One of the most important marketing lessons I ever received came from a television sales executive. It was the holiday season of 2000. I was part of the team at ESPN/ABC Sports working on a huge Bowl Championship Series sponsorship program for one of the company’s largest auto clients. The BCS, as it was known, … Continue reading No Problem, No Job
Marketing
How Big Business Can Help Save Small Business
Fortune 500 companies can play a huge role in saving local businesses that may hurt financially short term but will pay dividends in the long run
What Brackets Can Teach Us, Even in a Year with No Tournaments
Below is written version of the video blog I posted on Monday, March 16 which you can see here. My first draft of this post was written before they canceled the NCAA basketball tournaments. Rather than kill the idea, I decided to revise it in an effort to still share the point I originally wanted … Continue reading What Brackets Can Teach Us, Even in a Year with No Tournaments
VIDEO: What Brackets Can Teach Us, Even In A Year With No Tournaments
TikTok vs Snapchat – A Guide for Marketers
Here's a link to invaluable overview for marketers of two of the most popular apps for younger demos from Charles Kush.
How Do You Measure Success?
How do you measure success in a job? Anyone updating a resume or preparing for a job interview gives this question a lot of thought. Good resumes provide specific examples of accomplishments and achievements, not just descriptions of the jobs one has held. Often that takes a lot of words and multiple pages. But is … Continue reading How Do You Measure Success?
Customers Come Second
You could spend the rest of your life reading and not get through half of the books ever written on the topic about how marketers, and companies more broadly, win by putting customers first. How many times when a company relaunches a brand have you heard corporate leaders say "we started with the customer?" Near … Continue reading Customers Come Second
How Great Advertising Can Sink Your Brand
Yesterday I was talking with a friend and veteran industry exec who has held top level positions at world class brands and agencies about Mike Bloomberg's exit from the presidential campaign. He's worked closely with some of the top agency people involved with the campaign and can vouch that Bloomberg 2020 had access to the … Continue reading How Great Advertising Can Sink Your Brand
“Hey Fred, why should I give a sh#t?”
That was what the voice on the other end of the phone said to me almost 30 years ago. I was working for an organization that built housing for the homeless in New York. We were pitching a community in Westchester county, one of the more expensive collection of zip codes in the country, for … Continue reading “Hey Fred, why should I give a sh#t?”
Don’t climb the career ladder
I'm not a fan of ladders. While I wouldn't describe myself as afraid of heights, they aren't my thing either. And as I get older I grow increasingly afraid of falling. What I've learned to be more debilitating than a fear of heights, however, is the mindset that one should view their career path like … Continue reading Don’t climb the career ladder
On Big Data and Big Ideas
Big data. Big ideas. Both are the realm of marketers these days. It seems like most of the talk in the industry these days is about data. But which one is more important? To clarify, by ideas I mean concepts for campaigns designed to inspire, engage and persuade the people with which a brand wants … Continue reading On Big Data and Big Ideas
Social Media Experience NOT Required
I bet you haven't seen the headline of this blog in any marketing job postings recently. Experience managing the creation and distribution of content through social media seems to be table stakes for marketers these days. And why not? Social media is used by hundreds of millions of people every day and, when executed properly, … Continue reading Social Media Experience NOT Required
We’re all surfers
During the course of your career, there will be times when your job or project makes you feel like you caught the perfect wave. When that happens, revel in the ride. Professionally there's nothing better. But just like every wave eventually breaks at the shoreline, no job or project lasts forever. Inevitably you will need … Continue reading We’re all surfers
Impressions Matter
TV ad sales organizations are moving as quickly as possible to an "impressions based" world. This means that rather than selling on ratings, the size of an audience for a particular show or event, advertisers will have the ability to target and pay for the specific consumers they seek to influence regardless of what program … Continue reading Impressions Matter
Who Do Your Play For?
There’s a great scene in the Disney film “Miracle” about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team. Coach Herb Brooks is making the team endure countless punishing sprints following a lackluster effort in an exhibition game. At one point he reminds the players that who they play for is bigger than them: “The name on the … Continue reading Who Do Your Play For?
Artists & Plumbers
How do you describe yourself? Are you an artist or a plumber? Before answering, let me clarify. In this context, particularly for marketers, artistry refers to the creative idea generation process. Marketing is about big ideas. You need ideas to generate attention and interest for whatever it is you're selling. Landing on a big idea … Continue reading Artists & Plumbers
Time for a Breather
Some compare life to a marathon. You maintain a steady pace and grind out the miles without stopping until the finish. That’s one way to look at it. But with all due respect to marathoners, if we’re going to stick with the running metaphor I prefer to think of life as a series sprints. Sprints … Continue reading Time for a Breather
Couldn’t have said it better
If you don't already, subscribe to Seth Godin's daily blog. It's a must for anyone interested in marketing. As a 20 year veteran of media I found his post today about the industry right on point. I share it in full below: The imbalance between media and advertisers For a very long time, major magazines … Continue reading Couldn’t have said it better
Fred Bucher 