It got me to thinking – in today’s economy how much disposable income is out there? When or where is the tipping point for individuals, the world over, to say “You know, maybe I shouldn’t buy that Pepsi Max this week and pay my water bill instead?” (Or baby formula or rice or whatever.)

NOTE: There is a whole public relations conversation on how well the American Political Machine spins the “Recovery” on a weekly basis – reminds me of the sales manager saying to the CEO every week “Even though we haven’t sold anything this year, we are doing great!”

We see Wal-Mart and Target marketing to the masses saying “Lowest Prices” and “Affordable” and so on. They’re trying to get those people that are watching their budget to save more money by shopping at their location.

Prices are rising all over the world ($3.00 for a bottle of water, $5.00 for a can of Red Bull, $2.00 for a “snack” bag of chips, etc. All these prices having doubled in the past year.)

Some stores may offer a can of Red Bull for $.25 less then another, but, still, because of the economic times, pricing has risen.

Eventually, market segments are going to start to decline, small or large, but, declination will start to occur more rapidly as jobs become more scare and cost of living rises while salaries remain the same.

Someone will step into this market and capture a huge percentage. Someone will offer a very low cost solution to the many high-cost offerings that are out there.

How much longer can a world sustain a water bottling company at $3.00 a bottle when the cost is less then $.10? It can’t. Whomever offers the pricing back at $1.00 is going to own the market. Yes, margins will go from 40% to 10%, but, look at the soda business where margins are less then 1%.

The world has reached a tipping point where unsustainablity of market prices cannot continue. Either companies will go under or they will have to reduce pricing to meet the needs of the worlds individuals as they tighten their belts.

Remember the movie “Mr. Mom”? Where the real mom advertises the drop in pricing for tuna so that the people can afford the product?

I believe that this will be occurring soon.

I fall on one side of this argument and that is that Print Advertising is dead (okay, on life-support which it is hard to see a recovery from anytime soon – maybe a better description would be a Coma).

We all agree that the internet has done considerable damage (or impact) to print advertising. Why should I wait for my daily or monthlies of magazines or newspapers when I can find out what was written 24 hours or 30 days in advance?

Okay, I’ll give you the argument that you need a magazine on the beach or possibly on a plane (if you can’t afford or connect to their WiFi) or even the subway. But, what percentage of the market is that – 2%, maybe 3%?

Even if the creative were outstanding and the brand was incredible and the ad said “If you can read this, you get a free car in the next hour”, the market penetration would still be minimal at best – even with email, text, twitter, and phone. The individual still has to “get to the location” of the free car so the damage would not be that great (don’t get me wrong, you would still have a riot at the location – but that’s the point, the brand would be built because of the riots, not because of the free car giveaway).

Print advertising will never be the same, because the market will never be the same. The market is the internet and mobile, not paper and rags. Sadly, we continue to see magazines and papers try and stay alive by believing that the people want this. They don’t.

In closing, it is going to be the countries that have never invested in magazine/print (like China, Eastern Asia, Africa, South America), where many lessons are going to be taught on how to gain the biggest bang for the buck – again, specifically in mobile.

Good luck.

Duh!!!

I run ads on FaceBook at $.05 per ad, and I get my ads shown to millions of users for pennies. Who wouldn’t do that? WHY wouldn’t they do that?

There is obviously going to be a dichotomy that is going to occur – where management and reporting of ad spend will be split between Social and ROI (Rest Of Internet); and even considering Social Media advertising, that will become split also – as Twitter enters the market with ROI ad rates vs. Social ad rates (again, Facebook and MySpace).

There is no answer and there shouldn’t be – users of FaceBook, for the first time in their lives, can run ad campaigns for as little as $50.00. When they want to open up the rest of the internet market, they will have the awakening that $50 a month won’t even touch one day on the ROI.

Don’t fall for an agency (or the media) saying that the rates are wrong – they aren’t – they are different based on what and who the market is.

As I continue to counsel companies that marketing is the last thing to be cut, they, as usual, cut marketing as fast as possible. As this occurs, I continue to experience and see one thing in particular and that is employee’s think that they are being laid off because of their performance, not because of the economy. They can’t believe that they are being laid off because marketing is so important to any organization, but, it is not the case, it is because most management teams don’t understand the value that marketing can bring a company during tough economic times.

If you have been recently laid-off, please remember that 99% of the time is because of the economy. Keep your head up and start looking for that next job. Nine out of ten times, your employer already told you that they would give you a great recommendation – TAKE IT!

Take anything that your company is offering; put ego to the side and accept whatever is being offered. Life is not fair but you must get over this and move on as quickly as possible – you were not let go because of your performance!

What am I saying? I’m saying that you are a good worker and you do put time and effort into everything you do – it is the economy that is causing people, just like you, to be laid off. Go enjoy the two years of unemployment that you can get (or get back out there and bring your expertise and knowledge to a company that has not been adversely affected by this economy).

Unfortunately, many young CEO’s and General Managers think that having a mentor or many mentors are a sign of weakness. I cannot disagree more.

A mentor, especially during the “young” time of your company, is ideal for the following reasons:

1) He/she can bring focus when it is needed.
2) He/she can strengthen a weakness that you may have (i.e. they can bring accounting help if you don’t have any idea of how to set up your accounting practice).
3) They are a great sounding board.

The last is ideal for the young CEO. So many young managers are embarrassed or think that it is a sign of weakness to ask for help (or just brainstorm) internally in the company – a mentor cannot be seen in this light, as they are not with the company and are not linked to the success or failure of the company – they are linked to the success or failure of the individual.

Don’t believe that your “Board of Directors” or your “Advisory Board” is made up of mentors for you, the CEO. They are not. Yes, they want to help and want success, but, not you specifically. They want the company to be a success. They will just as quickly remove you from your position as they will walk away from a losing proposition.

As I have written so many times before – surround yourself with mentors that a) want you to succeed, b) help you see the forest and not the tree and c) strengthen your weakness’s. If you do this, your odds for success have increased dramatically.

As you get older and move into bigger and bigger things, your experience as an assistant manager WILL come back to help you. You will understand why a tri-fold brochure is needed, when you need to ship something same day vs. overnight, or even how you will have a complete 20′x20′ booth built in less then a week for the largest trade show in the world.

What’s my point? My point is that your boss or boss’s boss won’t know or have any inkling. You may be the VP of Marketing and your CMO may have NEVER had to work a trade show in their life (I mean WORK a trade show, putting it up and tearing it down AND working the 10 hour daily shifts). Your experience will enable you to be a better manager of your staff. Of being able to talk to the CEO from experience.

So many times throughout your career you will have a boss that has not done half of the things you have. This does NOT make him stronger, nor does it make you stronger – it makes you WISER.

Being wise saves time, effort, and money – three things that are becoming more and more relevant in today’s economy.

Don’t disregard your past too easily or quickly – it has value more then you or anyone else could ever measure.

Came across my positioning document on the Christian Cross. How it has changed very little over the centuries – even as it was “copied” by the many different Christian affiliations/groups throughout the world.

Most still keep it a simple black cross, but others have added the Christ figure, and others added a crown of thorns as a background, others added a hill under the cross, and so on.

My main point, as is true today, is that the essense of the brand (the main look/design) has changed very little over the centuries; enabling what all brands (consumer level) want, instant recognition as well as an instant “feeling”.

As you continue to build your brands, don’t be so quick, or shortsighted, to only look at brands in the past few years. Look at brands over the past century or longer; because we all know that the true measure of success of a brand is its staying power.

One, Michigan, has just introduced theirs, called “Pure Michigan”, showing the beaches along the Great Lakes, the rough shoreline, waterskiing, boating, and all the other watersports that can’t be done in a Gulf State.

Who will be next? And will any of them make the ultimate leap and say “Why go to a beach that’s covered in oil, come to our state where….”.

It will happen. There are other marketers out there like me that will take advantage of situations like this. It won’t and shouldn’t be wasted (I just hope that they do it in good taste!).

Will there be another “change”?