There is a business theory that the first brand that goes to market usually wins. Research tells us that being early to market might be better than first. It will be interesting to watch this in practice as autonomous or self-driving vehicles begin hitting the market sometime around 2021. Most of the major automotive manufacturers are developing the vehicles and licensing the technologies that will dramatically change our lives in the very near future. So, first to market might be barely first and have no real impact. I like that because it means good marketing will decide the winner.

Which consumer brand do you associate with your bathroom? Is there one? There seems to be a dominant brand or two that is associated with most things in our everyday lives: Del Monte or Libby's in the pantry; Maytag or Whirlpool in the laundry room; LG, Samsung, Sony in the den. There are a few that receive heavy consideration in each instance.

Who would you say has the best personality in your group of friends? Are they the smartest, best-dressed or the funniest? Probably not. But the rest of your group is likely to agree that they are fun to be around and most assuredly are never boring. Social media isn't too different from your circle.

By now, we are all aware of the criticisms of the millennial generation: They can't focus, aren't present, overly entitled, too good to care about anything that doesn't concern themselves. It's a pretty long list that makes them difficult to relate to, and especially to manage.

We are living in an age of disruption. Uber. Netflix. Amazon. Tesla. Blue Apron. These brands are literally changing how we shop, travel, cook—really how we live our lives. And as these brands prosper, other ‘traditional’ brands suffer. 

A basic fundamental of a paid search (pay-per-click) campaign involves the decision of whether or not to buy branded search terms. If you are Valentino and selling your shoes online, you might not need to purchase the term Valentino because your website will likely show up first in organic rankings anyway.

My friend P.M. likes to remind people that nothing happens until someone makes a sale. True enough. That sets a lot of things in motion for the operations of a company—no matter what was sold. 

Every day the marketing world throws important statistics at us. We pay the most attention to that data that deals with consumer trends.

In May, Victoria’s Secret announced that they are not going to produce their catalogs any longer.  The retailer printed 300 million copies annually! Environmentalists hated them (I sort of liked them). 

The term ‘insight’ has become a common phrase in modern marketing.  Generally, we want to know behaviors beyond media habits and shopping habits that influence purchases. 

A few months ago, Lowe's Home Improvement announced a new brand direction. Lowe's said that they wanted to communicate their passion for home improvement.  

Content Marketing is an effective tool for the majority of marketers today. While the industry has developed ‘thought leadership’ strategies for decades, consumers' digital habits have pushed the practice forward and grown it exponentially- so it needed a new name as well.