Grocery chains boost profits by charging different prices for the same stuff

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Strategy, Pricing, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing, Supply Chain.

Description: A report out on Tuesday from the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax says many Canadians are hoping a grocery code of conduct will protect them from soaring food bills that they see as profiteering and “price gouging.”

Source: CBC.ca – video report

Date: Apr 05, 2023

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/price-discrimination-column-don-pittis-1.6799620

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize what the report says about grocery pricing strategies, consumers’ attitudes towards retail prices and government interventions?
  • Do you think the industry will be facing a consumer backlash, when more learn about retail pricing strategies?
  • Is current strategy so different to the pricing of other products and services in other industries, in your opinion?

Doctors are drowning in paperwork. Some companies claim AI can help

Posted by & filed under Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Relationship Marketing.

Description: When Dereck Paul was training as a doctor at the University of California San Francisco, he couldn’t believe how outdated the hospital’s records-keeping was. The computer systems looked like they’d time-traveled from the 1990s, and many of the medical records were still kept on paper.

Source: NPR.org

Date: Apr 05, 2023

Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/05/1167993888/chatgpt-medicine-artificial-intelligence-healthcare

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the challenges facing doctors and the opportunities to help provided by AI.
  • How will these contributions to help manage operations, costs, and patient relations, in your opinion?

Women now dominate the book business. Why there and not other creative industries?

Posted by & filed under Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Market Segmentation, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing.

Description: These findings and others come from a new study by Joel Waldfogel, an economist at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Waldfogel crunches the numbers on the book market’s female revolution. And, in a recent interview, the economist helps us think through potential reasons why women trail men in many creative industries, but have had spectacular success in achieving — in fact, surpassing — parity with men in the US publishing business.

Source: NPR.org

Date: Apr 04, 2023

Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/04/04/1164109676/women-now-dominate-the-book-business-why-there-and-not-other-creative-industries

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the research findings into the industry, as described in this report?
  • What does this mean for industry growth and development, in your opinion?

Four experts on the ‘laws and loopholes’ of achieving marketing effectiveness

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Relationship Marketing.

Description: Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson, former Eve Sleep CEO Cheryl Calverley, the LinkedIn B2B Institute’s Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo, and Digitas’s chief strategy officer Matt Holt debate the core principles behind marketing effectiveness.

Source: MarketingWeek.com

Date: Mar 28, 2023

Link: https://www.marketingweek.com/marketing-experts-effectiveness-principles/

Questions for discussion:

  • What is meant by the term “marketing effectiveness”, as used in this report?
  • What are some of the interpretations and strategies for achieving marketing effectiveness?
  • What are your thoughts on the subject?

The Challenge of Keeping an Audience Engaged: How Language Shapes Attention

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy.

Description: Why do some articles captivate readers and encourage them to keep reading, while others make them lose interest after just a few sentences? And how does the content (i.e., the language used) shape whether audiences stay engaged? In a new Journal of Marketing study, we address these questions with a multi-method investigation. By utilizing natural language processing of over 600,000 reading sessions from 35,000 pieces of content, combined with controlled experiments, we illustrate how language holds attention.

Source: AMA.org

Date: Mar 21, 2023

Link: https://www.ama.org/2023/03/21/the-challenge-of-keeping-an-audience-engaged-how-language-shapes-attention/

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the key points presented in the report.
  • What is the take-away for marketing managers as they evaluate their communications efforts?

Microsoft assures publishers as ads ramp up in AI-powered Bing

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Relationship Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: Microsoft is experimenting with new ways of sharing advertising revenue with publishers through its artificial intelligence-powered Bing Chat, according to a blog post by vice president and consumer CMO Yusuf Mehdi.

Source: MarketingDive.com

Date: Mar 30, 2023

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/microsoft-publishers-bing-chat-AI-search-advertising/646421/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-03-30%20Marketing%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:49211%5D&utm_term=Marketing%20Dive

Questions for discussion:

  • What is Microsoft planning to do in order to grow advertising revenues and increase sharing with publishers?
  • What do you think of this approach in terms of consumer acceptance of advertising?
  • How else would you monetize the software?

Toronto Star owner calls on Canadian companies to spend 20% of ad budget on local media

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Relationship Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: The publisher of the Toronto Star is calling on Canadian companies to dedicate at least 20 per cent of their advertising budgets to local media. Jordan Bitove made the request Thursday at a Canadian Club luncheon in Toronto, where he said convincing local companies to dedicate their ad spending within Canada is crucial because tech giants who link to articles published by his papers and others are “basically stealing the great work that our team does.”

Source: BNNBloomberg.ca – video report

Date: Mar 31, 2023

Link: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/toronto-star-owner-calls-on-canadian-companies-to-spend-20-of-ad-budget-on-local-media-1.1903021

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the situation in the industry and the suggestions being made to help sustain local media.
  • Do you think advertisers will comply with any of these suggestions?
  • What would you advise?

Your Next Landlord Could Be 100 Random People

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Services Marketing.

Description: Startups are buying properties and wooing first-time real estate investors to buy shares. The model could have real repercussions for renters.

Source: Wired.com

Date: Mar 30, 2023

Link: https://www.wired.com/story/arrived-fractional-investment-real-estate/?_hsmi=252508126&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_6BxRUZp1vSN_Bh9FIR75GdG5FKWsByHxbC_DJZDAZmwMgmVCH8bsPs5FGOfillRcF-m8PKY-jKUpm8wARM0PD-Glm5NW2HTIr6kMQs_1UcPfQ4tE

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the pros and cons of this sort of business model, as described in the article.
  • What is the impact on rentals, according to the report?
  • Do you think the business model could be used in other areas of the economy?

Twitter is dying

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Market Segmentation, Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy.

Description: It’s five months since Elon Musk overpaid for a relatively small microblogging platform called Twitter. The platform had punched above its weight in pure user numbers thanks to an unrivaled ability to both distribute real-time information and make expertise available. Combine these elements with your own critical faculty — to weed out the usual spam and bs — and it could feel like the only place online that really mattered.

Source: TechCrunch.com

Date: Mar 28, 2023

Link: https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/28/twitter-is-dying/

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the analysis of the decline of Twitter, as presented by Natasha Lomas.
  • Do you agree with her assessment?
  • What would you suggest to Elon Musk and the board of directors?
  • Do you think an alternative to Twitter will emerge?

Coke asks consumers to generate art with new AI platform

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Product Brands and Branding, Relationship Marketing.

Description: Coca-Cola unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that is the first of its kind to combine OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL-E technologies, per a company blog post. “Create Real Magic” was developed through a partnership between OpenAI and Bain & Company.

Source: MarketingDive.com – video report

Date: Mar 20, 2023

Link: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/coca-cola-coke-generative-ai-marketing-art/645465/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-03-21%20Marketing%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:48940%5D&utm_term=Marketing%20Dive

Questions for discussion:

  • What is Coke doing with generative AI?
  • How does this campaign engage consumers?
  • What do you think of the approach?