LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Its image still bruised by driver complaints about unintended acceleration, Toyota Division has decided to revamp its marketing message and shift the focus to safety in a big way, top executives told Automotive News last week.
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- In an interview with marketing chief MJ Jolda explained why "light"-green consumers -- those who consider the environmental impact important, but give as much or more weight to other factors such as price and performance -- and an appeal to value, along with environmental concern, are making a difference for Marcal.
Looking at American culture throughout history, iconic images come to mind. Some are turning points in history, forming our nation. Others are people who shaped our freedoms and laws. And some are brands that affected how we eat, shop and pass our time. Each was once an idea that has grown into a national -- and in many cases, global -- force to be reckoned with. Below are 10 examples of these people and their ideas that have grown far beyond expectations.
The marketing mantra has always been to give the customer what he or she wants, but that approach pretty much precludes giving consumers things they don't know they want or haven't thought of. And are marketers sometimes "held captive by their customers" -- proclaiming they don't want an improvement or new technology because it would be too disruptive to their normal behavior?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Car advertising is about to take a turn -- for the green. Come this fall, drivers -- and not just Americans, but global drivers -- are about to feel the onslaught of a new crop of eco-friendly auto brands, some independent and some backed by the big car makers. Here's what you need to know about who's in the marketing seat at seven of these companies and how they're positioning themselves to consumers.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Before BP could stem the oil gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed $100 million in ad spending, largely on network TV, to stem the damage to its image. But it also started spending heavily where it had never spent much before: buying ads in Google's search results.
In order to get beyond the uninteresting and, oftentimes, undifferentiating focus on product features, marketers must position their brand not within a category, but within consumer culture.
When you can get the specific details only two-way dialogue can afford, you're certain to learn a few new details about your audience that could completely change the way you communicate with them.
PHILADELPHIA (AdAge.com) -- Ad Age spends a day with Hyundai during the automaker's fourth stop on the 10-city "Hyundai Uncensored" national tour. This leg of the tour, held at the home of the Philadelphia Phillies and its fans, aims to turn locals into Hyundai fans by putting them behind the wheel of a Hyundai Sonata, Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, taking them through their paces with a course consisting of hairpin turns, evasive maneuvers, high-speed straightaways and conditions that mimic icy roads.
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- When students arrived at PS 107 in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood this year, their parents were asked to provide a "triclosan-free" liquid hand soap. While it's a relatively new trend for students to be asked to contribute cleaning supplies in addition to the usual notebooks and pencils, it's an even newer trend for districts to be picky about the brands' green credentials.
YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- "Plants vs. Zombies," with its unusual combination of pea-shooting plants and not-too-scary cartoon zombies, has quickly become a huge hit for casual game publisher PopCap -- and it's about to go bigger.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With the arrival of the new fall program lineups comes any number of intriguing challenges the TV networks must face, some together, some on their own. What are they? Ad Age tells you what to watch out for as the 2010-2011 TV season gets out of the starting blocks.
YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- "Marcus don't play that." That's Marcus Rivers, Sony PlayStation's smack-talking front man for its handheld PSP device, referring to mobile-phone games.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- You can now check in to TV shows like you can to your corner bar. But what's a check-in worth to networks if they can't send viewers buy one, get one free happy-hour specials?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- When students arrived at PS 107 in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood this year, their parents were asked to provide a "triclosan-free" liquid hand soap, citing suspicions the anti-bacterial agent found in many such soaps is an "endocrine disruptor." Rather than "regular disinfectant wipes" from the likes of Clorox or Lysol with a host of what the school calls "harmful biocides," the letter suggests greener options from Green Works (another Clorox brand) or Seventh Generation.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- This summer, agency holding companies kept busy with a bit of housekeeping. Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group of Cos. and MDC Partners in the past few months have all streamlined the number of individual shops and agency offices sitting under the same umbrella -- sweeping underperforming entities under their stronger siblings and combining agencies to create scale and expand geographic footprint. And it's not over: CEOs of those companies and observers say there's more to come this year.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For years lemon-lime sodas have languished while cola line extensions and emerging categories such as energy drinks and enhanced waters took precedence. Now, Sierra Mist, 7Up and Sprite are all poised to benefit from an influx of marketing dollars as their owners rush to prop up the second-largest carbonated-soft-drink category and target consumers who may be susceptible to a soda that at least seems lighter and healthier.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Back in June, the Obama administration declared that a "summer of recovery" was at hand, as some construction projects funded by the stimulus bill passed 19 months before finally got underway. He ended the summer on a darker note, in a prime-time address from the Oval Office that used some grim rhetoric to describe the state of the economy.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Publicis Groupe is having trouble meeting its media-spending commitment to Microsoft, according to several people familiar with the situation. The third-largest agency-holding company entered into the commercial agreement last summer when it bought digital agency Razorfish from Microsoft. Execs put the commitment at "a couple hundred million dollars" annually for ad inventory.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A spate of better-than-expected reports on consumer spending, jobs and retail sales last week appeared to take an edge off many fears of a double-dip recession. That's the good news. Here's the not-so-good news.
Title: Review the latest news from Journal of Brand Management
