Marketing Wisdom

Was reading how Pepsi Max is going to rebrand/reposition itself again and how important the word “diet” is in either mentioning or not mentioning it in advertising (especially to men).

It got me to thinking – in today’s economy how much disposable income is out there? When or where is the tipping point for individuals, the world over, to say “You know, maybe I shouldn’t buy that Pepsi Max this week and pay my water bill instead?” (Or baby formula or rice or whatever.)

NOTE: There is a whole public relations conversation on how well the American Political Machine spins the “Recovery” on a weekly basis – reminds me of the sales manager saying to the CEO every week “Even though we haven’t sold anything this year, we are doing great!”

We see Wal-Mart and Target marketing to the masses saying “Lowest Prices” and “Affordable” and so on. They’re trying to get those people that are watching their budget to save more money by shopping at their location.

Prices are rising all over the world ($3.00 for a bottle of water, $5.00 for a can of Red Bull, $2.00 for a “snack” bag of chips, etc. All these prices having doubled in the past year.)

Some stores may offer a can of Red Bull for $.25 less then another, but, still, because of the economic times, pricing has risen.

Eventually, market segments are going to start to decline, small or large, but, declination will start to occur more rapidly as jobs become more scare and cost of living rises while salaries remain the same.

Someone will step into this market and capture a huge percentage. Someone will offer a very low cost solution to the many high-cost offerings that are out there.

How much longer can a world sustain a water bottling company at $3.00 a bottle when the cost is less then $.10? It can’t. Whomever offers the pricing back at $1.00 is going to own the market. Yes, margins will go from 40% to 10%, but, look at the soda business where margins are less then 1%.

The world has reached a tipping point where unsustainablity of market prices cannot continue. Either companies will go under or they will have to reduce pricing to meet the needs of the worlds individuals as they tighten their belts.

Remember the movie “Mr. Mom”? Where the real mom advertises the drop in pricing for tuna so that the people can afford the product?

I believe that this will be occurring soon.

A lot of news out there that print advertising can be improved upon, that it isn’t dead, that all it needs is creative or a message or a brand.

I fall on one side of this argument and that is that Print Advertising is dead (okay, on life-support which it is hard to see a recovery from anytime soon – maybe a better description would be a Coma).

We all agree that the internet has done considerable damage (or impact) to print advertising. Why should I wait for my daily or monthlies of magazines or newspapers when I can find out what was written 24 hours or 30 days in advance?

Okay, I’ll give you the argument that you need a magazine on the beach or possibly on a plane (if you can’t afford or connect to their WiFi) or even the subway. But, what percentage of the market is that – 2%, maybe 3%?

Even if the creative were outstanding and the brand was incredible and the ad said “If you can read this, you get a free car in the next hour”, the market penetration would still be minimal at best – even with email, text, twitter, and phone. The individual still has to “get to the location” of the free car so the damage would not be that great (don’t get me wrong, you would still have a riot at the location – but that’s the point, the brand would be built because of the riots, not because of the free car giveaway).

Print advertising will never be the same, because the market will never be the same. The market is the internet and mobile, not paper and rags. Sadly, we continue to see magazines and papers try and stay alive by believing that the people want this. They don’t.

In closing, it is going to be the countries that have never invested in magazine/print (like China, Eastern Asia, Africa, South America), where many lessons are going to be taught on how to gain the biggest bang for the buck – again, specifically in mobile.

Good luck.

This has to be the best story yet on why email marketing is destroying this incredible viable tool.

Read it here.