Brand Shorthand

Mark and Lorraine tackle Wendy's behaving badly with their surge pricing and how things should have been done differently. But they didn't ask us, so we gave kudos to Burger King for responding with a free offer! Well played.

Then the positioning duo tackles the Rise of Branding over the past 50 years. Learn Lorraine's perspective on the shift from features to today's experiential desire to engage brands. Mark then douses the conversation with a provocateur with some questions that Mark Ritson answers a lot differently than our esteemed monarch of marketing.

Spend 30-ish (or 50-ish this time) with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Join us for part 2 of our interview with Dr. Scott Powell, Professor of Marketing at Grove City College. Dr. Powell discusses how outside forces and four different presidents in 14 years impacted the marketing of the college, and how he would alter things if he were in charge. Mark and Lorraine also ask about the macro trends going on with higher education and why Dr. Powell believes Grove City College has been able to buck those trends.

Spend 30-ish with Mark, Lorraine, and Dr. Scott Powell to discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Dr. Scott Powell, Professor of Marketing at Grove City College, joins the positioning duo today to talk about positioning in the world of academia. Learn how he discovered positioning and why he teaches it in his classes and feels it's THE critical strategy to successful marketing. Also enjoy a few stories about how Scott arrived in marketing and his journey to Grove City College.

Spend 30-ish with Mark, Lorraine... and Dr. Scott Powell, as we chat all things marketing, advertising, and positioning.

Your favorite positioning tandem continue to look back on the past 50+ years of advertising, this time focusing on the rise of B2B marketing. What used to be considered risky is now standard practice, and in fact, B2B advertising continues to evolve closer to B2C strategies. Mark and Lorraine consider the examples of Owens Corning, BASF, and Intel, who all moved the B2B advertising needle in a big way.

Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine as they talk all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Mark and Lorraine spend over an hour dissecting almost every ad that ran in last evening's Super Bowl. While Kansas City walked away with an overtime win, not every advertiser was a winner. However, the duds were fewer than in past years, and the positioning gurus are happy to report that the ads made our positioning hearts pretty happy. Learn who earned the honors of best and worst ads, along with best celebrity appearance, celebrity malfeasance, and the heart string awards.

Spend  an hour talking Super Bowl ads and of course, positioning.

Mark and Lorraine have a long chat about the Super Bowl commercials and why they can be a good or a bad buy, and what makes the difference. Get a glimpse of what's coming as advertisers spend $7 million per spot just for the media buy. Then hear how the rise of transactional media has been one of the significant changes over the last 50 years of advertising and why awareness media still matters.

Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Take a walk back in time as our two positioning gurus reminisce about the advancement in technology and targeting. How has technology changed, and how has it impacted marketing? What technology has been positive and where has it made advertisers mis-step? Mark and Lorraine talk Bernoullis and Zip disks, Amigas and Commodore 64s, film stripping and strip films. Then the duo talks about targeting and personalization capabilities and how the advent of both can be beneficial as long as they don't become a crutch.

Spend 30ish with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

Mark and Lorraine kick off the second season of Brand Shorthand while kicking off the celebration of Innis Maggiore's 50th year in business. The duo takes a look back at the past 50 years of advertising and discuss what has changed, and what hasn't. The first category of change they cover is media proliferation. What used to be dozens of media options is now in the tens of thousands, with no signs of slowing down. What does this mean for the advertiser? What does this mean for the media planner? And how has this impacted the consumer?

Spend 30-ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine to learn more about marketing, advertising, and positioning! Join us on the Brand Shorthand.

Mark and Lorraine wrap up the first season of the Brand Shorthand podcast. What does Mark think about the series, "The Pitch?" What are the first season highlights? Find out the answers to these questions and more on this final episode of season #1.

Spend 30-ish minutes with Mark and Lorraine as they discuss all things marketing, advertising, and positioning!

In this third and final segment of our interview with the Wizard of Ads, Mark and Lorraine dive deeper on Roy H. Williams' thoughts on why positioning and his philosophies apply whether the marketing is B2C, B2B or D2C. Roy spends considerable time explaining:

•  why we are consumers regardless of where we're buying (work or home),
• why  the emotional environment of the prospect is so critical,
• why gross rating points is a farce in selecting media,
• why the portable people meter (PPM) is your better media planning gauge,
• why positioning is critical to supercharging your brand-building efforts, and
• why repetition of your message matters.

Spend 30-ish with Mark and Lorraine – AND Mr. Williams – to learn more about advertising, marketing, and positioning.