Monthly Archives: December 2010

Fortune Brands. Breaking Up Is Easy To Do.

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What do Jim Beam, Moen Faucets, Master Locks and Titleist golf balls have in common?  The letter “e?”  No.  They are all owned by Fortune Brands, a public company with $6.5 billion in annual sales.  It was announced yesterday that Fortune Brands will be split into 3 companies: House and Hardware will be one public (stock) entity, Spirits will be a new company (private), with Maker’s Mark, Canadian Club, Courvoisier and Laphroaig in its liquor cabinet, and Titleist the smallest revenue producer, which will likely be sold.

These are all very nice brands. Consumers know these products and have seen all supported by strong brand management over the years.

Pershing Square Capital Management recent took ownership of 10.9% of Fortune stock and, in the driver’s seat, has decided to enforce the trivestiture. Normally this type of thing is seen as raiding and is all about making a quick buck, but the value of these brands makes me think this is not going to be such a bad thing.  Each of the three entities will have greater product and consumer segment focus.  Management will be able to tighten up its obs and strats, with consumers not feeling a thing.  A history of strong brand management is the legacy of the current Fortune board and its forbearers. All brands should do well and be revived.  Peace!

TV is back, baby.

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There’s a big media conference in NYC this week and attendees and reporters are surprised to learn that TV viewership is growing. One conference attendee said:

 “TV is, by estimates, still gaining share of the overall advertising market, to 40.7% in 2010, from 37 % in 2005.”

 Another chimed in, “TV will be adding about half of all growth next year.”

 The web ad market is growing for shizzle, but the 30 second spot is not dead (Joseph Jaffe).  In fact, the Super Bowl is kind of off the charts. Another conference attendee suggested TV is growing because of the need for viewers to have something to Tweet about or post on their Facebook pages. Yah think?

 The fact is, TV programming is just getting better. The networks are working harder for our eyeballs. The Emmy bookcases at CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX are not growing as they once did thanks to cable properties such as Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Chelsea Handler, Men of a Certain Age, etc. The big networks are beginning to pay attention — feeling the fire. As Eddie Vedder might say “It’s evolution baby.”  Weed out the weak genes in favor of the strong.  Won’t be long now and reality TV will start to secede from the union. Peace!

Manual Labor. New School.

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Here’s a marketing practice we might be seeing a lot more — new products shipping without manuals.  The new Orb, a TV recording device written up by David Pogue in The New York Times today, does not come with directions. Pogue lambasts the company for this because the Orb requires a fairly complicated set up. He said the Orb is not ready for primetime but tres cool, by the way.

This “no manual” approach wasn’t an omission, it was a smart tactic – one that insures new customers must visit the website.   

It’s a sustainable practice, which is forward-looking, unless you print out 50 single sheets of paper from your HP Laserjet, and it offers up some significant marketing surround.  Though the Orb people haven’t executed it well (see screen grab of homepage below), this OOB (out of box) experience, makes buyers visit the website where it can continue the selling process and provide a video set-up tute (That’s short for tutorial, Bronwen). It’s a great place to get an email address and product registration info and also a chance to cross- or up-sell – an especially important step for ecommerce customers who may not have had an opportunity to speak with a salesperson.

 

No manual. I yike it!  Peace.

Google and Groupon. Big Nice!

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The intro to The New York Times article today on the impending purchase of Groupon by Google says the motivation for their move is to “dominate” local online advertising and improve its play in social networking.  These two things may be results but, for me, they are byproducts.  Google never set out to be an advertising company, it was born of search. Search and arithmetic are its lifeblood. Like farmers hundreds of years ago who were good at farming then became king, search is what made Google a powerhouse.

That’s why I liked the purchase of YouTube. Google made is easy to search for video. This is why I like the move on Groupon. Talk about apps?  Couponing is a zillion dollar marketing application — and if Google sets it sights on making couponing more effective and efficient, it will completely change that market.

You may have read here before about Google’s “culture of technological obesity” and how that culture has driven the company to offer productivity software (work processing, spreadsheet, etc.), a mobile phone, an new OS and and and. These efforts have been off- piste (Is it snowing yet?) and the reason Google will trivest in less than a decade.  So I’m not a Google fanboy — but they deserve much respect for this move.  This is mad max stuff.  Now, stay away from my television until you are ready to provide a truly useable search product and we’re good. Peace!