How do you win new customers? Ask your extreme loyalists
Mark RitsonThose who spend more and buy your brand more often have unparalleled insight into what makes it special – and into what appeals to new customers too.
Mark Ritson – Brand Management
Giving your brand a good death is an underrated marketing skill
Mark RitsonAlthough we never talk about it, marketers kill as many brands as we create, and doing so in the right way at the right time is crucial to business health.
For Omega and Swatch, the rewards of co-branding could be astronomical
Mark RitsonFar from cannibalising Omega’s luxury sales, the collaboration with Swatch on the £200 Moonswatch will breathe new life into both these sister brands.
An ethnography of pricing: How and why marketers should put up prices
Mark RitsonInflation means price increases are marketing’s number-one priority for 2022. But how many marketers are capable or even aware of the challenge ahead? Our columnist provides a handy cheat sheet for those who want to get it right.
Good purpose, bad purpose: Marketers shouldn’t oversimplify the arguments
Mark RitsonBrand purpose campaigns underperform ‘traditional’ marketing on average, but for the right brands purpose will still be the most effective strategic choice.
The Long and the Short of It maps exactly onto the challenges of global marketing
Mark RitsonThe boundaries between marketing teams’ responsibilities become clearer if you simply make long-term brand strategy a global job and short-term, targeted product activations a local one.
Be like Plusnet and ‘do a Ritson’
Mark RitsonBT marketing director David Stratton says Plusnet has ‘done a Mark Ritson’ by simplifying its brand codes to differentiate from sister brands EE and BT – a no-nonsense approach our columnist is proud to associate with his name.
Coronavirus won’t hurt Corona, it will actually boost sales
Mark RitsonBrands from Marmite to Peloton have shown negative publicity is beneficial if it doesn’t undermine your core image, which is why Corona will be fine but Burger King is heading for trouble.
Why Marketing Week’s Mini MBA is branching into brand management
Mark RitsonAs the Marketing Week Mini MBA enters its fourth year, its professor, Mark Ritson, explains the origins of the course and why it is expanding into a new subject area.
We need a new ‘third way’ to set marketing budgets
Mark RitsonZero-based budgeting hurts long-term brand-building, while advertising-to-sales ratios are entirely arbitrary. There’s a much better, ‘two-speed’ way to set marketing budgets.
Apple’s confusing product portfolio makes Microsoft look sleek
Mark RitsonSteve Jobs built Apple’s brand on simple design and a sparing product line-up, but now its portfolio is a mess of wires and product variants that make Microsoft look like the cooler brand.
Kraft Heinz is in 57 varieties of trouble
Mark RitsonKraft Heinz is suffering from a number of self-inflicted wounds, from underinvestment in its brands to a failure to adapt its portfolio to modern tastes, leading to a parlous financial situation.
The threat of direct-to-consumer disruption is seriously overblown
Mark RitsonThe number of direct-to-consumer brands is ballooning, as are predictions of the traditional FMCG sector’s demise, yet people underestimate the resilience and capability of the established giants.
When did marketers become so ashamed of managing brands?
Mark RitsonMarketing leadership has failed to instill pride in the discipline, as a LinkedIn post by Unilever’s European president proves, leading to constant attempts to use purpose to apologise for or redefine it unnecessarily.
Luxury brands should take a stand against the grey market
Mark RitsonRichemont, owner of luxury watch brands such as Cartier, is boldly forfeiting hundreds of millions of pounds to keep stock out of the grey market, but it is a crucial step in preserving long-term brand equity.