In the spring of 1972, Jack Tratt and I wrote a series of articles for The Age of Advertising entitled "The Coming of the Age of Positioning".

After that, our advertising ad ad ad ad ad a company began to attract different types of customers. As one of our potential customers put it: "We don't want to ask you to do advertising planning for us, we already have an advertising agency." We'd like to ask you to help us with our positioning strategy. "

Therefore, we started two main business: 1) advertising, 2) marketing strategy consulting.

Fifteen years later, I gave a speech to a group of marketers on the theme "Mistakes in product line extension". When you extend your brand, you destroy its position in the mind.

In a question-and-answer session that followed, a marketing manager stood up and asked a question that I still remember.

"Why don't you take your own advice?"

At that time, I was caught up in the problem. Errors in product line extensions also exist within our own institutions.

Next, we shut down our advertising ad ad company in New York in the shortest possible time and moved our marketing strategy consulting business to Connecticut, a place we thought would be more in keeping with our new Consulting positioning.

As a result, this is the best change we've ever made. I just regret not being able to do this ten years earlier. At the same time, I wish I could remember the name of the gentleman who raised the issue with me 27 years ago.

For many in-house marketers, "Why don't you take your own advice" may be a powerful wake-up call.

Light bulbs and a healthier lifestyle

A few years ago, I consulted with GE's lighting business. The problem they faced at that time was to convince themEnterprise.The customer replaces all fluorescent bulbs as a whole after a certain percentage of the fluorescent bulbs have broken down.

Including labor costs, the overall cost of large-scale lamp replacement is lower than the cost of a single bulb replacement.

So, I suggest, "Why not use one of GE's production plants as an example to demonstrate the savings that can be made through a holistic replacement." "

You can guess the end of the story. At the time, GE's marketing manager said, "Oh, our company's factories never replace light bulbs as a whole." "

Everyone who goes to the hospital for an annual physical examination knows what advice the doctor will give him or her: pay attention to a healthy diet and exercise more.

But how do you understand the findings of a recent study by Kevin Kenward of the American Medical Association? Despite the improving socio-economic situation and improved living conditions, doctors in the United States live eight years less on average than the general population.

The power of advertising

Ads can be powerful, but they may not be for yourself.

Every year, many advertising managers are very happy to be invited to Cannes to talk about the powerful ads they create for their clients. They don't talk about why they don't create powerful ads for their advertising companies.

Many magazines have recently bemoaned the lack of advertisers, but they never wanted to advertise for themselves.

Hundreds of consultants have been gushing about what marketing strategies should be implemented, while neglecting to develop marketing strategies for their own companies.

Advertising can make you rich and surpass even your boldest dreams.

Which company had $59.1 billion in advertising revenue last year? The company has a market capitalization of $371 billion, second only to Apple and the second most valuable company in the United States.

This company is Google.

Google is a global company, so not all of its $59.1 billion in advertising revenue comes from the U.S. market. But advertising revenue from the U.S. market has reached $25.2 billion. Think about it. That's more than the overall advertising revenue of the U.S. broadcast media last year ($17.4 billion), the overall advertising revenue of the U.S. magazine media last year ($17.7 billion), and the overall advertising revenue of the U.S. newspaper media last year ($21.1 billion). Google's single platform accounts for 14 percent of U.S. companies' total spending on the media under test.

Google's advertising revenue in the U.S. ($25.2 billion) surpassed that of CBS Corp and NBC Universal Media ($23.5 billion), as well as facebook, Yahoo!, AOL and Twitter ($21 billion).

Globally, Google's advertising revenue ($59.1 billion) surpasses that of WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and Interpublic ($49.8 billion).

Never in the history of advertising has a company held such a dominant market share. And this dominant situation is likely to continue in the future. Last year, Google's revenue rose 10 percent from the year before.

Maintain dominance

If I run Google, I'll spend a small fee to protect my ad revenue stream. How do you maintain a market position? Advertising is the best way.

With the dominance of the advertising industry, you might think Google would also be a big advertiser. But that is not the case. Google seems more interested in investing in smartphones and virtual reality glasses.

In 2013, Google spent $568 million on advertising media under test, the 44th-largest advertiser in the U.S. that year, far less than Merck ($603 million), Kellogg ($642 million), Hemmers ($668 million) and Kraft ($716 million), according to the Advertising Age data center.

Ask Google, is advertising a good investment? If it is, why aren't you the largest advertising publisher in the United States, as Procter and Gamble (which 2013 2013 25 billion U.S. dollars 2.5 billion in advertising in the media under test) is?

Facts are better than eloquence.

If you have any questions about your views or content, you can leave a message backstage with this public number. Reese's China team will select representative questions to answer in the monthly "Explanation" section.

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