All Entries Tagged With: "Consumer"
Luxury: For What It’s Worth
What makes a pair of Jimmy Choo heel sandals worth $1,150? Or a $17,500 price tag for a night at the Dunton Hot Springs? In essence, what is luxury worth? Everyone perceives products and service value differently. You’ve likely been in Gucci or Hermes and said, really? A shoe-shaped Gucci key ring is $170. Really? For some, it’s worth it. “We see consumers as the ultimate…
Facebook Launches Questions: A New Q&A Feature
Facebook unveiled the beta version of its new Q&A feature, Questions, on Wednesday. Questions appears as “Ask Questions” on the website, though it is not available to all users at this point. The new Facebook product feature taps into the collective knowledge of its half a billion users to create a more social version of Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia and is a great example of…
Recession-Proof Luxury: Timelessness & Enduring Quality
If you had a choice between buying one uber trendy dress this season and another trendy dress next or buying a timeless dress this season and a timeless cardigan next, which would you choose? At year two, you could either have one dress or one dress and one cardigan. Investing in timeless luxury items is a way to maximize spending dollars in recessionary times while maintaining…
Ask New Biz Strategy: Re-Focusing on Q & A
Ask Jeeves, the mid-nineties butler search sensation, is re-launching its site to focus less on keywords and more on answering user questions. The new business strategy will likely work in favor of the search engine, as it differentiates it from keyword-driven power-engines like Google and Yahoo…
The Luxury of Once-In-A-Lifetime Experiences
You are assigned a mission in which you will train with former M16 agents. Your journey will take you around the world where you must complete challenging tasks that require both brains and brawn. Do you wish to accept? Many high net worth…
The Golden Wall of China
China’s nouveau riche are experiencing a Rumspringa of their own, but careful to not swing too far. The Chinese market is trying to find its prestigious identity among established luxury brands in Europe and America. In fact, many affluent Chinese reject…
Apple iPhone 4 vs. Motorola Droid X: The Aftermath
I’ll save you 10 minutes of your life: after playing around with the phones, the reviewers state the winner comes down to personal preferences. The technical specs and pricing comparisons of the iPhone 4 and Droid X are simply too close to call. However, now that both phones are in the hands of consumers, has a clear winner appeared?
2010 Luxury Trend Report
Indiana Jones-inspired, five-figure vacations, the Chinese economic boom, social network-themed martini lounges, the perceived value of discounted prestige brands. The 2010 luxury market is all over the map after a year of budget-tightening and nervous…
Effective Social Media Strategies To Generate Sales Leads
To reach 50 million users, it took Radio 38 years, TV 13 years, the Internet 4 years, Apple’s iPod 3 years while Facebook added 100 million users in just nine months. Social media is a cross-cultural, political, gender and generation phenomenon and…
Interview with Stopwatch Marketing Expert AnnaMaria Turano
Imagine buying your next cellphone. The shelves are packed with an upwards of 10-15 cellphones and brochures for various monthly plans. How long does it take you to make a purchasing decision on a potentially $200 phone versus buying a candy bar…
Marketing Advice as Consumer Saving Increases
35 years after the US personal savings rate peaked at 14.6%, the personal savings rate recently upticked to 4% in May 2010 (it turned negative in 2005). Indeed, the Federal Reserve released data that showed credit card balances dropped $8.5 billion during April 2010, the 19th month in an unprecedented stretch of declining credit card debt.
The Power & Influence of Social Media: Shifting Consumer Behaviors
Social media has had explosive growth as a “trustworthy source” because so many individuals look to social media in their personal life, work life, and everyday life. From Facebook to Twitter, and LinkedIn to Evernote, we’re constantly surrounded by family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances that rely heavily on social media sources as their primary sources for information and relevant content. So, the next important question to ask is: Will this be the end of traditional media, and is it dead? “Dead” might not be the word. “Dying” might best reflect what’s truly happening with traditional media outlets.
Economist Brand A Bright Spot In World Going Dark
S. Korea prepares for war with N. Korea; Greece first domino to weaken the Euro; China gov.’t slows its economic pace; BP’s oil slick damages US fishing industry. The world is accelerating faster than many of us can ascertain with so many lines cast we…
The 21st Century Empowered Consumer
I attended a “destination wedding” several years ago in Florence, Italy. A woman I knew who was also wedding guest had an emergency and had to return home to California a few days early. I overheard her on the phone with an American Airlines agent trying to rearrange her reservation. Her voice telegraphed tense frustration as she stated, “I have a full fare, first class ticket, I’m a Platinum American Airlines card holder—I belong to the Admirals Club, I have thousands of frequent flyer miles, I have an American Airlines credit card and you still can’t get me a seat on a plane out of Italy in the next day?! “ she demanded. “Where’s the Love?” It was her plea “Where’s the Love” that seized my attention.
Mercedes Gets Profitable Through Customer Intimacy
Mercedes’ iconic three-pointed star symbolizes the auto manufacturer’s mobility on land, water, and in the air. Given its recent marketing efforts, the prestige car brand might want to add another point to its skill-set: digital mobility. Mercedes…
Top 3 Wow Customer Service Companies
It’s fair to say everyone has experienced terrible customer service. Call about your cable bill and you’re pushed through a labyrinth of menus — half of which do not recognize your voice — then funneled to a person who can barely speak your language. It might…
California Considers Advertising on Electronic License Plates
Advertisers have displayed their messages nearly everywhere — from billboards to zeppelins and t-shirts to tattoos. California, the home of tech innovators such as Google and Apple, might offer a new medium to advertise: electronic license plates. It is California’s latest effort to create jobs and fix its $19 b budget deficit. The idea might just be a win-win for California and its…
How to Use Social Media to Improve Your Health
Unlike VHS, social media enables users to peel back the layers of information to discover the best possible solution — from expert advice to finding a human connection to help cope with illness. How has the health and wellness adapted to web 2.0…
The Rising 3D Trend in Entertainment
At this week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Nintendo introduced its newest gaming device – the Nintendo 3DS – a product that is already garnering positive buzz and attention around the Web. The 3DS is the latest addition to a small but growing set of products in tech, and part of a much larger and rising trend in entertainment – 3D.
FourSquare: What the Buzz is About?
If you’ve been using social networks for the past few years, you’ve seen how the buzz has shifted from MySpace to Facebook to Twitter and back to Facebook. These seemingly organic shifts between virtual worlds have probably left you wondering what might…
