Whether it’s a question for A.G. Lafley, learning to speak to an A.D.D. consumer, or just sitting in the back row and pondering lessons from Angry Birds, you’re sure to find next week’s Shopper Insights in Action conference sponsored by IIR USA to be a very rewarding learning experience… learning that leads to success. In […]
Maybe you’ve seen the commercial with the swimming pool filled with caramel? Well, in this economy with layoffs and “doing more with less”, many CPG’s have a similar problem. In fact, whether it’s a new product, a new marketing campaign, or simply changing the graphics on a package, many CPG firms were terribly slow before […]
The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce sponsored breakfast with Paul Jadin, Secretary of the Department of Commerce and soon-to-be head of the new Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. Good breakfast meeting on an important Wisconsin initiative to “elevate the Wisconsin economy to be the best in the world”. Wisconsin has over 465,000 businesses; 99.97% are private; […]
I’m still on the first level (not a big-time gamer) and I’m not really much further into Level 1 than my 3-year old granddaughter. Nevertheless, I’m a big fan of the Rovio game. Just probably not for the same reasons as the other 200 million people that have downloaded the game. There’s a lot that […]
With waning consumer confidence, a third of homeowners saying their home is worth less than their mortgage, and massive debt to deal with, consumer products companies ought not to expect any sort of boom in consumer spending any time soon. Time to redesign CPGs for the new reality? Chart from Business Insider.
Appreciated the listening ears of Governor Scott Walker and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch who attended a business roundtable hosted by NFIB. Around 50 businesses were in attendance, each sharing their perspective about what is needed to make Wisconsin more business friendly. Numerous stories made it clear that Wisconsin places significant unnecessary burdens on business. Here’s […]
The farm is where I learned that to keep things running at peak performance you had to listen carefully for squeaks, grinding or other out of place sounds that signaled adjustments and repairs were needed before things got worse. The same goes for business. Here’s what to do about the sounds coming from your business […]
When you’re driving a high performance car, even the sound it makes tells you everything is humming and ready for peak performance. But all cars need regular tune-ups (oil changes, tire rotations, radiator flushes, new brakes) and more often than we’d like, cars need something bigger fixed. I used to do all the work myself […]
Incremental growth and productivity are essential for businesses: incremental revenue growth, incremental cost of goods sold productivity and as a result, incremental earnings growth. Many companies have become well-oiled machines at growing incrementally. In fact, you can use the tools of continuous improvement to calculate their consistent capability (Cpk). But there will come a time […]
The price of crude oil dropped significantly today as seen in the chart below from Business Insider. Historically, crude prices and the price at the pump are directly and tightly correlated (see below). If sustained, how long will it take to be reflected at the pump or will oil companies lag in their pricing in […]
