Market research news
The blog of the market research agency IntoTheminds lists opinionated articles, examples of alignment with marketing theory, highlights and bad buzz, carefully selected by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, his team and influential experts.
Pay What You Want
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In 2009 a paper was published in the Journal of Marketing on a new concept called “Pay What You Want” (PWYW) which seemed to be interesting for firms. This research showed counterintuitive results, namely that consumers will exploit their control…
The coffee capsules war will not happen
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Sara Lee launched last year its Nespresso-compatible capsules. In Paris only 100000 samples were given for free. In August Sara Lee announced that they had reached the 100m$ revenues with this product. Still, the question remains for me whether this…
An ice way to promote its products and store
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
First of all my thanks to David Katz for sending me the pictures he took at last week's ice Sculpture fair in Yorkville, downtown Toronto, Canada (more details here). Such fairs exist in many countries (at least countries with temperatures…
New trends in advertising techniques
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The advertising industry is undergoing deep changes; on the first hand technological changes which lead to the raise of digital advertising; on the other hand legal changes in France which will change the landscape and the habits of advertisers. The…
1855.com : how long can they survive?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Life is sometimes hard, especially for losers. Within a few days I read two different articles about 1855.com. The first one was published in the magazine "la Revue du Vin de France" which is a magazine specialized in wine and…
Happy New Year
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
It's time to resume posting. But first of all, allow me, on behalf of IntoTheMinds, to wish you a happy new year. I hope 2012 will be for you an inspired and inspirational year. We'll start the year with a…
Why am I writing this blog?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I was in a meeting with a client a few weeks ago and one of his employees asked me where I was getting my inspiration from to write 3 posts per week. Well, it has certainly to do with curiosity…
Sabine Laruelle, Belgian ministry of SMEs, on the importance of entrepreneurship
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I was listening on Dec. 13th to an interview of Sabine Laruelle, the Belgian Ministry in charge of SMEs, on a local Belgian radio (Twizz). In a crisis context like the one we are currently going through, it is perfectly…
A PESTLE analysis may have helped the eco-construction sector
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
One of the decisions the Belgian government took to reduce the debt was to cancel the 40% tax deduction on works carried out to reduce energy consumption (isolation, double-glass windows, …). The consequence of this decision will be to change…
How to announce a bad news: the example of ING
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Today’s post is far away from marketing but was triggered by a communication issue, which remains a central topic is modern marketing. ING announced within 30 days that it would reduce interest rates on both its current account and its…
Impediments in business transfers (#rentconference)
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Yvonne Slots and Loek Swelsen presented at the RENT XXV conference in Bodo, Norway, a piece of research on business transfers. Their research was conducted in the region of Parkstad, The Netherlands, at the borders with Germany (Aachen) and Belgium.…
Does Mobistar follow best practices for complaints management?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Successful business practices regarding the management of customers complaints include the diffusion of the information within the organization. After I reported on my fight against Mobistar, I was wondering whether their most exposed (in terms of visibility) customer service would…
Paul bakeries: when service and brand image do not match
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Paul … an oasis of gastronomy in a culinary desert. Everything is made to remind you the long forgone past of tasteful products: sales point are covered with oak-like veneer, decorated with pieces of furniture that could fit in your…
Meet first the legal requirements first, then speak about customer service: the Mobistar case
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
First of all please allow me to mention than by sharing this post on Facebook and twitter you will help other individuals. The purpose of this post is to write about my fight against Mobistar in an attempt to enforce…
Dexia: you’re not alone
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Everyone has heard about Dexia's problems. The French Belgian bank was eventually nationalized last week and it seems that customers had withdrawn an amazing 1b Euros since early September when they starting loosing confidence in the bank. Coincidently the bank…
Is this what marketing in the wine industry looks like?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
A friend just offered me a bottle of wine. It was just wonderful. Thank you. What surprised me was the tag attached to it, which claimed the 94 points obtained from Robert Parker in the Wine Advocate. Well, ok everyone…
Off topic. This is what I call leadership
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
If I had to choose one concrete and tangible example of leadership it would be this one. It so much energizes me. It's Al Pacino in City Hall. Have a look at this extraordinary example of leadership. I just have…
A call for an open-minded attitude in marketing innovation
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Sometimes I really get the impression that I don’t get understood. Not long time ago I had a meeting with the marketing manager of a big and renowned Belgian company. I came there to present an innovative consumer behavior-related idea…
Bankruptcies vs. business creations
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
During my latest weekly session at the Brussels Agency for Enterprises (BEA) I mentioned the record level of bankruptcies in Belgium. Since January 2008 the number of bankruptcies has increased by 35% as readers of this blog may have already…
Extraordinary customer service
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I have a lot of stories to tell as far as customer service is concerned. I have a lot of bad ones and very few good ones. So when I have receive an exceptionnal customer service I'm eager to tell…
Dandoy, a Belgian “Love Brand”
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Saatchi & Saatchi has a word for brands they want to be turn into successful stories. They call them “love brands”. I have also my love brand, and it’s a Belgian one. Its name is Dandoy. The famous Brussels-based family-owned…
FNAC wants to reinvent the relationship with the customers
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Enriching discussions can also take place online and I was very positively surprised by a discussion I had on Linkedin. If you are familiar with this website you may know that there are groups to which you can get affiliated…
MyStarbucksIdea: a great failure ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
« Great » and « failure » may be two words you wouldn’t associate at first. Yet, it’s the impression which I got whe I recently received the Starbucks newsletter proudly announcing that 150 ideas from the MyStarbucksIdea platform had been implemented. 150 ideas…
Relationship marketing again and again
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Being on holiday has also some negative aspects. I'm reading more than usual and the more I read the more I'm getting fed up with relationship marketing. Customers relationships here, customers relationships there; it sounds like if those two words…
