Blog

This week saw the news of the Sears bankruptcy filing, amongst falling sales and rising debt. Their Canadian division closed in January of this year, and it always felt the parent company wouldn’t be far behind. Failure to adapt to the changing ways customers preferred to buy – online, mobile research, frictionless shopping – asRead more

Week after week, it seems we’re bombarded with poor customer experience examples when it comes to airline companies. From dragging passengers off planes to charging to change the flight of a family whose 3 year old son’s appendix burst, the horror stories are endless. But do these stories make any difference? With flights cheaper thanRead more

When brands want to stand apart from the competition, they often turn to edgy advertising to push the boundaries. This can work well, and the benefits can outweigh the risks. But when the message behind the campaign is shared without context, no amount of marketing or brand explanations can overcome the negativity. In this week’sRead more

Long viewed as one of the most-loved stalwarts of the Canadian marketplace, coffee chain Tim Hortons has had a startling fall from grace when it comes to the trust they enjoy from consumers. Almost mirroring the fall that smartphone maker BlackBerry experienced, even the brand loyalty that Tim Hortons almost exclusively enjoyed couldn’t stop theRead more

We’ve all seen them, and probably have a few favourites – evergreen marketing campaigns that seem to last across generations. But do they? Or do they eventually run out of steam? What happens when a message that once stood as the poster child for great marketing suddenly becomes stale and out of date? Or, evenRead more

When you’re a huge brand like Calvin Klein, you pretty much have your fingers on the pulse of your fans/customers. After all, you don’t get to be an international success story by employing bad marketing ideas. However, a recent marketing campaign from Calvin Klein showed that even the biggest brands still get it wrong. WhenRead more

Sounds great, right? Pay just a buck a beer? After all, who wouldn’t want to enjoy a beer for less than it takes to buy a coffee? Well, that’s exactly what Ontario beer drinkers have been promised by the new Premier, Doug Ford, following a campaign promise he ran on. But is the offer asRead more

In episode three of the Marketing on Tap podcast, we take a look at how a giant of consumer packaged goods fell from grace when it left the Canadian market and became entangled in what would be known as “ketchup wars”. When Heinz moved its production of its famous ketchup from Canada to the U.S.Read more

Funny how life has a way of changing a person. Looking back, I realize that we can be truly different people as we progress through life. The wisdom that comes with age or the experiences we face dramatically change our personalities, our beliefs, and the manner in which we engage with others.  A combination of thoseRead more

There’s no question that the Internet, social media, and digital technologies have changed the business landscape and the manner in which it operates. From the way business communicates with – and advertises to – consumers to how it conducts market research, and from the manner in which it hires new employees to how those employeesRead more