Fun & Humor Potential of AI “We approach the integration of AI with a mixture of excitement and caution,” Kate Seymour, marketing director at CMYK, said recently. She captured I think how many businesses are thinking about AI. She went on: “While we recognise the vast potential AI holds for enhancing our own marketing strategies and improving the services we offer […] Tom Fishburne March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 2 min read Technology & InnovationAIFun & HumorPredictions and ForecastsShoppersData & InsightsSponsoredChatGPTOperations & Supply ChainExecutivesAgencies 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Behind the Focus Group Glass I’ve always been fascinated with how marketing teams make decisions, particularly how they try to tap into consumer insights. Any form of consumer research is an inexact science. Focus group glass can distort insights like a fun house mirror. It can easily be shaped by the team’s own biases and politics. Quotes can be cherry-picked […] Tom Fishburne March 10, 2024March 10, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorThick DataConsumersData & InsightsSponsoredTechnology & InnovationExecutivesPredictions and ForecastsPartnershipsGovernmentGoogleGeneral MillsDept. HBCBig Data 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Writing and SEO Word Soup I recently met Jono Alderson, former head of SEO at Yoast, at Marketing Festival in Brno. He gave a fascinating talk on the state of content marketing. Several of his observations resonated with me, including the insularity of using the same search engine optimization checklists as everyone else as a starting point to create anything. […] Tom Fishburne March 3, 2024March 3, 2024 3 min read AITechnology & InnovationFun & HumorSponsoredPredictions and ForecastsDept. NonfoodData & InsightsChatGPT 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Marketing Handoff to Sales The quality of marketing leads is an age-old sales gripe, captured best by Glengarry Glen Ross, the classic 1984 David Mamet play turned 1992 movie. Salesman Shelley Levene is constantly complaining that the leads are “weak”, and the focus of the plot is the question of who stole the golden “Glengarry” leads. In B2B marketing, […] Tom Fishburne February 26, 2024February 26, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorSponsoredShoppersPredictions and ForecastsMarketing: Social MediaTechnology & InnovationSustainabilityOwned Brands (Private Label)Dept. Nonfood 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Future of Search The future of search is ask. The future of results is answer. I like how Carl Holden at Zellus Marketing described the shift in how we’re all going to be navigating the Internet: “Since the turn of the millennium, the verb “search” has dominated our interaction with the internet—inputting keywords into a box and sifting […] Tom Fishburne February 11, 2024February 11, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorPredictions and ForecastsAITechnology & InnovationGooglePartnershipsSponsoredDept. Natural / OrganicHealth & WellnessStore LocationWeatherChatGPTData & InsightsMarketing: Direct & Personalization 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Super Bowl Ad Playbook One of my earliest cartoons (back in January 2003) showed a large gathering of people socializing at a Super Bowl party and a guy saying “Time to come back! The commercials are starting again!” The Super Bowl is the one time every year when ordinary people actively seek out advertising. I found a reference to […] Tom Fishburne February 4, 2024February 4, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorHoliday & EventsESG and CSRSponsoredConsumersThick DataInsight ProvidersBig DataPredictions and ForecastsData & InsightsResults & InvestmentShoppersExecutivesSustainability 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Staying Focused “Our ‘Aha moments’ are literally quiet brain signals.” I like this observation from Dr. David Rock I came across in a NYT article on the impact of modern distractions. With modern work culture wired for always-on communication, finding the space and time for “Aha moments” is a challenge. We have to be deliberate if we […] Tom Fishburne January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorSponsoredDept. NonfoodTechnology & InnovationAssociatesPredictions and Forecasts 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Navigating Innovation I recently stumbled across this observation on innovation from Ger Perdisatt of Microsoft: “Often, companies talk a good game about innovation, but when these aspirations bump up against the realpolitik of running corporate organizations, there is typically only one winner: the status quo.” The pressure of the status quo is strong. Champions of innovation have […] Tom Fishburne January 14, 2024January 14, 2024 3 min read Fun & HumorTechnology & InnovationSponsoredPredictions and ForecastsMarketing: Social Media 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Happy (Product) Returns “Free Returns” has become the new “Free Shipping,” which is creating a massive logistical headache for retailers, particularly in the weeks after Christmas. This year, shoppers in the US returned 14.5% of the items they purchased, valued at $743 billion. That’s nearly double the return rates of pre-pandemic 2019. One third of shoppers now […] Tom Fishburne January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 3 min read ReturnsFun & HumorMarketing: TradeSponsoredShoppersHoliday & EventsCustomer ExperienceOperations & Supply ChainThick DataDeliveryStrategyInsight ProvidersCOVID19 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like AI-Generated Content I’ve been thinking lately about an observation from Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard: “Advertising has a bad reputation as a content crap trap … “In this digital age we’re producing thousands of new ads, posts, tweets, every week, every month, every year. We eventually concluded all we were doing was adding to […] Tom Fishburne December 17, 2023December 19, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorAITechnology & InnovationSponsoredHoliday & EventsDept. NonfoodProcter & GambleMarketing: Social MediaGoogleChatGPT 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Permission Marketing We’re nearing the twenty-fifth anniversary of Seth Godin’s prescient book, Permission Marketing. Published in early 1999, Permission Marketing set the stage for modern marketing. Many of the marketing tools, channels, and technology have changed or evolved in the past quarter-century (although email has surprisingly remained a fixture), but the ideal of Permission Marketing is as […] Tom Fishburne December 10, 2023December 10, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorTechnology & InnovationAISponsoredConsumersPredictions and ForecastsDept. Nonfood 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Many Hats of the CMO I’ve drawn a number of cartoons over the years on the evolving Chief Marketing Officer role, which is partly a proxy for the ever-changing job of marketing in general. Long gone are the days when CMOs were just in charge of “marketing comms” and marketing was dismissively described as “the coloring-in department.” Today’s Chief Marketing […] Tom Fishburne December 3, 2023December 4, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorExecutivesDept. NonfoodTechnology & InnovationAISponsoredInsight ProvidersCustomer ExperienceShoppersMarketing: BrandChatGPT 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Intent Signals One of the mythical holy grails of marketing is to be able to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Easier said than done. Despite all the focus on customer journeys, we’re still operating in the dark on what customers are actually looking for, much of the time. Even […] Tom Fishburne November 19, 2023November 19, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorShoppersTechnology & InnovationAIData & InsightsSponsoredMarketing: Direct & PersonalizationMarketing: ShopperDept. NonfoodDept. Beverage 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Fear of AI A recent survey from Funnel and Ravn Research found that 64% of marketers fear AI will replace their jobs in the next five years, and three in four worry that AI will impact their pay or value. Whether or not we’re feeling that fear ourselves, members of our teams likely are. That’s a key factor […] Tom Fishburne October 29, 2023October 30, 2023 3 min read Technology & InnovationAIFun & HumorPredictions and ForecastsSponsoredChatGPTThick DataResults & InvestmentInclusivityConsulting 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Share of Wallet and Funflation Kevin Jordan-Deen, SVP at Colgate-Palmolive, encouraged me last week to re-imagine and re-create a “Share of Wallet” cartoon I originally drew in 2009 during the “Great Recession”. When I drew the original cartoon, I was GM for the recently launched Method brand in the UK. Much of the recessionary marketing climate at the time […] Tom Fishburne October 22, 2023October 22, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorConsumersSponsoredEconomyExecutivesDept. NonfoodTargetDept. Toys & GamesHoliday & EventsInternational - UKMarketing: TradeOwned Brands (Private Label)Best Buy 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor AI and the Future of Work On Friday, Professor Scott Galloway released ProfG.ai, a “digital twin” trained on his writing and capable of answering questions in his voice. That’s just one of many experiments with different models on how generative AI can impact the future of work. A few weeks ago, BCG released the results of a fascinating Harvard-led […] Tom Fishburne October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 3 min read Technology & InnovationAIFun & HumorConsultingChatGPTPredictions and ForecastsSponsoredInclusivityAssociates 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Moments of Truth In 2005, A.G. Lafley, CEO of the world’s largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble, introduced the concept of “moments of truth” to the marketing world. As he wrote in the P&G Annual Report that year: “The best brands consistently win two moments of truth. The first moment occurs at the store shelf, when a consumer decides […] Tom Fishburne October 8, 2023October 8, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorConsumersShoppersSponsoredCustomer ExperienceMarketing: ShopperGoogleTechnology & InnovationData & InsightsDept. NonfoodExecutivesMarketing: Loyalty & SubscriptionOwned Brands (Private Label)Procter & GambleResults & InvestmentMerchandising 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Change for the Sake of Change Marketers are the first to get bored by their own marketing. Particularly when a new leader joins a brand team, there’s a common bias in marketing that what will drive growth is to change everything everywhere all at once. Given the revolving door of many marketing roles, the cycle can repeat with each leadership […] Tom Fishburne October 1, 2023October 1, 2023 2 min read Fun & HumorPackagingConsumersSponsoredTechnology & InnovationPepsiCoMondelezDept. Fresh 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor What’s the Marketing ROI? At the Cannes Lions a few months ago, Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar and CFO Sachin Mehra gave a joint talk on the CMO/CFO relationship called “Happy Tension.” Raja described the typical dynamic this way: “It’s shocking that less than 40% of the finance people think that marketers can make sound commercial decisions, leaving the remaining […] Tom Fishburne September 24, 2023October 5, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorExecutivesResults & InvestmentSponsoredPartnershipsTargetProcter & GambleData & Insights 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Productively Unproductive Dwight D. Eisenhower reportedly prioritized his work life by classifying tasks as important or not important, and urgent or not urgent. The resulting two-by-two graph became known as The Eisenhower Matrix and it influenced a lot of thinking in work productivity. We generally spend far too much on work that is urgent but not important. […] Tom Fishburne September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorTechnology & InnovationAssociatesDept. NonfoodESG and CSRDept. FreshMarketing: Social MediaMeta (Facebook)Data Visualization 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Ratings Fatigue Net Promoter Score (NPS) turns 20 later this year. What Bain consultant Fred Reichheld first introduced in a HBR article in December 2003 is now ubiquitous. The “how likely are you to recommend” question is asked endlessly after customer experiences, large and small. The metric that this question generates is now tracked by two-thirds […] Tom Fishburne September 3, 2023October 5, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorShoppersCustomer ExperienceMarketing: UGCTechnology & InnovationPartnershipsExecutivesDelivery 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Generative AI Adoption I love the analogy of ChatGPT that Hubspot CTO Dharmesh Shah shared at the start of the year: “Netscape was to the Internet what ChatGPT is to Artificial Intelligence. “The Internet existed before Netscape. But the browser helped millions of mere mortals connect the dots on what could be done, and dream of what could […] Tom Fishburne August 27, 2023August 29, 2023 2 min read AITechnology & InnovationFun & HumorConsultingChatGPTData & InsightsCompetitionExecutivesMarketing: Social Media 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Third-Party Cookiepocalypse Nearly 10 years ago, I drew one of my most popular cartoons that showed a Peeping Tom looking through the window of a living room at a couple. One says, “Don’t worry, it’s only marketers collecting our personal data so they can create more relevant advertising for us.” Third-party cookies have been at the center […] Tom Fishburne August 13, 2023August 13, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorTechnology & InnovationData & InsightsAIGooglePredictions and ForecastsDept. NonfoodStrategyConsumersMarketing: Direct & Personalization 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor The CMO Role “In some organizations, just the expectations of CMOs are just so out of whack with the reality of what a CMO can really deliver on the timelines, and with the resources and with the headwinds that they have… “I think that in some organizations, you’re just being set up to fail, right?” Gartner analyst Chris […] Tom Fishburne July 30, 2023July 31, 2023 2 min read ExecutivesFun & HumorCustomer ExperienceTechnology & InnovationSustainabilityShoppersInsight Providers 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Brands on Threads Meta debuted their own version of Twitter a couple weeks ago called Threads. The launch created a fire drill for many a marketing team, deciding whether to jump in and if so, in what way. Part of the alarm was caused by the record user growth of the app. At 100 million users in five […] Tom Fishburne July 23, 2023July 24, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorMarketing: Social MediaMeta (Facebook)ESG and CSRTwitterAmazonHealth & WellnessStrategyTechnology & InnovationDept. NonfoodDept. Natural / OrganicDept. ApparelChatGPTAI 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Crossing the Chasm I’ve drawn a few different cartoons over the years riffing on Geoffrey Moore’s 1991 classic, “Crossing the Chasm.” I once had the opportunity to give him the original of one of these when we spoke at the same Silicon Valley conference. Given the faddish nature of conventional wisdom in marketing, I particularly appreciate models like […] Tom Fishburne July 16, 2023July 16, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorMeta (Facebook)MetaverseTechnology & InnovationConsumersTrends: TechTech: AR and VRExecutivesResults & InvestmentStrategy 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor 5 Stages of Price Promotions “Price promotions are a drug. They are the crack cocaine of marketing. I hope we’ve seen an end to the senseless promotions that we’ve seen.” Les Binet, group head of effectiveness at adam&eveDDB, shared these thoughts at last year’s IPA’s Global Effectiveness conference. Much of the spike in sales that brands see during a […] Tom Fishburne July 2, 2023July 2, 2023 3 min read Fun & HumorMarketing: TradeHoliday & EventsEconomyConsumersMarketing: BrandInsight ProvidersBig Data 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Innovation and TikTok The WSJ had a great feature last week on Chipotle and the “Keithadilla.” It was a fascinating case study on the state of innovation in the age of TikTok trends. In late 2022, a TikTok influencer named Keith Lee reinterpreted the Chipotle Quesadilla as an off-menu hack that included a DIY sauce combining Chipotle-Honey Vinaigrette […] Tom Fishburne June 25, 2023June 25, 2023 2 min read Marketing: Social MediaTikTokFun & HumorTechnology & InnovationRestaurantsAssociatesConsumersOperations & Supply ChainExecutivesGeneral MillsDept. GroceryDept. ApparelThick DataMarketing: In Store 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Impact of ChatGPT Salesforce recently found that 67% of senior IT leaders are pushing to adopt generative AI across their businesses in the next 18 months, with one-third naming it their top priority. At the same time, a majority of these senior IT leaders have concerns about what could happen. Among other reservations, the report found that […] Tom Fishburne June 18, 2023July 11, 2023 3 min read AITechnology & InnovationFun & HumorChatGPTMarketing: VoiceInternational - North AmericaAssociatesProcter & GambleExecutivesConsultingDept. Nonfood 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Virtual Reality Scott Galloway had an interesting take on Apple’s Vision Pro announcement last week: “It will officially be the most elegant final nail in the coffin of this sort of headset-driven VR consensual hallucination.” If it’s a “headset-driven VR consensual hallucination,” it includes not only the tech players, but all of the brands that jumped on […] Tom Fishburne June 11, 2023July 11, 2023 2 min read MetaverseFun & HumorTechnology & InnovationTech: AR and VRTrends: TechAIResults & InvestmentThick DataConsumersEconomyExecutivesIndustry Conferences and EventsMarketing: Social MediaTwitter 0 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Charted: Car Brand Loyalty in 2024 See this visualization first on the Voronoi app. Car Brand Loyalty in 2024 This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources. This graphic visualizes the best and worst car brands in terms of brand loyalty. […] Written by Visual Capitalist March 26, 2024March 26, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Key Takeaways From Shoptalk Spring 2024 Shoptalk always brings the best and brightest minds of the industry together for four days packed with insights, networking opportunities, trend predictions and so much more. This year, the spring event in Las Vegas was no exception. But like many other major industry events, Shoptalk can feel like you’re sprinting a marathon — there’s so […] Written by TotalRetail March 25, 2024March 26, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Nike Pivots, Embraces Wholesale Once Again Amid faltering demand for shoes and clothing as well as slipping digital sales, Nike Inc. said last week that it will bank a lot more on the thing it has spent the past several years turning away from: other retailers. Executives discussed those plans on Nike’s earnings call, during which it announced that while fiscal […] Written by TotalRetail March 25, 2024March 26, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Retail Leaders Weigh in on the FTC’s Proposed Updates to the Green Guides The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) is set to release an updated version of its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims this year. These “Green Guides” — which haven’t been updated in over a decade — do not have the force of law but provide marketers with guidance on how to make properly substantiated […] Written by TotalRetail March 25, 2024March 26, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Fun & Humor Kroger SWOT Analysis 2024 The Cincinnati superstar is the largest traditional supermarket company in the U.S. Although Kroger has served Americans since 1883, its essence is remarkably modern. Written by Lisa Goller March 21, 2024March 21, 2024 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked