Marketing in Real Life

We recently conducted some research on holiday travel plans for the 2009, finding that 39% of holiday travelers will stay with friends or family and43% of those traveling will drive instead of fly . The study also found that over half of all Americans will still travel this holiday season, 85% are traveling to visit friends and family. "We see this news as very positive for travel companies," comments Judy Melanson leader of Chadwick Martin Bailey’s Travel and Hospitality practice. "At least for the holiday season we are not seeing big drop-offs in actual travel or spending. People may be shifting their dollars but they are not simply staying home." There’s also good news on the spending front. Most are spending the same or more on holiday travel this year than last. Many (43%) are choosing to drive instead of fly this holiday season, while 39% are staying with friends and family instead of staying in a hotel. All of these measures are helping consumers to still tra...

An interesting post today over at Nigel Hollis' blog about academics at the 7th Annual Marketing Directors Conference in Athens, Greece minimizing the value of research in their speeches. When probed further they stated that it was the literal interpretation and simple surveys they were referring to. I think the big difference between quality research and simple data collection is the value proposition that all good custom research firms provide. We may write better questionnaires or more tightly manage projects, but the special sauce is generally in the interpretation of data, not the collection of it. And just as much in the evangelization of it (or at least facilitating evangelization). As Andy Vranesic of GE Healthcare said in our joint webinar today ( watch here ) - 10% of it is the research, 90% is putting the research to work in a business context.

Just last week I was reading a recent article by CMB's John Martin and Rob Davis, one of the CMB Advisory team members about how call centers and their corporate owners need to focus on fixing relationships, not just "resolving problems." ( Read the article here ) It made intuitive sense to me, and even more so after having a first hand experience with a call center that was less than... brand complimentary. In the company's defense, I had already switched to another provider based on something they could offer that my previous provider could not (my beloved iPhone.) But the way I was treated and the fact that they summarily dismissed what another call center rep had told me as " mis -information" took me from brand neutral to brand detractor. And then the call ended with the always popular "is there anything else I can resolve for you today?" from the manager. If the company's service strategies had been relationship focused they woul...

We just finished up some research about holiday shopping, trying to understand what people are doing and why and trying to better grasp the Black Friday phenomenon. Personally, I think its crazy, but my wife loves it and aparently the 84 million adults planning to hit the stores on Black Friday, 18 million before 6AM, agree. It’s no surprise that the majority (85%) of Black Friday shoppers hit the stores to take advantage of the sales, while others (18%) want to get the hot gifts before their gone, but Black Friday is becoming much more for some holiday shoppers. We found that it’s also the element of competition and a sense of camaraderie that drives many of these early morning shoppers to engage in the thrill of the hunt. "For many Americans shopping on Black Friday has become an annual tradition and a fun way for friends and family to spend time together," comments Jeff McKenna senior consultant at Chadwick Martin Bailey. "Still, while many consumers will be out on Bl...

Some interesting insights from our recent research.... Marketing Performance Advantage Study of 400 companies links performance to specific marketing management best practices Boston, MA (11/3/2009) – Mid-sized firms and B2B companies are struggling the most at improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, according to the results of a landmark survey of more than 400 companies by strategic marketing consultancy CMG Partners and market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. The recently released study -- entitled The Marketing Performance Advantage -- found that while 75% of all participants expressed interest in measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives, mid-sized firms and B2B companies were also more likely to report having no measurement in place or only limited measurement. For example: B2B companies and mid-sized firms were both three times as likely as other companies to have no measurement system in place 44% of B2B firms report limited or no marketing ...