Monozukuri for Sustainable Brands in the 21st Century

The word Monozukuri has only been in use for almost 15 years. In 1998, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office set up a "Monozukuri Kondankai", in order to reverse the trend of deindustrialization and hollowing out that Japan was experiencing after the end of the Japanese financial bubble by affirming Japan’s strengths in manufacturing. In general, monozukuri  is the "art, science and craft of making things." While monozukuri is used to describe technology and processes integrating sustainable development, production and procurement, it also includes intangible qualities such as unique craftsmanship and dedication to continuous...

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Smart Brands - Economic Depressions 1-0

An economic depression affects everyone. During the Panic of 1857, the Post World-War I Crisis, the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 or even the "Greek Crisis", the basic mechanisms of consumer attitudes were similar. Both the value perceived by consumers and shareholder value were heavily influenced by brand. Brand can drive growth in an up market or protect the company’s value in a down market. But, what really happens we enter a recession phase and what are the impacts? Actually: • Investors become very risk-averse. They are quick to criticize companies’ performance, resulting in decreasing share prices. •...

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5+1 mistakes B2B marketers should avoid

1. TARGETING THE WRONG LEADS Many marketing campaigns are simply targeted at the wrong people. Completely understandable, given that the companies we are marketing into may have a hundred thousand employees or more. Being a "data junkie” is the key here – make sure you’re obsessed by the data the campaign will be sent out to. Its relevancy and its quality. In a B2B company, LinkedIn and sometimes Facebook and Twitter are necessary; these channels are so popular that most people assume a company doesn't exist if they are not on social media. Also, take the time to build a brand strategy. You may be on all...

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Synergistic Marketing Campaigns

There are probably two important developments that helped evolve the media mix concept into what we now think of as multi-channel synergistic marketing campaigns: • A transition by marketing and advertising professionals toward integrated communications.  This marked a shift in focus from transactions to customer relationships. Even outside the marketing arena, engineers and statisticians were contributing by following the lead of successful Japanese industries that re-engineered business processes around customers’ needs. Power was then shifting to the consumer and the management of  communication processes was being...

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