The Marketing Bureau

By Brian H Meredith
From the NZBusiness Magazine "Marketing Maestro" Archive.
First published May 2010

It’s the day before Good Friday and boy am I looking forward to the Easter break. The first quarter of 2010 has been a tough one for us. Not particularly due to the effect of the economic situation (although we have faced our challenges in this area as have most businesses in this country) but rather, because we have been striving to keep up with (and make sense of) what is nothing short of an explosion in weird and wonderful marketing and communications channels, driven, almost exclusively by online technology. Read more >>

Use Analytics to Make It Personal
by Dr. Michael Haydock
First Published on www.marketingprofs.com

There's a funny scene in the television series Mad Men. Advertising executive Don Draper is having a tough time with the president of Belle Jolie lipstick, a prospective client. The makeup mogul rejects Draper's proposed advertising campaign. Draper persists, however, and the executive finally comes around to Draper's way of thinking. "Nice work," Mr. Lipstick says. "I think you may be right about this." "We'll never know, will we?" Draper coolly replies. "It's not a science." Read more >>

The Nine Most Common Data Mining Techniques Used in Predictive Analytics
By Laura Patterson
First Published on www.marketingprofs.com
Predictive analytics enables you to develop mathematical models to help you better understand the variables driving success. Predictive analytics relies on formulas that compare past successes and failures, and then uses those formulas to predict future outcomes.  Read more >>

Why Smart Pricing Pays Off.

First Published on www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Your company has developed a new product that you think will be a winner. A lot of money has been poured into research and development, analysis of the competition and advertising. But there is one key element you may have overlooked: What do you charge for the product? Wharton marketing professors Jagmohan Raju and John Zhang say companies frequently don't put anywhere near as much thought into pricing as they should. In their new book, Smart Pricing, Raju and Zhang argue that firms ought to engage in innovative pricing to achieve maximum profitability, and they show how companies like Google are doing just that.

An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
 Read more >>