22Jun 2005 by Bob Cargill

The Power of Loyalty Marketing

Branding, Direct Marketing, Marketing
Every shopper likes to belong, to feel like an insider, to get a good deal that can’t be had anywhere else. At least, those are the cravings that retailers are counting on – and playing to – by asking their customers to use so-called loyalty cards, those small pieces of plastic so many of us have been conditioned like sheep to carry around in our wallets or on our key chains. I don’t know about you, but I have a handful of them, three for groceries alone (Stop & Shop, Shaw’s and Price Chopper), one for books (Barnes & Noble) and one for, well, this and that (CVS/Pharmacy). And while I sometimes feel like I’m being subjected to undue scrutiny when asked to produce one of these cards at the…
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22Jun 2004 by Bob Cargill

The Law of the Name

Branding, Miscellaneous
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 – On page 73 of their incredibly insightful book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, celebrated marketing strategists Al Ries and his daughter, Laura Ries, couldn’t be more succinct -- and sagacious -- in writing that “the most important branding decision you will ever make is what to name your product or service. Because in the long run a brand is nothing more than a name.” Of course, it takes much more than just a catchy name to succeed in business, but the Ries’ point is well taken. And they do expound on this law, reminding their readers not to “confuse what makes a brand successful in the short term with what makes a brand successful in the long term. In the short term, a brand…
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