At the Management Congress I attended in São Paulo, a Brazilian marketing guru (BMG) and Planetary Strategy Guru (and my old pal from McKinsey) Kenichi Ohmae had this exchange:
BMG: “What’s the main thing missing in Brazilian companies’ efforts to achieve ‘branding excellence.’?”
KO: “Aggressive marketing budgets!”
Amen! SMEs (Small & Medium-sized Enterprises) in particular routinely shortchange their marketing-positioning-PR budgets and activities. I don’t believe in “throwing money at marketing,” but I do believe in … Naked Aggression … in getting your name before the Client base and starting BUZZ pre-Day One!