I suffered a mild disappointment but I am not bitter at the brewers of ‘The Worlds Best Ale’ (WBA2009).

Yorkshire Life mailed me a welcome Pub Guide and the main advertiser was Frederic Robinson who it transpires have no pubs in Yorkshire! Still it got them this name check.

Naming their world cup beer ‘4:4:2′ they spoil it by proudly announcing they use Hallertau Mittlefrüher German and Saaz Czech hops.

An own goal or two on these promotions.

What is going down the throats of many beer drinkers in preference to Budweiser? – It is the Bavaria beer promoted by the orange clad ambush marketeers in South Africa.

Smart thinking and a bit of chutzpa has created a marketing coup. Watch out for copy cats at the Olympic Games 2010. Stay the right side of the law if you are contemplating an ‘ambush’ inside a stadium with protected sponsors rights.

Note
Prosciutto grows on trees. Yes surprising but it is found on ‘ambushes.

Davison is an invention and ideas development company. Inventors and small companies often find it hard to understand the innovation process. If that is your situation you could do worse than see how this American company performs. It starts with a confidentiality agreement.

Ideas are 10 a penny or should it be cent. Experience getting to market via retailers or licensing is worth lots more than a penny.
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CRM

Your customers are your best asset so it makes sense to manage the relationship (CRM).   Do not over-manage.

Databases are important but listings on a spreadsheet are seldom valuable unless you have thought through your customers needs and desires. From this knowledge you can design and create your service & support with an appropriate contact strategy.

The more you know about your customers and prospects the better you can react.

Virtual Intellectual Assets may have helped create virtual pets but it is brains and tangible assets that make things happen.

‘FooPets are the world’s cutest and most realistic virtual pets online….’ Well they would be I suppose but the sale of virtual goods is a new market with lots of innovative opportunity. The quote was from Marcosweb a virtual marketing tool

Why keep a dog and bark yourself when you can have a Foopet

Triumph, the heritage motorcycle marque has Lord Digby Jones as Chairman.
According to the Guardian Jones ‘cites Triumph’s strong brand, new products and a big push at domestic and overseas sales’ as a reason for succeeding post receivership. Add to that the benefit of currency movements, particular the Yen. and you will know why 80% of sales are now exports.

Keep your eye on currency movements to aid purchasing and selling strategies.

Brands need to think internationally like Wikipedia. Bonbrand has failed as I can replicate Japanese or Russian script from Wiki’s list of international site statistics.

English
The Free Encyclopedia 3 290 000+ articles
Deutsch
Die freie Enzyklopädie 1 066 000+ Artikel
Español
La enciclopedia libre 596 000+ artículos Continue reading →

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Beware throwing too much investment into a failing brand! The purpose of business should be to improve your financial stability and sometimes that will mean milking the brands or curtailing investment.

It may pay to withdraw from some market sectors to husband your resources for use elsewhere. Putative Chancellors of the Exchequer please note.

Merging two well known and respected charities, Age Concern and Help the Aged seems like a great idea. Better campaigning and use of resources are now unified under one banner or ribbon.

50-Plus Marketing regularly comments on the process of naming and branding this new Charity together with other issues pertinent to their chosen niche.

Beware mergers and renaming do not always go smoothly but happily Age UK seems to be catching on via the Charities Shops.

In the competitive world of seed merchants the more outlets for your product the better.
Thompson Morgan have a well developed Affiliate Programme that works for websites like mine. All the hard work around product, payment, distribution and content management will be done by the brand owner.

In the unlikely event that you want to water your garden with a new irrigation system this summer try this affiliation link