I'm back after an August blogging break (too much going on before school reopens).
Over the summer, one of the big stories was the bankruptcy filing for the city of Detroit. That reminded me of an incident when I was teaching a masters level marketing class.
The assignment was to "reposition" a product or service. Repositioning is usually done when you have a troubled product and you use all of the marketing tools to "reposition" it to make it vibrant and relevant again. One of the first assignments in my career was to work on a Procter & Gamble product that had just been "repositioned." Cheer detergent went from being a product that specialized in "whiteness" to an all temperature product that worked on a whole array of laundry needs. Cheer's business doubled. Do I believe in repositioning? You bet.
I asked for the students in my class to identify the product or service they planned to reposition. One of the students chose Detroit. (She was from there). Great, I thought, what a terrific challenge. Her paper, however, fell well short of what was needed for repositioning. She developed a series of taglines and advertising and some media strategies that were her solution to Detroit's marketing needs. The problem is that Detroit needs much more than a clever tagline to reposition itself. She ignored the need to fix the product, and no amount of advertising will address that. In fact there's a famous marketing saying that the best way to kill a bad product is great advertising.
Can Detroit be turned around? A very difficult challenge, but yes. Other cities have done it.
I lived in Cleveland during my high school years - when pollution was so bad that the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire. The city has cleaned up its act. In fact, the area by the river (called "the flats") has been transformed from a gritty industrial slum to a trendy bar and restaurant scene. The city attracted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nearby Canton has the NFL Hall of Fame. And, while Cleveland isn't as vibrant as some other cities, it's come a long, long way from being the city where the river caught fire.
San Diego transformed itself from a one industry (navy) town to a center for biotech research.
Sante Fe, New Mexico has become an arts mecca.
Ogden, Utah (of all places) is a high tech center.
Detroit can turn itself around, but it will have to look into its own soul and find out what the city can change to make it relevant and attractive. Then - and only then - can it blow its horn with clever advertising.
My student, unfortunately, didn't get a very good grade on her paper. But, it had lots of notes in the margin.
Over the summer, one of the big stories was the bankruptcy filing for the city of Detroit. That reminded me of an incident when I was teaching a masters level marketing class.
The assignment was to "reposition" a product or service. Repositioning is usually done when you have a troubled product and you use all of the marketing tools to "reposition" it to make it vibrant and relevant again. One of the first assignments in my career was to work on a Procter & Gamble product that had just been "repositioned." Cheer detergent went from being a product that specialized in "whiteness" to an all temperature product that worked on a whole array of laundry needs. Cheer's business doubled. Do I believe in repositioning? You bet.
I asked for the students in my class to identify the product or service they planned to reposition. One of the students chose Detroit. (She was from there). Great, I thought, what a terrific challenge. Her paper, however, fell well short of what was needed for repositioning. She developed a series of taglines and advertising and some media strategies that were her solution to Detroit's marketing needs. The problem is that Detroit needs much more than a clever tagline to reposition itself. She ignored the need to fix the product, and no amount of advertising will address that. In fact there's a famous marketing saying that the best way to kill a bad product is great advertising.
Can Detroit be turned around? A very difficult challenge, but yes. Other cities have done it.
I lived in Cleveland during my high school years - when pollution was so bad that the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire. The city has cleaned up its act. In fact, the area by the river (called "the flats") has been transformed from a gritty industrial slum to a trendy bar and restaurant scene. The city attracted the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nearby Canton has the NFL Hall of Fame. And, while Cleveland isn't as vibrant as some other cities, it's come a long, long way from being the city where the river caught fire.
San Diego transformed itself from a one industry (navy) town to a center for biotech research.
Sante Fe, New Mexico has become an arts mecca.
Ogden, Utah (of all places) is a high tech center.
Detroit can turn itself around, but it will have to look into its own soul and find out what the city can change to make it relevant and attractive. Then - and only then - can it blow its horn with clever advertising.
My student, unfortunately, didn't get a very good grade on her paper. But, it had lots of notes in the margin.
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