Author:
Jason Voiovich
Ecra Creative Group
Key Points:
1. It may be a response to the globalization of the food supply, but locally-produced foods are a growing trend.
2. Following the same broad strategy as organics, local food producers use emotional appeals as well as raw facts to convince us to pay more.
3. In the end, however, globalization (and resulting efficiencies) may be too powerful a force for anything but a niche market presence for “local” foods.
I had every intention to buy Gold’n Plump chicken.
My wife and I were at the grocery store (which shall remain nameless) last weekend. And I was ready. I had seen the ‘local chicken’ ads on television and on billboards during my (some days too many) trips around town. They made sense to me. I was ready to ‘take a stand’.
When we arrived at the meat counter, I noticed a competing national brand on sale for 20 percent less money. But I was prepared. Locally produced food was important to me. I put it in the cart anyway.
That’s when I noticed the I-can’t-take-you-anywhere look.
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Author: Jason Voiovich Ecra Creative Group
Key Points: 1. Apple’s latest operating system release, OSX 10.6 (code named “Snow Leopard”), spawned an unplanned grassroots effort to help real cats in the wild. 2. The attention is a boon to Snow Leopard conservancy organizations, due perhaps in part to unexpected Google search results, the speed of social media, and Apple’s status. 3. However, the real hook is the image Apple uses to promote its new product - so different from other Apple creative and so powerfully engaging.
This was never supposed to happen.
The new Apple Operating System - technically named Mac OSX 10.6 - simply was following the naming convention the company adopted when it released version 10.2. That was Jaguar. Then came Panther (10.3). Then Tiger (10.4). Then Leopard (10.5).
You get the idea.
The newest release - 10.6, or “Snow Leopard” - has been positioned by Apple as an important, but evolutionary release. Most of the upgrading this time around happened “under the hood”. In other words users won’t see too many new whiz-bang features. From that perspective, using “Snow Leopard”, versus the more distinctly named “Lion”, made product management sense.
From a business objectives perspective, it also helped Apple stay one step ahead of the upcoming Microsoft 7 operating system release.
But something odd happened on the way to market. (more…)
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Author:
Jason Voiovich
Ecra Creative Group
Key Points:
1. Abercrombie & Fitch publicly said is abandoning its premium price strategy and focusing its offerings in order to boost earnings.
2. Lowering prices, however, is a dangerous slippery slope in the fashion world. Shoppers devalue the brand, and will only buy when there’s a bargain.
3. Youth trends are fickle, but Abercrombie & Fitch could have positioned itself for success if it had only reinvented itself sooner. It is likely too late now.
I thought I’d never see it.
A sale. At Abercrombie & Fitch.
Middle school has arrived for our family, and so has a certain sensitivity toward the clothes we buy our oldest son. Needless to say, I found myself at the kid-version of the popular Abercrombie & Fitch. This is the store with less soft core imagery than the adult version, but basically the same clothes, the same undeniably pungent over-cologned aroma, and the same lucky-I-have-rock-n-roll-ear-damage music volume.
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