General Motors’ combination formula

General Motors Corp, which has long struggled to juggle eight brands ranging from mass market Chevrolet to high-end Hummer, announced plans to streamline its lineups in a move to simplify the organisation and create a more focused sales and marketing strategy.

Automaker’s new marketing strategy

For most of his career at Ford, engineer Stephen Kozak has just wanted people to know how safe he has helped make the company’s cars and trucks.

Tourism uses NYC as a major draw

What may be the best-known campaign in tourism marketing—named after its theme, I love New York—is being updated to reflect everything from the new media choices consumers are making to higher prices for gasoline and other travel expenses.

A star at Toyota, a believer at Ford

At a dinner at the Bellagio hotel about two weeks ago, the ballroom buzzed with 1,400 car dealers fired up for a turnaround at the Ford Motor Co.

"We don’t operate on the price parameter"

We have small, medium and large format, food and grocery retail stores. Besides, we also run a non-food arm—which is lifestyle.

Unlocking the real value of marketing

For too long, marketing has been perceived to be unaccountable, unfocused and indisciplined in connecting its creative executions with business performance.

Item Quotient

For last year’s Diwali blockbuster, the retro flick Om Shanti Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan and newcomer Deepika Padukone, director Farah Khan gathered 31 stars from Bollywood for the “mother of all item numbers”.

Seven deadly sins and marketing

The new list of sins issued by the Vatican has drawn diverse reactions from different quarters. “People don’t sin any more.”

Show-and-tell moves into living rooms

When creating advertising, the longtime industry executive John O’Toole once advised, “it’s best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly.”

Pitching companies on the naked truths

It takes a bit of courage, and perhaps a lot of ego, to tell large companies that their ad campaigns have been failing miserably.

Here’s a sound that draws a crowd

In cartoons, the Road Runner goes “Beep, beep”. On Madison Avenue, the popular onomatopoeia is pronounced “Bleep, bleep”.

As economy sags, advertisers sit on value

Forget the fancy blandishments of Madison Avenue. An e-mail sent to advertise BR Guest Restaurants gets right to the point.

What could have been better?

Last year in 2007 when I went to Goafest I wasn’t sure if we would be able to give the same performance. But accolades to Jagdeep Bakshi and Madhukar Kamath, and others for the increase in scale.

Getting down and dirty

There are many reasons people become overtly competitive in their advertising. You may be trying to exploit some weakness in your competitor’s product, you may be trying to respond to claims it has made, or you may just be trying to attract its users by telling them how your brand is better.

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