meaningful customer groups (market segmentation)
      • Choose which customer groups to serve (target marketing)
      • Created marketing offers that best serve targeted customers (positioning in this example cheese versus other food alternatives)
      • Behavioral segmentation includes occasions, special occasions and holidays. Some examples include:  Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Orange juice for breakfast, Cheese or Grilled Cheese for April.  
      I'm full service. Looking for ways to help you. Here are a dozen recipes from the LA Times for Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day Recipe Link
      And one recipe from Los Angeles Magazine for Beer Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich

      Want more on Marketing objectives, strategies and tactics, plus some Marketing Trivia? I am a Forensic Marketing, Advertising Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing. This may be a good time to make a sandwich and read some more.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Wednesday, April 10, 2013

      Blending "Place" With "Promotion," and "Partners" in the Nine P's. Add Some "Planning," With a Promotional Example By Wal-Mart Stores, Too.

      Here's a current example of Wal-Mart Stores using the parts and components of the Nine P's ©2007 of Marketing. I'm going to use the latest press release on Walmart's local initiative in marketing. Walmart  is creating, producing and distributing 1,500 TV spots in approximately 60 geographic markets. They are supporting their retail presence and competitiveness on pricing in their local trading areas. In my analysis this blends "Place," or distribution in the Nine P's with a part of "Promotion, and "Partners" in the Nine P's.

      Also under "Planning" and "Promotion," the localized spots will be featuring local price-comparisons, part of comparative advertising under "Promotion" in the Nine P's.

      Then under another P---"Partners," Walmart is using a combination of its advertising agency, The Martin Agency, their in-house agency/services and other agencies.

      I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing. See and review the breakdown and the components of the Nine P's, and a whole lot more.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Tuesday, April 09, 2013

      One of the Surprising Things to Look For in Big TV Media Events, Such as the Super Bowl, Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, World Series, NBA Finals, March Madness.

      Count the number of promotional announcements and spots for the networks, like Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, and their "own" upcoming shows and programs. Almost a dozen an hour and 2,000 a day. Then count the other paid spots for products and services being advertised during the "regular" programming.

      The Academy Awards and the Super Bowl are two of the biggest media events for the year on TV. For advertising agencies, media buying agencies, clients and advertisers, there's a trend to launch new ads and advertising and to capture large audiences in these "TV events." They have higher price tags:
      • On average this year's Super Bowl XLVII spots were reported cost $3,800,000 each, which did not include actors, production, sets, just the time on CBS. 
      • On average this year’s Oscar’s/Academy Awards cost $1,650,000 to $1,800,000 for each 30 seconds of commercial time in the broadcast on Sunday, which did not include actors, production, sets, just the time on ABC. 
      The Super Bowl, Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys, World Series, NBA Finals, March Madness, and other big-event television programs are important in delivering audiences. In Media Planning they are called "appointment viewing," or "appointment TV."

      The one big point or thing to look out for:
      • Count the number of promotional spots for the network and its shows.  There are approximately on average 2K promotional spots a week or 285 per day or 11.9 an hour for each network. That number does not include any of the "paid" spots and commercials. The amount of clutter is more than you realize. 
      I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.

      Monday, April 08, 2013

      Maybe a Better Definition of "Native Advertising, "Custom Content," "Sponsored Stories," “Advertorial," “Branded Content," “Sponsored Content,” Is Needed. They Are All Harder to Identify Now.

      Simple sentences and phases, on a complex advertising subject about "branded, customized content" and related to terms such as "native advertising," "advertorial, " and others:
        1. Publishers and the media are chasing revenue.
        2. Sponsors are creating and approving their own copy, layouts and ads.  
        3. New digital issues for Promotion and advertising:.
        4. The Internet and the web changed everything. 
        5. The content by the media to readers and users is co-branded.
      This "native advertising" or "branded content" is  usually designed to look like part of the publication, website, media or app. In my world, right or wrong, it's about ads, user confusion, partners and partnerships of advertisers with the media, clients and their agencies with publishers and the media.

      Unfortunately the differentiation and sponsorship of this content, promotion and advertising need to be clear or clearer. There are higher overall production costs for the media, but revenue, in a tough business and media climate,  is driving this kind of promotion or advertising for them. Advertisers, publishers, marketing professionals and media pros have many names for this form of promotion, including content marketing, content promotion, sponsored stories, branded content, custom stories, commercial messaging, interruptive advertising, sponsored content, native ads, advertorial (blending advertising and editorial) and native advertising. Take your pick. As a marketing professional, advertising pro and Marketing expert, I’m here to help you by explaining this changing dynamic in creative and advertising.

      Regardless of the terms, titles or its name, its advertisers sponsoring or creating content that looks like editorial content, which has become more common in today's marketing and promotional environment. Bottom line:  It's a tough time for publishers and they are trying to create more sources or additional areas of revenue. It’s really a tough time for media, especially print. In the Los Angeles and southern California area, it's as if I'm seeing each issue of the L.A.Times smaller and dying a slow death.

      Adweek magazine recently has pointed out these "native advertising" ads are more evolution than revolution. I'm not so sure. Advertorials have always been around.  But never under this much examination and review. Specifically for advertisers in digital formats, there are issues of understanding, implementation, possible confusion, scale and the overall ethics of this “native advertising” movement. Everyone should review the “official” and “standard” definitions of advertising. Advertising is mass or nonpersonal selling: TV, radio, magazines, newspaper, outdoor/out-of-home (OOH), online, mobile.

      Two of the definitions I use with clients, in state and federal court, and with clients are.
      • Advertising is structured and composed of nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services) and ideas by identified sponsors through various media. (Contemporary Advertising, 14the, Arens, Weigold, Arens, 2013)
      • Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. (Principles of Marketing, 14e, Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). 
      I teach and consult in marketing and advertising. I am also a forensic Marketing and Advertising expert. Ads can be one of the cost-effective ways to disseminate messages, whether to increase awareness, interest desire or action in the marketplace. Advertising can build a brand preference. Ultimately "It is only creative if it sells."

      The definitions may be changing; the lines between what is Marketing, what is Promotion, and what is Advertising can be defined. I do it every day. These definitions and differentiations may be slightly blurring today. But there needs to be definitions and understanding for a variety of reasons.

      Advertising seems to be taking on a different model, than in the past. Communication channels include owned (websites, social pages), earned (word of mouth, social media) and paid media (TV, radio, magazines, newspaper, outdoor/out-of-home (OOH), online, mobile.)

      Publishers, brand managers, media buying companies, PR firms and advertising agencies are slowly jumping on this new branded content, sponsored content, advertorial (blending advertising and editorial) and native advertising band wagon. There is debate and debating is definitely going on.

      In my background, it is very similar to the advertorials and advertorial content we used in a small percentage of accounts, media planning and assignments in the 70’s, 80’s,  90’s and later.

      I define advertorial, branded content or native advertising as a blend, a mix or combination. There is less of a strict separation between church and state or the editorial content and the advertising content. If advertisers are going to have the opportunity to create these new, unique formats, mixed with unique content for each and every different channel and platform, it's going to be more of a headache for all. It’s a limited execution or advertising device, based on the total budget allocation.

      In my mind and from my experience everything will need to be better identified as who is the sponsor or advertiser. I do believe that is what the FTC would want and needs in the media and marketplace. Publications such as WiredFast CompanyHuffington Post, Atlantic, BuzzFeedBusiness Insider and others all use some form of this branded, custom content. A result is a media universe where it is increasingly difficult for readers to possibly differentiate between editorial content, from editorail, promotion and paid advertising content.

      From my experiences in advertising agency, clients and teaching advertising/marketing, print for years has run special sections to appeal to advertisers, bring in revenue and almost all of the publishers running branded content say they abide by this traditional church and state or editorial and advertising separation. I'm not sure readers know that.  As you may know this “customized content” runs next to the editorial on many sites and publications.

      It's not as clear as it could be and should be. I am a Forensic Marketing Expert, Advertising/Marketing consultant with Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC plus I teach Marketing and Advertising. I own a copyright for this concept, the Nine P’s/9 P's ©2007, which augments the Marketing Mix and 4P’s by the American Marketing Association, Neil Borden and Jerome McCarthy in the study and practices of Marketing. It helps identify marketing problems in a number of areas and helps develop marketing's objectives, strategies, tactics and solutions. I consult and teach using the concepts and practices of the Nine P's/9P's of Marketing.

      In the study and practice of Marketing, Marketing and Brand Managers develop plans, strategies and tactics. The Nine P’s include these important components:
      • People (Segmentation and Targeting)
      • Product
      • Place (Distribution)
      • Price
      • Planning
      • Promotion
      • Partners
      • Presentation
      • Passion
      For more on ideas, concepts and Marketing solutions: Go to LondreMarketing.com and look under “Articles and Resources” and the 9P's/Nine P's ©2007. Specifically you will find them detailed at 9P's/Nine P's.

      Or for more fun, marketing strategies/tactics and facts:  Go to Marketing Trivia  with 54 stimulating questions and answers at Londre Marketing Consultants, LLC. Here to help. All the best.