industry thoughts from Clarteza

When I travel, I try to stay at #Kimpton Hotels as much as possible. It’s fair to say they’ve won my brand loyalty—but not because their pillows are great or the room service is quick and tasty (though they are). It’s because they take advantage of every opportunity to customize my hotel experience specifically for me.

Kimpton takes a few basic data points about me, such as my preferences and other important dates and milestones, and uses them as opportunities to provide a variety of small surprises and delights to enhance my experience.

For example, during my recent stay with my two … Continue Reading

Let’s talk chocolate.

Think about that first bite of dark, creamy chocolate. Your mouth relaxes as the chocolate melts – your eyes might even close so you can focus on just the taste and feel of the chocolate. The corners of your mouth turn up.

(Is your mouth watering yet?)

We have all heard by now that chocolate releases endorphins, elevates our mood, and can even be healthy in moderation. (Keep those positive studies coming, science!) But exquisite, mouth-watering chocolate also reminds us of the real goal: to create an experience. To get the … Continue Reading

People look for relationships. They are essential to us, and to our well-being. Interestingly, people also long for  brand connections…or relationships, which share a lot of similarities of those, with people.  They identify  themselves with those brands.

Like with regular relationships, brand relationships can have their ups and downs. Ultimately though, if you do      have the bonding, you will be more likely to “forgive” if things don’t go right.

People want to be understood by brands. (Not literally, at least yet!)They like to have products and services that are tailored to … Continue Reading

It is wonderful to feel important; who doesn’t want to feel that his or her needs are being heard and met?  It’s the basis of any strong relationship.  And good marketers know this and use it as they carefully target individual consumer groups with relevant products, messages, and mediums.  But when it comes to women in particular, there is a fine line between getting it right… and going about it all wrong.

Take for example, the BIC Cristal for Her Ball Pen. Its description on Amazon emphasizes its sleek, elegant design (“just for her”) and a thin barrel to fit a … Continue Reading

In a recent study, Millward Brown and The Jim Stengel Company compiled a list of the 50 fastest-growing brands, both consumer and business, over a ten year period.  Brands were analyzed in terms of both customer relationships as well as financial value.  The common link between the 50 brands, which cut across categories and segments, including both products and services, was that all of the brands were based on ideals.  The study defined an ideal as a higher order purpose or benefit that the company or brand … Continue Reading

The big idea:  It’s out there, and you want to be the one who discovers it, markets it, and profits from it.  Right or wrong, there is no shortage of approaches to uncovering the big idea, from trend analyses, to focus groups, to epiphanies in the middle of the night.  But how do you know when you’ve found it?  How do you uncover the diamond in the rough from the laundry list of ideas that come out of any well-meaning brainstorming effort?

Your gut is certainly a good start, and there are situations (and corporations) that call for avoiding conventional consumer … Continue Reading