http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog from the team at Marketing Ability Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:52:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The news this morning that Marks and Spencer is to cut spending on the promotion of its 'Plan A' environmental programme poses the question "How to maintain the green marketing agenda in an economic downturn?" There are numerous other stories doing the rounds that consumers are cutting expenditure and therefore taking ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/green-marketing/will-the-economic-downturn-kill-green-marketing/ Testing the effectiveness of marketing activity has always been a challenge. It's becoming more important in the current economic climate. So it's always good to hear about new ways to do it. Interspire are about to launch the latest version of their Email Marketer tool (http://www.interspire.com/emailmarketer/). This tool, which appears to be priced in a way ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/marketing-and-the-web/testing-e-marketing-effectiveness-is-getting-easier/ I have always been unsure about the importance of brand names in the marketing mix. Surely if a product is great then just about any name will do. There are examples of meaningless brand names everywhere. Kodak, Starbucks and Amazon . .  . they mean nothing but the companies are ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/just-marketing/ok-i-admit-it-brand-names-do-matter-after-all/ Earlier this week I was asked to talk at a meeting of the Peterborough Communicators Group - the brief being to stimulate discussion on the use of web resources to: communicate with customers and to allow staff teams to communicate together We explored a number of areas such as blogs, wikis, social networking ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/marketing-and-the-web/working-with-the-web/ We're excited about a new venture that starts this September when we extend our delivery of the CIM Professional Diploma course to Norwich. Until now, this qualification was only available in Norwich by the examination route. From this September, we are offering the course for assessment by work-based assignments - the preferred option ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/marketing-qualifications/now-in-norwich-too/ We're in the final stages of putting together our delivery programme for 2008/09 CIM courses that we teach in Peterborough - and that process has been complicated by the changes that are taking place in the syllabus for the various levels of qualification. It would also appear that there is some confusion ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/marketing-qualifications/new-cim-qualifications/ Last year we ran the first of our Marketing-bites events: an afternoon of short presentations covering a range of marketing-related subjects. Now we are getting ready to hold another of these in Peterborough and we are deciding which subjects to cover. Suggestions so far include: Marketing and the law - a review of the ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/just-marketing/what-do-you-want-us-to-cover-at-the-next-marketing-bites/ Just announced today, the results of the 2008 survey of marketers' opinions of which companies display the best green credentials show Marks & Spencer leading the field! However. the most notable result of the poll (carried out by YouGov on behalf of Marketing Week magazine) is the lack of consistency among ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/green-marketing/ms-tops-green-marketing-poll/ If you've watched any TV in the last few weeks, you cannot have failed to see the Persil "Small & Mighty" ad, but just in case, here's another chance to view it on YouTube. It's a great ad, and gets its message across very effectively, but... the question is: is this greenwashing, ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/green-marketing/greenwashing-your-chance-to-fight-back/ Here at Marketing Ability we are getting more and involved in the role that marketing can play in companies' efforts to improve their environmental credentials, and to successfully communicate about what they are doing. Over the next few weeks we will do some further research and consultation as we develop new training programmes. I've been reading ... http://www.marketingability.co.uk/blog/green-marketing/this-green-stuff-really-matters/