Most Recent Articles
The “Execution” of Good Planning – Treat Yourself as a Client
This week we’re taking the easy road to writing – by re-publishing a piece I provided as a guest blogger two weeks ago for Earl Bell of Island Crest Financial (with an original section added for today)....
Read More
Customer-First Conversations – How ZipCar Competes With An Iconic Dream
As part of our series on what makes a "Customer-First" company, I recently spoke with Carla Archambault, General Manager for the Seattle Region for Zipcar, a Boston-based company that is shaking up the old rental car model with a new approach defined by it's urban self-service model and it's tagline of "Wheels When You Want Them". How do you create a "Customer-First" business culture selling a product most customers don't know they want? And more importantly, how do you create demand by competing against the dream once held by every 16 year-old American? By now the "Zipcar" name and snappy green logo has become a familiar sight to most of us in many urban areas. They have, in a sense, revolutionized the car rental business by creating an entirely new "Blue Ocean" market that focuses NOT on travelers visiting other cities, but on the occasional driver who needs a car for short-term use in their own neighborhood or beyond. From a marketing strategist's perspective, this would mean that Zipcar is
Read More
“Mad Men” or “Mad Scientists”? Re-Thinking Ad Agencies – Part II
Inspired by a recent client question about the need for a new agency model, yesterday in Part I we delved into the changes going on in the world that have been responsible for driving new types of innovation in the agency business. Today, we'll look at some of the innovative things going on out there that impressed me during my recent visits with seven different agencies from Tokyo, Boston and Seattle. Just What is an "Advertising Agency"? To be honest, does it make sense to call any of these businesses "advertising agencies" any longer? As a client, would you still go out to the market and seek a partner that calls themselves an "ad agency"? In many ways, advertising is no longer the central reason for engaging with an "agency", is it? The old reason for making advertising central was based on the traditional view that a mass media ad agency was the one who could create your "Brand", but in a sense that was never completely true given the proliferation of direct-to-consumer businesses that abstained from mass media advertising yet still managed to create strong Brands (remember all those cool L.L. Bean ads you saw on TV as a kid? Didn't think so...).
Read More
David Dallaire, Founder and Principal at Fennec Consulting.
One career in Marketing, another in Operations, all of it in Management. David has worked with some of the world’s greatest Brands to build bridges with their customers in their largest markets.
