In her Feb 8, Mediaweek article, “The Marketing Grades for 2009: The recession was a brutal test for brands last year. A recap of a few who managed to get an A“, Lerzan Aksoy, Marketing Professor at  Fordham U. reveals the strategy behind Walmart’s success:

“…the company that led the pack was Walmart, and it did so with strategy that was counterintuitive for these times. The Bentonville behemoth increased its advertising spending this year by $300 million, which added to its success as a low-cost leader and disproved the axiom that the first thing that should go during a recession is advertising. Walmart demonstrated that increasing advertising during lean times — even, or perhaps especially, when the competition is cutting back — can improve market share and return on investment.”

This is the title of a talk I was asked to give next month to a local Career Transition group. Unlike my regular talks on marketing I don’t think anyone else can give this one. The talk is based on my personal experience which recently got published in a book to entitled, “The Power of Persistence” from Motivational Press. Read the story.

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(Right click to download)

… or forever tarnished? What’s your comment?

Today I received yet another Facebook “Fan Request” from a woman I barely know for something I’ve never heard of. I’ve been getting a lot of these lately. Why I’d consider being a “Fan” of something I don’t know, sent by a person I barely know, is beyond me.

Beneath the “I’m just offering you something good” facade is an aggressive, self-promotional practice motivated by a desire to leverage social media for personal and professional gain. And, what these fan requesters fail to realize is that if they continue to bug people they barely know with these spammy requests their “friends” will not only not be fans, they won’t be friends.

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“G-Cred“, a term coined by John Follis in ‘05, and described in this ‘07 ADWEEK column, is now part of the Web 2.0 lingo. This encore presentation of an ‘08 Follis interview discusses what G-Cred is and why every product, service, and professional must have it. Right click to download interview.

In no particular order …

Doritos “Shock Collar”

E-Trade “Girlfriend Talking Baby”

Doritos “Tough Kid”

Bud Light “Book Reading Party”

Google

Agree? Which was YOUR fave?

A blog has many benefits for any business, and by clicking the “blogging”category link in the nav bar on the right you can read all about them. But there’s one blog benefit that applies to anyone… It’s empowering.

Blogs and Social Media (YouTube, Twitter, etc) have given the “Daniels” of the world something potent to use against  business “Goliaths” who BB (before blogs) could get away with some pretty irresponsible stuff. And, by “Goliath” I don’t just mean a huge corporate giant. It could also be a badly behaved doctor… like Dr. Joan Gerwitz, a Stamford, CT  ophthalmologist who I saw this week. Without going into unnecessary detail my experience with Dr. Joan Gerwitz was not a good one and I’d hate for anyone seeking a Stamford, CT  ophthalmologist to experience what I did.

Whether, or not, this post about Dr. Joan Gerwitz will make a difference is questionable. But, just knowing that it could makes me feel a helluva lot better.