Tobacco. It's one of the most addictive substances on the planet. Back in 1987, smokers were first told that it is easier to give up heroin than cigarettes. Today, the CDC reports that nearly 20% of American adults smoke. Nearly one in five. That's pretty bad. In Thailand, the numbers...
The contemporary art world was buzzing about an announced collaboration between UBS Wealth Management and the Guggenheim Museum. It’s easy to see what the excitement was about, especially from a creative perspective. The five year initiative is going to chart creative activity and contemporary art...
We’ve always been fascinated by the phenomenon of popularity. What causes customers to flock to one brand while remaining coldly indifferent to another—even when the offerings of the companies in question are similar? Years of consumer research have revealed that the single most important factor that...
Cults are all around us. I’m not talking about destructive cults that damage people’s lives. I’m referring to benign, even life-supportive groups that give people more meaning. Raving-fan groups of Star Trek, Lady Gaga, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Potter, Oprah, American Girl, Jay-Z, Apple, Barbie, and Harley...
Abraham Maslow, one of the founding fathers of humanistic psychology, taught us that human beings have a higher, transcendent nature, which he visualized most eloquently in his Hierarchy of Human Needs. This simple pyramid gives us a framework from which to understand the essence of Cult...
Perhaps the most important thing to take away from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs is his realization that all human beings start fulfilling their needs at the bottom levels of the pyramid. In short, we fill our lower physiological needs first. Needs like safety, esteem, and...
As Peter Drucker noted, marketing and innovation are the two primary drivers of any business. Developing marketing intelligence is vital for organizational leadership. Knowing the various marketing weapons at your disposal will help you explore new ways to approach your customers. We put together a list of...
In our visit to the National Retail Federation’s Big Show last month, we had the opportunity to hear Ginni Rometty, the CEO of IBM, discuss the technological trends that are shaping the future of retail. Thanks to the explosion of new data, the business landscape is...
You understand that the game of modern business isn’t won by capturing the next transaction. You’re passed that. Now you’re learning how to relate to your customers. Look at any of your personal relationships to see how difficult relating to another human being can be. Here,...
Building analytic muscle to learn about your customers is a top priority for today’s outperforming chief executives. Big data is an unquestionably powerful tool to improve your knowledge about your customers. Many executives are talking about “big data” these days. Another popular term associated with big...