Nov 05

Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing is a fairly new concept in marketing, where research into the subject has become an area of considerable interest over the past twenty years, as increasing amounts of companies opt to take up this revolutionary marketing activity. Although much has been written about “ambush” marketing, considerable ambiguity surrounds this term and its status.

From the earliest definitions of ambush marketing as a derogatory term involving ‘unauthorized’ practices, has emerged not only an acknowledgement of the considerable vagueness that surrounds the concept but also a conceptual framework of ambush marketing that more accurately reflects the balancing of sponsors contractual rights against the rights of non-sponsors to maintain a market presence during an event through legal and competitive business activities, although it has been cast as an “amorphous concept” along with being branded as a somewhat devious, unethical tactic, and an unfair marketing practice. Despite this ambush marketing has recognized its place as a legitimate marketing strategy.

Ambush marketing can be broadly described to encompass activities that exploit the publicity value of an event. This can be seen as an attempt by a company to cash in on the goodwill or popularity of a particular event by creating an association between itself and the event without permission from the relevant organisation and without paying the fees to become official sponsor. In a narrow sense, ambush marketing refers to the direct efforts of one party to weaken or attack a competitor’s official association with a sports organization acquired through the payment of sponsorship fees.… Read the rest

Nov 01

Guerrilla Marketing Principles

Marketing is a wide range of activities related to making sure that it continues to meet your needs and get the proper value in return. It focuses on customer orientation and satisfaction of customer needs. In the description, marketing is the activity set of institutions and procedures for creating, communicating, communication and exchange of offers that are of value for customers, clients, partners and society. The objectives of the organization depend on the knowledge of the needs and requirements of the target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction. This suggests that in order to meet their organizational goals, organizations should anticipate the needs and desires of consumers and satisfy the most effective competitors. Marketing strategies vary depending on the product, target market and budget.

The concept of guerrilla marketing was set up as an unconventional system of promotions based on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and un-conventional, possibly interactive, targeted consumers in unexpected places. The aim of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, exciting and challenging collaboration Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for small businesses and entrepreneurs. There is speculation in guerrilla marketing. Should be based on human psychology, not experience, judgments and assumptions. Instead of money, basic marketing investments should be time, energy and imagination. Basic statistics on where your business is profit, not sales.  On the basis of understanding the science of psychology, Guerrilla marketing focuses more on building relationships with customers and provides confidence to sell the product or service. … Read the rest

Aug 03

Innovation Management – Managing Innovation in Business

For many organizations and countries alike, innovation and innovation management are no longer luxury items, but rather necessities and a means of sustaining economic development and competitiveness. To serve customer well and maintain the competitive position in business, companies are forced to focus on the creation, updating, availability, quality & use of innovation by all employees and teams at work and in the market place.

Innovation can be defined as the implementation of new created ideas for generating business value. Many times, people use the term ‘innovation’ for ‘innovation creation’. But there is a difference between the two. While innovation creation is an important aspect of innovation processes, so is the ability to search for and identify relevant external innovation, applying existing innovation to new contexts, understand and absorb unfamiliar external innovation to blend and integrate different bodies of innovation together. Thus innovation processes are much more than innovation creation process.

Innovation is the creation, evolution, exchange and application of new idea into marketable goods and services, leading to the success of an enterprise, the vitality of a nation’s economy and the advancement of society. In simple words we can explain the term innovation as generation of novel ideas and their implementation to create new products and services to gain competitive advantage and achieve new heights in the market.

Definition of Innovation Management

There is no agreed definition of Innovation Management. The term refers to a process of generating value to the organization through the creation, dissemination, renewal and proper application of innovation.… Read the rest

Jul 20

Open Innovation – A New Innovation Paradigm

An innovation is a product or service with a bundle of features that is new in the market, or that is commercialized in some new way that opens up new uses and consumer groups for it. Innovation is invention implemented and taken to market. Invention however is the creation of something that was previously unknown. In summary, INNOVATION= INVENTION+COMMERCIALIZATION. Today companies who, want to deliver consistent organic growth to their shareholders, customers, and their employees can do that only through innovation.

Concept of Open Innovation

According to American organizational theorist Henry Chesbrough, Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively. Open innovation assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as they look to advance their technology.

As mentioned by Chesbrough, there are a total of 5 paths to “Open Innovation”.

  1. Firstly, the old fashion model. It work like a fortress, the firm will take ideas internally to market. This path works the same as a closed innovation concept.
  2. The second path would be opening up the abilities for others. This can be achieved by bringing in ideas internally; ideas that does not fit into the firm business but might be useful for others.
  3. The third path would be acquiring ideas externally. Ideas are everywhere; firms can acquire ideas from university, individuals, start-up companies and etc. They can then come out with new opportunities and solutions using these acquired knowledge by taking them to a new market; a market that the firm might not have gotten into.
… Read the rest
Jul 19

10 Steps to Successful Crisis Management

A crisis is an abnormal situation, or even perception, which is beyond the scope of everyday business and which threatens the operation, safety and reputation of an organisation. Crises do not discriminate based on a company’s size or notoriety, and they can hit when a company least expects them. They come in many forms – strikes, layoffs, product recalls or allegations of misconduct, but while some of these may seem small, every crisis has the potential to damage the reputation of a company. Regardless of the severity of the situation, crises pose a serious threat to companies – not only to their reputation but their fiscal health as well. When Odwalla’s apple juice was thought to be the cause of an outbreak of E. coli bacteria, the company lost a third of its market value. The same allegation against Jack in the Box restaurant in 1993 caused the hamburger chain’s stock price to fall from $14 a share to nearly $3 a share. On the other hand, some companies emerge from crises unscathed in the eyes of consumers and investors. Johnson and Johnson is one such company. After it was discovered that its Tylenol capsules had been laced with cyanide, Johnson and Johnson reacted in such an effective way that the case is now well-documented as an example of successful crisis management.

Crisis management is the process by which the organisation manages a wider impact, such as media relations, and enables it to commence recovery. Crisis management is an essential component of the public relations profession and when in practice, must be used as comprehensive and meticulous as possible.… Read the rest

Jul 17

Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) Assessment

Personality tests can have huge benefits for both organisations and the individuals. It can help management with employee selection and employee development and they can help individuals to identify areas of themselves which need improving. The practical nature of these tests can help to weed out unsuitable candidates quickly and easily and it is also a form of selection which can stand up in court. The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) itself is a well known and trusted brand of test, due to the model which it is based on and the amount of working adults it is normed on.

The Hogan Personality Inventory is a personality test which is a measure of normal personality and is used to predict job performance. This tool has many uses and is used by both organisations and individuals. The HPI was specifically designed to aid business and commercial use and can be used throughout the recruitment process and to identify areas of a person which could be developed.

The Hogan Personality Inventory originates from a man called Robert Hogan and is sold by his company Hogan Assessments. Robert Hogan is a well known expert and international authority in psychology and he is widely credited with demonstrating how personality factors influence organisational effectiveness in a variety of areas. He has a Ph.D from the University of California and is a fellow of many different universities. Robert Hogan has quoted that “between 50-75% of managers are bad managers and this is due to the fact that they can interview well based on technical knowledge but they have bad leadership skills”.… Read the rest