Worried about your pets when the rapture happen? (which implies that you know that the rapture is. Or simply looking for a fantastic marketing opportunity where you ge the money upfront. I reckon the latter is the way to go. And don’t forget to check out the FAQs and the accessories.

worried about your pet when you're living the high life in the after life?

with thanks to today’s B&T e-newsletter

Brands are failing women 

Many brands are failing to meet the needs of increasingly cashed- up women eager to spend, and show a “lack of understanding” in their product design and female- focussed sales and marketing, a new report has found. 

The survey, conducted by US- based Boston Consulting Group (BCG), included more than 12,000 women in 22 countries, including 480 from Australia. It revealed that Australian women’s high stress levels, which were greater than the global average, coupled with their high earning power, saw them willing to pay for products that could ease their time pressures. The report also showed that Australian women have more control over household spending than other markets. 

“Australian women are more pressured and stressed, and they also have more control over house- hold spending – 72% compared to the global average of 64%,” said James Goth, partner at BCG. “This translates into more than $200 billion in discretionary spending every year.” 

Women’s income in Australia is also expected to grow by almost half over the next fi ve years. 

However the report suggested that Australian women were being misunderstood by many brands. Financial services companies ranked as number one, with 49% of respondents saying investment companies need to do a better job of understanding and meeting their needs and 47% saying they were “disappointed” with banks. Meanwhile 48% said they were disappointed with the auto industry and 42% with physicians. 

“Companies are failing to meet the needs of women in fi ve key ways: poor product design and customisation for women, clumsy sales and marketing, inability to address the need for time-saving solutions, inability to provide a meaningful hook and differentiation, and failure to develop community,” said Michael Silverstein, a senior partner at BCG. 

Kate Sayre, another BCG partner, added: “Companies can earn a privileged position by recognising this phenomenon and the outsized burden women shoulder – and by responding with power and certainty.” 

According to the report, Australian women were most likely to “trade up” on bedding, food, restaurants, personal clothing and cosmetic products while look for cost savings on mobile phones, internet service providers, car rental and air travel. 

The report was conducted as a forerunner to the launch of new book “Women Want More: How to Capture your Share of the World’s Largest, Fastest-Growing Market” next month. 

Next Tuesday 1st September we’ll be onstage at the Greater Union Cinemas in George Street presenting our Marketing Makeover for Your HR Manager. It’s an initiative by the Department of State and Regional Development for their Small Business Month 09. We’re excited. 

Your HRManager is a great company. As the boys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy used to say, it’s not a makeover, it’s a make better.

More here…….

Small Business Month 09 Marketing Makeover

It’s just over a year since this interview on Lateline with Steve Keen where he predicted that our economy, along with our house prices, would crash. Is it just me or is there a kind of schadenfreude in his tone - “the party has come to an end kiddies and now it’s time to pay the price!”. Bet he’s sorry he sold his apartment in Surry Hills. Property prices jumped 4.2% last quarter according to the ABS.

Here’s an extract from the transcript but you can read the whole thing here.

STEVE KEEN: No, they’re the first, if you like, the first swallow of a depression, virtually that I saw coming some time ago. Because we’ve been spending so much borrowed money for so long, that the momentum of borrowed money has been driving the apparent prosperity in the economy.

And last year, if you look at the amount that was consumed last year and spent on assets as well, about 20 per cent of total spending in the economy was financed by increasing debt.

And up to 20 per cent of demand can evaporate as a result of that.

We have a new brief that requires us to look at the New Zealand market. So for inspiration we did a stock shot search on Kiwi mothers. And this is what came up…….

Kiwi mothers

and then I searched on Kiwi models. Classic - yes it is a dinosaur. And a piano. Go figure

Kiwi Models

tell us what you think. 

Mortgage Choice launch TVC

Mortgage Choice White House 30″ launch ad

I was a guest at a Telstra Business sales conference yesterday at Luna Park. It was kind of cool actually. They had pulled all their NSW sales team together under the theme of “keeping it real” to talk about improving customer service. I was there to give them an insight into what their customers want, or rather need, from them - telecoms being so essential to everyone’s business these days. It was a really well run event and everyone seemed super enthusiastic about ramping up their service levels. So all good and thanks Telstra Business for your hospitality. Also Sharon from Telstra gave me some good feedback on our website.

Things seem to be on the up and up! From today’s SMH…….

Small business optimistic about economy