industry thoughts from Clarteza

At a certain point of my life I realized that I don’t fit in! I’m sure some of you have felt that way too. After working at big companies for over a decade I realized there might be something I do that’s not conforming to “the rules”. At big companies, I always tried to fix everything, find new solutions, create new departments, and eliminate inefficiencies (and yes this is my pet peeve!). Most importantly, I believed that some rules are meant to be broken. At heart, I was an entrepreneur, but … 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

“Why Then Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?” – Shakespeare

These days, it feels like the discourse between the Marketer and the Consumer has become something like a Shakespearean sonnet on steroids:  No longer is the Consumer being poetically wooed in a 60 second commercial, She is being craftily urged with texts, video billboards and in-store TV offers each shorter than an iambic tetrameter for “brevity is the soul of wit” says Shakespeare.  Despite all the attention, nay, the beloved Consumer seems rather disinterested as She has to manage Her smart phone, home phone, blog, email, Facebook page, … 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

We read a lot of press about the information overload and time-pressed nature of consumer lives.  They are inundated with information from more sources, on more screens, more of the time.  The average consumer is exposed to thousands of advertisements per day, smartphones keep them from ever turning off and tuning out, and they live in a society in which there is often simply not enough hours in the day.  As the consumer environment has changed, marketers have adapted by investing more funds in the clutter, to ensure their brands are seen across all screens, across all formats, and across … Continue Reading