Summer's here--what are the plans for 2008?

• Author: Hall, Robert
• Position: Marketing Solutions

In these dog days of summer, there may be a little time off to read, relax and even think In today's fast paced, meeting-to-meeting, multitasking, Blackberry carrying, iPod listening world, such time is truly to Be treasured. Come autumn, the annual rite of budgeting and planning will bring a season of translating strategy into planned action and the allocation of resources to new goals. So now is the time to step back and ask the question: What are the lessons learned from the first half of 2007 that should be applied in 200--something old. something new. something obvious? While you think of yours, let me briefly outline three that come to mind for me.

Branding Abuse

Dog food bites man, further maiming the brand. The recent pet food recall fiasco has further reinforced that "branding" is really a marketing ploy to fictionalize nonexistent differences. Because pets are so personal and the issues easy to understand, this episode has educated those heretofore not paying attention. A recent GFK Roper survey found that 54 percent of respondents weren't aware before the recall that both premium and standard pet food brands were made by the same supplier. Knowing this, 26 percent said they were less likely to buy premium pet food. One expert put it this way: "The sheer magnitude of how many branded products come from one source erodes the whole basic premises of what branding is in the eyes of the consumer--they feel duped." (The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2007). The immunization of the marketplace against advertising continues.

How will this growing trend influence your marketing plans in 2008?

Think small and local

Big becomes the brand from bell. The trend toward small and local seems to be picking up steam. Micro-brewers are taking share away from the large beer brands, small community banks continue to win deposit share from large corporate banks, local terrorist groups who operate autonomously reek havoc on our larger-institutional army in Iraq. A Gallup poll finds that confidence in "big business" among U.S. adults is very low: Only 18 percent report "quite a lot" or "a great deal" of confidence. But Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport notes, "In polling, 'big' is an inflammatory negative. Ask Americans about small business, and they perk right up." (FORTUNE, May 14, 2007).

The distrust and disdain for large and distant is increasingly seen in the trends for home-based efforts--home schooling, work-from-home, home health care...