Successful Marketing Focuses On Targeting, Not Segmentation

There once was an upheaval at IBM; a David and Goliath moment. That was when personal computers, namely Apple, entered our landscape. The world became divided into Macs and IBM PC’s. The genericization of the Mac alternative led to a proliferation of non-IBM PC offerings from Dell, HP and others. IBM, the Goliath and “owner” of the PC, gave up. Eventually, IBM’s laptop divisi...

Bear with me as I wax philosophical. It’s a circuitous path, but it will loop us to AI. So here goes.

In his sweeping, turn-of-the-century account of Western culture and ideas since the Enlightenment, From Dawn to Decadence, historian Jacques Barzun used the term decadence to characterize the modern world.

He defined it as a “falling off” or the incapacity to do...

You are likely focused on the next round of innovations in the pipeline and how you will elevate and communicate the attributes and features of these new products at launch. Familiar territory for the vast majority of day-to-day marketing assignments and priorities. Yet the consumer has other priorities, driven by existential shifts and concerns that increasingly interfere wi...

One of the most difficult tasks for brand marketers is aligning an enterprise around a corporate Brand Purpose (North Star) and

The most consequential brand decisions are often made before anyone calls them brand decisions.

Leadership chooses markets, customers, products, pricing, acquisitions, distribution, and growth priorities. Marketing is then asked to develop a brand strategy around those choices.

At that point, the brand has already been substantially defined.

Brand strateg...