industry thoughts from Clarteza

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

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 our recent post on qual vs. quant research, we touched on one of the critical issues facing market researchers today, the question of how we use, store and re-use data we obtain from the investments we make in research and information.  The amount of data available to us continues to grow in magnitude and scope.  We have qual data, quant data, syndicated data, social media data, competitive intelligence data, all coming at us all the time in … Continue Reading

Both quantitative and qualitative research data play important roles in understanding consumers, developing and designing products, and creating effective marketing strategies and executions. Quantitative research provides a wealth of broad-based data on market sizes, demographics, and user preferences and helps us understand differences between groups of people, products and usage occasions.  But, quantitative research can also lead to an over-reliance upon numbers, leading researchers to analyze percentages and statistical significances, rather than people.  Qualitative research, on the other hand, can sometimes lead to biases based on the opinions of a small set of people, at a certain place or time.  … Continue Reading

The term “re-frame” has never been more appropriate than in marketing today.

It is apparent that a massive paradigm shift in the way marketers approach their marketing and communication plans is well underway (for those who haven’t previously embraced it).  For years now, front-loaded plans where the bulk of thought and resources are spent influencing the consumer well before she sets foot in a store have been giving way to a more holistic approach where the integration and synergy of brand messaging across multiple consumer touch-points is not only important, but essential.  But more recently, the key player in the game … Continue Reading

Picture yourself at a cocktail party filled with near-strangers.  What is the best way to start a conversation with someone you don’t know well?  Ask them about themselves.  Why? Because people are most connected to their own life experiences and therefore most likely to be engaged in a topic in which they play a central role.  Truth be told – people love to talk about themselves.

This is not only a great tip for the most socially-awkward among us, but it also has important implications for marketers dealing with the challenges and opportunities that social media presents.  It is this very … Continue Reading

As marketers increase the ad spend on social network marketing and encourage marketing departments to spend more time on engaging and interacting with the consumer, it is becoming more essential to understand how new marketing channels fit within the customer experience ecosystem for the brand.  Let’s start by clearing up some of the buzz around user-generated and social media.  

Gray: “User-generated content means I’m losing control of my brand.”

It’s true that brands and companies no longer have direct control over each piece of information swimming around in cyberspace, making many marketers and executives cringe at the prospects … Continue Reading

In today’s digital world where the consumer is king, marketers are no-doubt challenged with navigating the tough road of brand development and coming to terms with a shifting balance in power.  With the rules of the road changing dramatically over the past few years, where real-time is the new time-frame, big companies are finding it particularly difficult to adapt.   If you find yourself nodding your head, here are five thoughts to help keep you, and your brands, on course:

1. It’s Okay to be a Little Naked: If the universal influx of reality TV didn’t give us a clue … Continue Reading