The Accidental Marketer Podcast

There are many advantages to creating a new category, but it doesn't solve all of your marketing problems. In this episode, we look at the issues that a smoking cessation product team faced — and overcame. See how these innovative marketers changed strategies to effectively address a formidable competitor and reap the full rewards of creating a new category.

Expanding your marketing to reach a new set of stakeholders can have an effect similar to creating a new category. These new stakeholders may help you position your product or service in an entirely new way. Mary, Tom and Sean discuss how Wyeth Nutrition, a premium-priced infant formula maker, successfully expanded their stakeholder focus in a way that ultimately led Nestle to purchase them for several multiples of Wyeth's annual sales.

Companies entering a new category are often intimidated by their more experienced competitors. This episode highlights how being naive to a category can become a competitive advantage. The team describes the significant lessons that B2Bs can apply in many category creation situations. You'll also hear how segmentation can be used to make rapid inroads even if you are competing in an existing category that's new to your firm.

Our season on category creation continues with some of our best advice for doing it! A discussion that starts off by looking at newly-created categories of food items leads to interesting case studies that show how to re-position any type of product. Listen in as the team highlights the circumstances that are conducive to category creation. You'll learn some key principles and strategies that companies have used in industries as wide-ranging as food, commodities and pharmaceuticals.

We kickoff a new season on category creation by looking at a common B2B marketing problem: your analysis tells you that your product should be performing better than it is. What is going wrong? Listen to a deep discussion into the top three reasons this could be happening — viewed through the lens of the smoking cessation product Chantix. If you are in a similar situation, you can apply their learnings and unlock the promise of your products. You may even gain enough confidence to create a new category of your own.

This seasonal finale of "The Dark Side of Marketing" focuses on something once called "pure, white and deadly." It's not cocaine — it's sugar! Several decades ago, the Sugar Lobby found some unscrupulous ways to cover up the deadly consequences of its own product by pointing to another food ingredient as most detrimental to health — fat. What can be learned about the Sugar Lobby's tactics that can actually be used for good when marketing your own B2B products and services?

This episode's topic discusses the thin line between propaganda and marketing. Sharing information with the intent to persuade is a common objective of both propaganda and marketing. However, effective propaganda has one characteristic that marketers sometimes miss. What can be learned about effective propaganda appeals that marketers can use for good?

This episode's topic features "The Pharma Bro" — a now-jailed pharmaceutical executive who limited the supply and raised prices of rare drugs. It worked for awhile, but ended badly. From this case, ethical marketers can learn how to evaluate their opportunities to improve price without alienating customers, the public and regulators.

We continue analyzing the dark side of marketing by studying the Opioid Crisis. The villains in this tragedy, Purdue Pharma, executed a joined-up marketing and sales plan that led to untold suffering. We want our listeners who are marketing highly-valuable - and sometimes even life-saving products -  to put these approaches to use for good purposes!

In this episode, we continue shining the light on the dark side of marketing by studying the "The Social Dilemma." What can B2B marketers learn from this popular Netflix documentary that explores controversial aspects of social networking? What can you put to use in your markets for the benefit of your customers?