Hello, my name is Cheese and I hope some of you hate me

May 5, 2013

Strong brands have haters.  All brands should strive to have some. When I meet somebody new at a party or a social gathering, I usually introduce myself by saying “Hi, my name is Cheese, what’s yours?” Saying this almost always evokes a physical response.  Often it’s a smile, or a laugh.  Occasionally it’s a cock […]

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Emotions are a bitch (or why robots suck at marketing).

March 22, 2013

WARNING:  This blog post and video contains profanity. Businesses sell but humans buy.  HUMANS BUY!  All things being equal, humans would prefer to buy from other humans and not from human-type thinggies, people who are going through the motions in a robotic way, or who are just “following the rules,” or who are too rushed […]

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Case Study: Why a Premium Brand is Willing to Sell to Foodservice – Hodo Soy Partners With Chipotle to Test Tofu Options

March 11, 2013

  by  star5112    Hodo Soy Beanery is a small, regional tofu brand based in Oakland, CA.  Founder Minh Tsai is from Vietnam and he started Hodo Soy in 2004 when he recognized that most tofu made in the United States was an inferior product to what he was used to eating as a child.  He solved […]

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5 Behaviors You Need to Adopt to Become a Marketing Rock Star

March 2, 2013

  by  Anirudh Koul  In my career fantasy, I'm a rock star:  a musician in a popular band that tours the world, plays concerts in front of thousands of adoring, screaming (and paying) fans, and the subject of countless press requests, magazine cover photos, and articles and interviews where I get to share my beliefs on everything […]

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The Future Is Already Here: Marketing Has Always Been About Growing Sales

January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!  I don't know if I was just cranky because I was wrestling with the idea of whether or not I should have created New Year's resolutions, but I read something yesterday from Hubspot that made me literally roll my eyes and mutter "you've got to be freaking kidding me." Hubspot recently published […]

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Design Thinking Interview with Clark Kellogg of Collective Invention

December 3, 2012

This is a transcript of my interview with Clark Kellogg on the subject of Design Thinking: Gary:    OK, I’m here today with Clark Kellogg, and Clark is a partner at Collective Invention which is a social innovation consulting firm that helps organizations imagine the future and identify tools and programs to achieve it.  He’s also […]

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9 Benefits of Sales Promotions

May 31, 2011

 “Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!” ~P.T. Barnum When P.T. Barnum spoke about promotion, he was most likely using the word as a verb.  When I speak of promotions, I mean it as a noun.  It’s a planned and coordinated event meant to sell a specific product or service for a limited time and that […]

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How QR Codes Can be Used to Share Your Content

May 23, 2011

“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!” ~Jane Austen   Let’s say you’ve put up a new menu board to help you introduce new lunch items but you don’t have time to make up new brochures that explain the products in detail, or room on the menu to describe them in more […]

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How an Outside Perspective Can Revolutionize Your Business

May 17, 2011

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” ~Harold Wilson   In 1972, a 42 year old man by the name of Maurice was attending a dinner party in Manhattan when he struck up a conversation with another man whose family owned movie theaters.  […]

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5 Powerful Low Cost Retail Marketing Ideas

May 16, 2011

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~George S. Patton Sometimes all it takes to create a powerful marketing program is to think up new ways to deliver benefits to your customers.   In the event that you don’t have enough time to think this week, I’m offering you 5 new marketing ideas you […]

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