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"Brands Seek Fans on Facebook"

We have generally assumed that the process consumers go through for making a purchasing decision is based on various touch points: awareness of a product or service, becoming interested in that product or service, forming positive attitudes and then making the purchase. However, according to a recent McKinsey Quarterly newsletter, that process does not work any more because it does not recognize "all the touch points and key buying factors resulting from the explosion of product choices ...

According to Forrester, marketers are cutting their marketing communications budgets significantly. Are their brands at risk? Yes! A soft market can be an opportunity. Companies who increase their marketing communications budgets during recession experience a drop in ROI. However, these companies achieve greater market share gains; they are in a better position to reap post-recession profitability. (Strategic Planning Institute, PIMS database) For more on Forrester go to: ...

According to BUSINESS WEEK, advertisers and their agencies are not taking advantage of communicating with their customers using social networks. They have not figured out how to effectively break through. That's because when consumers go to Facebook or My Space, they are more interested in socializing, i;.e. building relationships, re-connecting with past friends, or adding information to their profiles, etc. "In sum, social networks and related tools are transforming the way companies ...

We've all seen numerous definitions of a brand. Essentially a brand where a product or service "fits" in the consumer's mind. That fit is all about a basketful of attributes made up of two key components: performance (what are you going to do for me today) and emotional rewards (how are you going to make me feel today). Successful marketers have and continue to recognize those important components, with emotional rewards becoming more and more important given the sea of sameness in ...

Consumers spend an extraordinary amount of time on the web, working, playing, searching, checking and more. According to Matt Greene of Blue Ribbon Consulting, to survive these days, marketers need to place significantly more of their marketing and media dollars on digital channels in order to win, or maybe even survive,  in one of the most challenging environments marketers have ever faced. Read more: http://www.blueribbondigital.com/blog/ 

Teamwork is very difficult to teach when it comes to decision-making. Practice helps. Exercises help. Often though some essential guidelines are not used to make decisions through consensus. Read what Bob Frisch offers as tactics "which are designed to fix the decision-making process...and have far greater success in achieving real alignment." ...

There are tons of articles and journal articles that help us define brands. One simple truth is that to succeed in the sea of sameness world of branding, connecting with customers at their emotional level is essential. That is not to say that rational connections are not important. Read what some British experts have to say at http://www.hdm-stuttgart.de/~britsch/nmdesdev/downloads/article/branding_4.pdf.

More and more companies are instituting web grass roots efforts to build their brands. According to Umar Hague, a London economist and Havas Media Lab director, "By choosing to invest in consumers over advertising, Google is a living example of a deeper truth: The future of communications as advantage lies in talking less and listening more." Read more, about brands like Zappos and Craigslist at http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/esearch/e3i5e732e045deaaba3ecab1948a0858e5b/

According to a recent study conducted by Feed Company, an online marketing company, more and more marketers are embracing viral video. "Over 70% of ad agency and media buying executives plan to increase their viral video marketing budgets next year, despite cutbacks in projected spending. (For more: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3i677aeab462cd125fa1225335b5a78b84)

Have you wondered lately about which brands are the most powerful in the world? According to the very respected Millward Brown Optimor, number one is Google -- not surprising. Google is followed by General Electric, Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Millward Brown Optimor's latest report on the world's top 100 brands is packed with interesting insights that combine "financial data with primary research findings." For details go to: ...

Polls show that the morale of Americans is very low. That need not be and should not be. For starters, familiarize yourself with Fareed Zarkaria, in The Rise of the Rest, which follows. "It's true China is booming, Russia is growing more assertive, terrorism is a threat. But if America is losing the ability to dictate to this new world, it has not lost the ability to lead. By Fareed Zakaria

808 Inc. Campaign Selected to Promote Houston’s Advertising, Marketing and Communications Industry - Campaign will be produced with local resources and launch in coming months -

Mark your calendars for the 18th annual Houston Media Classic. It will be held at the Cypresswood Golf Club on Thursday November 13, 2008. The Houston Media Classic will host over 150 media professionals this year. They work in television and radio, newspaper, magazines and billboard, and they come to Houston from all over Texas to entertain their clients and have a "hole" lot of fun! What makes the HMC so unique is our hole sponsors. On every hole there is something going on - ...